Page 36 of Maddest Temptation

“What?” I asked, smiling too.

“You’re not going to faint, are you?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“That you’re nervous?” he inquired, a flicker of light in his eyes. “Yes.”

“Oh,” I chuckled nervously. “At least that’s out of the way. What gave me away?” He stopped and pondered my question.

“Your legs won’t stop tapping, you’ve bitten your lip raw, you’ve dug your nails so deep into your palms they’ll start bleeding,” he explained. “And this is your second cup of coffee in less than two minutes,” he answered matter of fact.

I was a nerve ball, so what?

The boy before me was a complete stranger, to me and I was a complete stranger to him. I had no idea what to say and there was a lot I wanted to. Marco used to be the one person I knew I could speak freely with. Even being ten years younger, we were close, and I missed him so much. So, fucking much, that my heart was threatening to explode right now.

“You’ve grown observant.”

“I’ve grown.” He stated.

Silence stretched between us again.

“I know she’s sick, so there’s no need to lie to me like they have been doing for the past few months.”

“I—I wasn’t.” I totally was.

“Spare me. Everyone thinks I’m a kid, but I’m not, Francesca. I’ve seen things boys my age has never even dreamed of. I’m not scared of death.”

I looked at my brother, his jadedness, his coldness, and his ability to stand still. He had never been like that. He was always running around and causing trouble. What happened to him? What were the things he saw? My traitorous mind took me to the one place I shouldn’t have gone. Had he killed? Had he become a Made Man?

“I didn’t say you were. Mamma asked me to keep it from you and we haven’t exactly spoken these past few years. If you have questions, I’ll answer them. I promise.” He looked at me as if he didn’t really believe me.

“How bad?”

“I don’t know,” I answered.

“What stage?”

“Four.”

“How long have you known?” He grilled me, question after question.

“Marco—”

“How long?”

I sighed in defeat. “A month now.”

He grunted, which sounded like he was somewhat satisfied. I wasn’t going to lie, I meant it. But there were also things I wasn’t ready to talk to him about like the fact that my mother was worse than she had been when I first saw her. That she was only going to get worse, and that there were challenging times ahead of us. Us. It was weird thinking about him here with me.

“I can’t stay any longer.” He looked back at the doors like he was expecting someone to show up. Probably one of Donato’s guards.

“I know.”

“Father won’t allow me to stay. He doesn’t even know I’m here.”

“I know, and I won’t be the one to tell him. He doesn’t know I’m here either,” I promised him.

“I have to go; he will be coming home anytime soon.”

---