Page 139 of Vicious Temptation

She giggles and squeezes me tighter. “You came! Auntie Amalia said she didn’t think you’d come, but I knew you would.” She pulls back just enough to look at me. “Did you get my message?”

“I did.” I tuck one of her curls behind her ear and smile.

“And you ignored it?” Her big brown eyes narrow and her nose scrunches.

Who would have thought that after stabbing and shooting grown men, I’d end up intimidated by a six-year-old?

“I loved all your little emojis, Zara. I miss you too, a ton. I’m sorry I didn’t text back. I’ll make it up to you with ice cream. How’s that sound?”

“And sprinkles? The chocolate ones.”

“We can’t forget the sprinkles,” I say with a laugh.

“She really knows how to lay on the guilt, doesn’t she?”

Matteo stands over us, grinning, with both hands outstretched. We each take one, and he hauls us to our feet.

“I wonder where she gets it,” I tease, throwing an arm around him. “And I have a bone to pick with you. Are we just delivering cops to my door now?”

“He saved my sister. I owed him one.”

“At my expense? I thought I was your favorite, Matteo. I’m disappointed.”

“You could’ve been,” he says with a shrug and a wink.

Zara stares at us, visibly confused. “You two are so weird.” Her face brightens. “Wait, are you talking about your friend Officer Thiago?”

Calling Thiago my friend shouldn’t sound so wrong, considering I told Mamá he was exactly that.

“Yeah. He came to visit me the other day.”

“Is he your boyfriend now? Did you kiss him again?”

Of course she remembers that.

“That’s enough from you.”

Matteo scoops her up and throws her over his shoulder as she squeals.

“Remi, your mom is in her study. She said she wants to talk to you.”

I sigh, already pretty sure what this is about, but I’ll play along.

After blowing Zara a kiss, I head down the hall as Matteo carries her around the corner.

Voices come from the other side of the study door, but the wood is too thick for me to make out what anyone is saying. Mamá clearly isn’t alone, and irritation creeps in before I even reach for the handle. I’m twenty-two. I shouldn’t have to sit through an interrogation about who I’m dating.

Not that I’m dating anyone, because Thiago and I are just friends who happen to fuck, which apparently makes everything perfectly uncomplicated.

At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.

I skip the knock and push open the heavy door, only to nearly stop in my tracks.

I expected my dad to be in here with her, not to walk into a full-blown family meeting.

Aunt Leni and Uncle Silas sit by the window, with Uncle Derek and Aunt Eva beside them, while my parents stand behind the desk. The conversation dies the moment I enter, and every pair of eyes in the room turns toward me.

I know everyone well enough to recognize when something is wrong. These are not people who scare easily, overreact, or call the entire family because someone made a questionable life choice. Whatever brought all six of them into this room is serious.