Timothy faced all of them, one by one. Devon almost felt bad for the guy, because his apology seemed genuine. Squaring his shoulders, his gaze slid to Elena. With lips partially open and tears brewing in her eyes, she looked back at him. Shit. Was she going to hate him for outing her ex, and outing the kind of relationship she had tried hard to hide from her family? Even moved away.
Unable to figure out the emotion flickering in her eyes, Devon cleared his throat. This kind of impulsiveness was so not his style. Yet she brought it out of him in different ways. If he were in a sci-fi movie she’d be a sexy robot created to destroy humanity. Or just rip men from their common sense.
“You hurt my sister?” Raffaello raised his voice, but when he motioned to launch at Timothy and probably punch him too, two of the other brothers held him back.
“A lot. I was apologizing to her now,” Timothy said.
“A bit late, isn’t it?” Salvatore retorted. “All this time we thought you were our friend.”
Raffaello motioned to move again, but the others brought him to a halt. Barely. With flaring nostrils, he groaned. “When I get my hands on you—”
Elena waved her hands. “Guys, stop.”
Timothy turned to her brothers. “This isn’t the place. I can explain everything if you want, but I don’t think we should do this here.”
“Why? Because you don’t wanna ruin the party like you ruined my sister? Blaming an addiction just on your willingness to screw her up?” Emilio asked.
“Hey, go easy on him,” someone screamed behind them.
“Easy?” Raffaello snarled. “This guy—”
“That’s it!” Elena yelled. “That’s why I didn’t want any of you to know about our marriage, because I know you’d go all cavemen on him and land yourselves in prison.”
One of her brothers tried to speak, but she shushed him. “Quiet. I forgave him, and I don’t wanna dissect what happened. It’s my failed marriage. My choice.”
“Why didn’t you tell us, bambina? Why did you move away and shut us out?” her mother asked. Devon’s heart squeezed. The woman’s face wrinkled, and she kept blinking back tears.
“I wanted to handle things my way. I love you all, but it’s my life. Growing up, I always feared what my brothers would think or do. I couldn’t keep living like that.”
Rocco sighed. “Elena…we always meant well.”
“I know. So do I. Listen, I need a breather. Devon and I will sleep at a hotel tonight.” She stretched her hand to his, and he took it. She started to walk out of the room, then halted for a moment and glanced over her shoulders. “And guess what? Here’s another shocker. We won’t be getting two different rooms.”
