The room was inanuproar as my estranged family took in what I had just said to them. Everyone had an opinion and needed to be the loudest one in my dad’s den.
Finally, my mom put her arms up and shouted at everyone. “Enough! Gianni, Caterina,” she took a large breath, closed her eyes, and turned toward Scout and me. “And Scout.” Her voice was calmer in addressing the woman whose hand I was squeezing. “Please leave the den. Scout, I’ll have Peter show you Desiderio’s rooms. I’ll have him bring up a tray of blood for you. We need to talk to our son alone.”
I opened my mouth in protest,but the vampire woman who gave me life put her hand up. While she appeared twenty-seven, like everyone else in the room, her mind was of a woman who had lived a long time. She wasn’t putting up with my shit. “Absolutely not. Go. All of you!” She waved to my older siblings. They poutedbut stormedout,muttering about me.
Reluctantly, I let go of Scout and turned to her. Her red eyes were large,andshe wasunsure what to do. I forced a smile, which,unfortunately,I knew was really rough. She saw right through it but didn’t say anything. I cleared my throat. “I should probably talk to them in private. Go ahead with Peter. You can explore my bedroom and see what I was like as a teen.” I wiggled my eyebrows in an attempt to get her excited.
She nodded and started toward the door. Peter was there to greet her and escort her out. I rolled my eyes. Gianni probably sprinted to get the butler. He was so fucking petty.
Peter closed the door behind us,and then a large slap on my dad’s desk caused me to jump and turn.
“How could you do such a thing,Desiderio!” He bellowed. I gulped. I stared, open-mouthed, at the man who looked similar to me, but his style made us total opposites. I was wearing a worn Pantera shirt while he had on a grey three-piece suit. “Does her family know?”
“Scout’s?” I cocked my head in confusion.
“Aleida!” The vein in his forehead bulged, matching his blood-red eyes. “Does the Linotti family know what you did with that girl?” He spat.
“I don’t know. Dad, it’s been thirty years. We’ve gone this long without each other.I think you guys trying to push this is absurd.”
“We had no memory of the deal. Nor did they. To us, it’s as if you are still engaged to be married.” My mother spoke in a much softer tone. Both me and my dad spun our heads to look at her. She sighed deeply. “Desiderio, why did you do this? To get back at us?”
I looked around the room and scoffed. I had grown up knowing that all of the Amato wealth would one day be mine,providedI followedtheir rules. If that was the case, I didn’t want it. “You turned your back on me when I turned. I’ve been the black sheep of the family just because I don’t look like you,and you expect me to give you what you want?”
“This is the vampire you took that curse for?” My dad smirked, shaking his head. “You gave up everything for aBloodbornwith no family line? It’s incredulous. Howcouldyou?”
“Eugenio, yelling isn’t getting us anywhere.” My mom went to him behind his desk and urged him down into his chair. She pointed to one of the leather chairs Gianni had been sitting in. I sat too,and for a long moment,the room was quiet. Finally, my mother continued the discussion. “We haven’t seen you in person since you broke your curse. Now that you remember things,tell ushow this happened.”
“You mean the sex or the curse?”
My dad slammed his fist on his desk so hard it shook. “God damn it!”
My mom reached for his shoulders and shoved him back down. She shot daggers at me with her glare that caused me to shrink into my seat. “This isn’t a joke, Desiderio.”
I licked my lips and blinked, trying to figure out where to begin.
“Okay. I met Scout in nineteen-ninety-three and fell in love for the first time.”
I waited for my parents to let my bold statement set in.
They had introduced me to Aleida Linotti in nineteen-eighty-nine.
My mom blinked and then raised an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you tell us about this other Bloodborn woman? Perhaps we could have figured things out.”
“I didn’t know she was a vampire. We were both unturned. I thought she was human.”
“So you knew you shouldn’t have pursued her then.” My Dad reprimanded me.
I agreed with him. “I’m fully aware. I’d spent weeks trying to figure out how to end things before I turned. Our birthdays are one night apart. I decided to wait until she turned twenty-seven and then call it.”
But I hadn’t.
I had chosen to break up with Aleida instead, but in an attempt to be honest, I told Scout about what I had done to both of them. That I was cheating, and she was the other woman. That had caused the fight on the bridge.
“But she did turn.” my mom shook her head in confusion.
“Yeah. But neither of uswas prepared for it.We were out in public when she dropped to the ground. I thought she was really dying. Then, I panicked when she woke back up and needed blood. We were alone. I couldn’t just let her die.” I threw my hands up. They knew that. When your human heart dies and you return as a vampire,you need blood immediately,or you die for good. I had minutes to save her.
“You chose to give her your blood? Permanently sealing your fates.” My mother mourned the loss of a perfectly good match between the Amato and Linotti families. “You tied yourself to her without thinking about everything, Desiderio,” she scolded lightly.
