Page 16 of Tammaro DeLuca

Brother…

That was the first time that I’d been called that and felt anything besides anger. Maybe it was the genuine way in which she’d said it. I got the feeling that Martina said nothing that she didn’t mean.

“What was it like being the only girl in the DeLuca family?” I asked her, not knowing any other way to say it. I wasn’t sure how much she knew about what we did.

“You mean growing up in a criminal empire?” She eyed me.

I chuckled. No bullshit here, huh? “Yes.”

“It was annoying at first. Everybody tried to keep everything away from me. I couldn’t go outside or play with friends. Ami kept everybody away.”

“Ami?” I asked, confused.

“Sorry, Beni. He chased away every boy who was ever bold enough to come to the stoop. When Simo–Massimo was old enough, he took over keeping the ‘bums’ away. Beni had bigger things to do. He was trained from a very young age to take over. How to walk, dress, talk, and even how to instill fear. He didn’t get the same life that I did. I got to be a child, you know? Dresses, dolls, toys, curfews, approval seeking to do things, and even being grounded. All Ami knew was the business. When Simo got older and his growth spurts caught up to him, he was massive. He worked out to make sure nobody was stronger or tougher than he was. Then that was put to use, too.” Martina ran her fingers through her hair. “Sorry, when I’m tired, I get talkative.”

“No, that actually says a lot.” I paused, weighing my options. Then I said fuck it. “I just found out that I have a daughter.”

“Congrats! When was she born? Yesterday? Today?”

“Fourteen years ago.”

Martina blinked a few times, and then she stood, exiting the room. When she came back, she had a bottle of red and two glasses.

“It’s not even noon yet.” I shook my head at her.

“No, but some things carry no weight when a bomb like that is dropped.” She poured us both a glass and handed me mine before she leaned back with hers. “Start talking.”

I sipped before I gave her the full version of the story. It took two glasses for her to respond.

“People ask me all the time why I don’t have that many friends that are women. My brothers have enough drama to entertain me forever. Plus, all the guards that come in and out of here tell me just as much shit. But I promise you, there is nothing like what the three of you come in here to tell me.” She giggled and held up her glass before taking another sip. “One thing you’ll always get from me is the truth. Not what you want to hear, but the truth. The one that stares you in the face and scares you. Are you ready for that?”

Maybe.

“Depends on how you drop it to me.”

“Hard, fast, and true.”

I nodded, weighing my options. I came to her.

“I’m listening.”

“You’ve never stopped being in love with her. You only hid it because you didn’t know how to find her. But then … you did know?”

“No, I didn’t know who her father was until recently.”

“Like a month?”

“About two years. It never dawned on me to check into her father. Not until his company showed up, harassing me about our property in Italy. Even then, it’s been fifteen years. What do you say to somebody after all that time?”

“Hey, I found you and wanted to say hi. I miss you. Damn, you’re fine. Want to have sex?”

I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. “That shit doesn’t work for us men. Women can get away with that and there’s no penalty. It’s even sexy. Not us.”

“Okay, fine. Your way didn’t work either. So not only did you fuck her, but you marked her in that way. Cause if it’s as good as you said it was, she’s feeling the effects of that too. Then, you’re blackmailing her dad, sold her house, married her, and now her and the kid are inside a foreign place where you walked out on them because YOU couldn’t deal. Tell me again how that’s better?”

She warned me. The harsh truth was right there.

“Now what?” I sighed, washing my face with my hands.

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