What am I thinking? I’m marrying Alfonso.
He reaches for my hand and kisses the back of it. “So good to see you again.”
“I want to thank you all for helping my father last night,” I say confidently as my mother walks straight into my father’s room without sparing them a second glance. “I’m Natalia, Frank’s daughter.”
The more serious one’s gaze is turned on me, and he watches me acutely. I feel under inspection, like I’m under a microscope. My skin is tingling from his intense stare, but I try to ignore it. Try to not shiver under his scrutiny. The loose-fitting sweater I’m wearing doesn’t keep away the heat that rises in me as his intensity burns brighter.
“Sisco.” The first man kisses my hand again. “These are my brothers, Dominic and Joey.”
I look at the other two, seeing the clear resemblance between the three now. Each has their own look about them. Sisco looks wild and untamed, a mischievous sparkle to his eye. He’s handsome in a way that no doubt has women drawn to him like he’s a magnet. Joey is younger than the other two, with a dimple in one cheek that pulls in further when he smiles. He too has a mischievous air about him. He looks good in a suit, and he’s cocky and arrogant enough to know that. And then there’s Dominic. He’s dark and mysterious. He doesn’t have the same quality as the other two. He seems burdened with dark thoughts—worries, perhaps. His eyes are intense, and when he reaches over and takes both my hands in his I realize how large they are compared to mine, swallowing them up in one. Dominic is larger than the other two men—not that they’re small at all, but Dominic must have an intense workout schedule, because his suit is straining to contain him.
His jaw ticks as he watches me, and I feel the blush in my cheeks growing hotter. I squeeze my thighs together tightly as my body unwillingly responds to him.
“She had an evil face, smothered by hypocrisy, but her manners were excellent,” Sisco says, drawing my attention back to him. He’s grinning wildly and it sends a shiver down my spine.
“Excuse me?” I ask, confused, shocked, turned on.
Joey laughs. “Don’t mind him.” It’s his turn to take my hand now, and he kisses the back of it, his lips staying there for a beat too long as he looks up at me through his dark lashes. It’s a kiss on the hand, an action that has been done a thousand times in my life—my father commands respect for him and for his family from everyone—but this feels like more than that. This is the embodiment of seduction, and this time I can’t refrain the tremble of excitement that runs through me.
The door to my father’s room opens and Alfonso steps out, his expression turning dark when he sees me standing there, surrounded by these three men. My thighs squeezing together, my nipples hard, excitement flushing my cheeks. He reads me in seconds and he doesn’t like the plot.
“Cara mia,” he says sternly, a warning to them, and to me, “your father begs a moment of your time.” He looks over at the Novello brothers, and Joey releases my hand after another kiss—which I’m more than certain was done to incite Alfonso’s rage. “He also wishes to pay his respects to you.” He’s talking to all three of them, but he looks at Dominic.
Alfonso holds the door open and nods for me to enter, and I do, willing the heat in my cheeks to disappear. Mother is sitting by my father’s bedside, looking almost bored as we all enter, though I see her expression perk up in interest when she sees the brothers behind me.
Father is looking better than earlier. He has a plastic tube in his hand that is attached to a bag of fluids next to his bed. But his color has returned to his face, which gives me hope. When we’re all sitting or standing comfortably, he clears his throat.
“I want to thank you for what you did last night, Dominic. If it weren’t for you, I’m not sure what would have happened.” He hates admitting that. I can see it in his eyes how much it pains him to admit that he’s human and not invincible. “I wanted to pay my respects to you and thank you in person.”
Dominic moves closer and gives a nod of thanks. “If I may, it was my brother Joey who found you and began the CPR.”
For some reason I admire Dominic for admitting this. It shows confidence and respect in himself and his brother. He isn’t afraid of sharing the limelight with someone else. And he doesn’t have to lie to prove his worth, unlike Alfonso.
My father’s gaze moves to Joey and he nods his thanks. “I heard about your own father, Michael. It was a shock to us all. He was a good man. Strong within the community. I want you to know that I’m doing what I can to help you find out who did it. I’ve uncovered a great many things since the funeral, but further digging is required. However, my resources are your resources.”
“That’s greatly appreciated, Mr. Costello,” Dominic says. “We won’t rest until we find the bastard who did this and destroy him and everything he holds dear.”
His words make me shiver in fear, even though I clearly had nothing to do with his father’s death. Dominic means business, and when I look at his brothers, I see the same deathly vengeance emanating from each of them.
“Please, call me Frank. Your father and I had a many business dealings over the years, but we tended to stick to our own areas,” my father continues. “I’d like to change that and hope to strike up business with your family.”
Dominic nods. “I think that would be good for both of our standings. I have many fresh ideas that my father and I were working on.”
“I’d like to hear them, but perhaps when I’m not sitting with my ass out, huh?” He laughs and Dominic joins in.
His laugh is deep, a rumble coming from deep within his chest like a lion’s roar. It makes me smile, and father glances in my direction when I do. We share a moment. A father daughter moment that no one can break. Finally, however, he looks back to Dominic.
“I’d like to repay you in some way, for last night,” my father adds.
“That’s not necessary,” Dominic says, interrupting him.
My father holds up a hand. “It is.” He turns to my mother, taking her hand and squeezing it tightly. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead. My wife, my daughter . . .” He shakes his head, his emotions getting the better of him. “Who knows what would have happened to them. I’m not ready to leave this world just yet, and perhaps it’s been arrogant of me not to put steps in place for their safety. I thought I was doing what was right, but there comes a time in a man’s life when he recognizes that he has been wrong. That he must change for those that he loves.”
I’m staring in shock, confused by the man in the bed. This isn’t my father. This isn’t the man who raised me to believe that you never show any weakness, any vulnerability, of any kind. Yet here he is, splaying his vulnerability to the world.
Maybe it’s the drugs they have him on.
Or the lack of sleep.
