Luca's laugh is harsh. "You forget I’m not a part of the family."
"Family meeting. Be there, or consider yourself excommunicated from this family. Again."
Luca laughs. “Oh… so scary.”
"You've never understood Father's decision. It wasn't just about breaking rules, Luca. It was about keeping you alive."
"Save the revisionist history," Luca snaps. "He’d have killed me as easily as you want to do now. It would be a relief."
I step forward, trying to defuse the situation. "If we could focus on the current threat?—"
"The current threat," Alessandro cuts me off, "is standing right beside you, Katerina. You should have come to me, not to him."
My cheeks burn with indignation. "Luca is Enzo’s father?—”
“And I’m the Don. What’s going to happen when he goes back to Chicago?”
I flinch at the reminder that Luca is going to leave me again.
Luca steps forward, positioning himself slightly in front of me. "You've said enough."
I can feel Luca's restraint slipping.
"Alessandro," I say quietly, placing my hand on Luca's arm, "we want the same thing. Safety for this family."
"Do we?" Alessandro's gaze shifts between us. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're both willing to risk everyone under this roof for your own happy ending."
Luca lunges forward, and I dig my fingers into his arm to stop him.
Alessandro sneers. "Get dressed. Both of you. The family needs to hear exactly what happened and why."
"Mommy?”
I whip my head around to see Enzo, his dark hair tousled from sleep, eyes wide with uncertainty, looking at us from the hallway.
My heart drops. Enzo shouldn't be witnessing this.
"Enzo, baby," I say, immediately dropping to my knees as he runs to me.
My arms wrap around him instinctively, shielding him from the lingering hostility. "What are you doing up so early?"
His small body trembles against mine. "I had a bad dream."
A nightmare. Of course.
After what he witnessed yesterday, his uncle's death, the violence, how could he not have nightmares?
I pull back enough to look into his face. "Everything's okay now.” I brush his hair from his forehead. "You're safe."
He glances past me, taking in the two men whose argument he interrupted. "Don Alessandro looks mad."
I hear Alessandro sigh behind me, his tone softening for the first time. "I'm not mad at you, Enzo."
"Are you mad at my daddy?" Enzo asks.
Alessandro’s head jerks back and he glances at Luca as if it’s the first time he realizes Enzo is Luca’s son.
Luca moves to me and Enzo. "Sometimes, family disagrees," Luca says gently.
