I almost want to plead with her not to leave me, but I can’t exactly use my girlfriend as a shield between me and my father.
“Sure.” She looks back at me, eyes widening a fraction before stepping toward her door. “I’ll take Nico downstairs to see what there is for breakfast. Um, nice seeing you again, Mr. Mor—Dante.”
Voice softening, he agrees. “You too, Anya.”
The door closes behind them and I blink at how abruptly my morning has shifted. Less than a minute ago I was in bed with the gorgeous love of my life, and now I’m face to face with my father.
My father and my Capo. The man that I haven’t spoken to about leaving The Outfit, or about anything truly pressing for weeks. He showed up out of the blue, and I know it can’t just be because he’s missed me.
Either Nico ratted me out, or he’s heard information from somewhere. I just don’t know how much yet.
“Are you why Nico stayed for so long, then?” I ask, trying to lessen the tension around us. “Did he know you were coming?”
“Partially,” Dad replies casually, almost shrugging. “I told him I would be coming here a couple of days ago so that he’d be ready to fly back with me. He needed a break from being at home, but he has responsibilities to return to.”
“Needed a break?” I echo, eyebrows rising up.
“Colton has been around a lot.”
“Ah.” I understand. Nico is avoiding the man who’s in love with him, as per usual. “I don’t know what his hang up is on thatfront, honestly. If I was gay, and a hot cowboy with money and mafia ties wanted to be with me, I don’t think I’d be turning him down.”
Dad gives me a funny look, hearing my description. “A hot cowboy?”
“What?” I shrug. “I’m straight, but I’m not blind. Colton is a good-looking dude. And he’s a good man.”
“I think Nico’s avoidance of Colton has more to do with Nico than it does Colton,” my father explains, sounding sure of his assessment.
“You’re probably right.”
He grunts and nods before looking around the room. “Have you been staying here? The room’s a little…purplefor you to have moved in already.”
My head shakes. “I only slept over for the first time last night. I’ve been going back and forth from our place every day. But even if I moved in, I probably wouldn’t change anything. This is her favorite place. She has everything just how she likes it. What do I care about how my bedroom is decorated? I can sleep anywhere.”
“Mm,” he hums, dipping his head in acknowledgment. He returns his gaze to mine, and I feel an undeniable sensation of knowing pass between us.
“Dad, we have to talk.”
“You’re not coming home, are you?”
His response is so swift that it almost knocks the air out of me. I have to dig my fingernails into my palms to keep my chin from wobbling. I’m fighting for the ability to remain composed, and it isn’t coming easily.
“No,” I confirm, voice steady. “I’m not. I can’t. I can’t…leave her.”
“Anya,” Dad fills in, vocalizing her name as if he even has to verify who I’m speaking about. He doesn’t, he just wants me to say it. Wants me to tell him why I’ve made this choice.
This no-going-back decision, and my father needs me to own it.
“I love her.” He already knows this. How could he not? “I’m going to earn my place among the Morozov Bratva, and then I’m going to marry her. I have to ask her, of course, but I know she’ll say yes. Anton has already agreed to fit me in with his familial ranks, given our unique circumstances. In a year or so, he’ll make me akapitan,like his brothers and nephews.”
He explained as much after he had me tattooed. The still-healing ink on my shoulder is referred to as thekapitancrest,after all.
I can’t read my father’s expression, and the silence stretches on for so long between us that it makes my skin start to itch.
“Say something,” I plead, voice rasping. “Please.”
Dad steps closer, dropping his hands on my shoulders to steady me. “I’m proud of you, Matteo.”
“I know, I’m sorry, I—” Frozen, I hear the echo of his words and shake my head. “Wait, what?”
