Fine.
If my humiliation is useful, I will endure it.
Still, I lift my chin. “Regardless of what any of you think you know, Papà does not know.”
“Are we sure about that?” Nico asks.
I turn slowly.
He holds up one hand. “Just asking.”
“He does not know,” I say firmly, because the alternative is too horrifying to consider.
Vito is smirking. “He probably figured it out before you did.”
“Shut up!” I say, in true sister fashion.
Lucia’s mouth curves faintly. “Well, if he doesn’t, he will the second he sees Adrian’s face when you’re in the room.”
My stomach flips.
I hate that.
I love that.
I hate that I love that.
“I am serious,” I say. “If Papà finds out tonight, those people out there will be the least of our worries.”
Vito’s expression shifts back to grim. “She’s right.”
The brief lightness vanishes.
Just like that, the room plunges again.
I turn back to the dead monitors.
“Does anyone hear anything?” I ask.
We all go still.
For a moment, there is only breathing. Cristiano’s soft little noise. Gabriel fussing against Lucia. Charlotte whispering something to Sofia.
Then—
A muffled thud overhead.
Everyone freezes.
Vito’s weapon comes up.
Nico’s too.
Nick moves his body in front of Lucia and the children. No training needed to be a husband, father, and protector.
My skin goes cold at another heavy sound above us.
They are in the house.
