Page 5 of Release Me

Her entrance prompts a quick setting of the table, so we can all take turns pulling her into bear hugs and kissing the top of her head. When Andreas hugs her, he sneaks in a few tickles that make her squirm and giggle like she used to when she was a baby. Her laughter and desperate shrieks, courtesy of Andreas’ need for revenge, is the soundtrack playing when our parents join us in the dining room. Dad pulls out Mom’s chair, and we all take that as our cue to sit down as well.

Once we’re all settled, Dad splits an approving gaze between the four of us and smiles. “Thank you all for being here.”

Luca glances at me, silently asking me what the fuck is going on because like the public kisses, my father’s outward expressions of gratitude are rare. I shrug because despite being the most like him, I have no idea what goes on in my father’s head most of the time. I’ve spent my life trying to figure him out, to make sense of the way he’s both completely integrated in our family yet apart from us at the same time.

“You’re welcome, Daddy.” Zoe beams from her seat beside Mom, and we all chime in, offering various versions of the same response.

Mom claps her hands. “Everybody dig in!”

While we fix our plates and pass the dishes filled with food around, she gives us a detailed breakdown of what we’re about to eat. By the time I take my first bite of the sandwich she made to go with the salad she was dressing when I arrived, I know that the chicken on it was raised on a free range farm and that the spread on both sides of the toasted ciabatta bread has roma tomatoes, calabrian chiles, garlic, basil and olive oil in it. Everything is delicious, as usual, and we all are sure to let her know that her efforts are appreciated.

“Mom, can you send me the recipe for this sandwich? I think it could fit well on the lunch menu for the rooftop during the summer.”

“Sure, sweetheart,” she answers, taking a sip of water from her glass. “How are things with the restaurant? You’re not working your cousin too hard are you? He said he wanted to come to lunch today, but he couldn’t because you had him running interviews.”

I wipe my mouth with a napkin and push my plate away. Vince is such a pain in the ass. Of course, he’s on the phone whining to my mother about me making him solve a problem he created.

“The restaurant is fine.”

Dad raises a brow, immediately noticing that my answer is incomplete. “And Vincent?”

My jaw clenches. Dad is only pushing because he’s hoping I’ll finally admit he was right when he told me not to hire Vince. Avoiding having to cede that fact to him is part of the reason why my annoying, weasel of a cousin still has a job.

“Vince is good, Dad.”

“Liar,” Luca says, coughing in his hand in a horribly executed attempt to hide the word while Andreas gives me a look that says I should tell our parents the truth. My brothers and I are close, so they’ve heard me air my grievances about Vince on more than one occasion. Like Dad, they were both team keep Vince out of your business. I was the fool who let Mom and Aunt Adrienne guilt me with their matching puppy dog eyes over a home cooked meal.

Dad sits back in his seat, eyes trained on my face like he’s trying to suss out the lie I haven’t even told yet. “Why are you hiring again?”

I shrug, hating the way his question makes me feel like a kid again and completely rethinking the time in the kitchen when I was wishing for his attention. “We’re just experiencing some growing pains, getting rid of the people who aren’t able to keep up with the demand.”

There’s no need to admit that I don’t know why people are quitting, that I’ve been too busy working on plans for the Cerros resort along the coast of Santa Monica to get to the bottom of it. Dad wouldn’t understand my confusion or approve of my distraction. He’d give me a well-intentioned speech about how there’s nothing happening in any of the businesses he owns that he’s not aware of. He opens his mouth to respond, but Mom stops him with a hand on his shoulder, changing the subject effortlessly.

“Talia called me yesterday. She said she’s coming to town.”

At the mention of my ex-wife’s name, all of my siblings perk up. They all love Talia, and every time she comes to visit, they each drop everything they’re doing to be available when she inevitably calls and ropes them into some random adventure.

“When?” Zoe asks.

“At the end of next month,” I say, shaking my head because her brown eyes are already alight with excitement and I don’t even want to know what the two of them get into when Talia is in town.

Andreas lifts a brow at me. “What’s she coming for this time? Business or pleasure?”

“You know Tally,” Luca replies even though no one is talking to him. “Probably a little bit of both.”

I glare at the two of them, and they laugh, making me regret the conversation we had last year where I confirmed their suspicions that Talia and I still hook up from time to time. We couldn’t make our marriage work, mainly because we’re both inflexible assholes who refuse to be wrong about anything, but we’ve always been good at business…and pleasure.

“Business. She says she wants to run some things by me concerning the resorts in Antigua and Tulum.”

Both of my brothers smirk, but it’s Andreas who responds. “And she couldn’t just send it in an email?”

I asked that same question when Talia sent me her travel itinerary. We’d already had our annual fuck fest, as Luca and Andreas liked to call it, when I flew to Antigua in April, so we aren’t due to see each other in person until next year. Whatever she has to say must be too important or personal to be put in an email.

“I guess not.”

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NADIA