Page 25 of Tammaro DeLuca

“Max and I aren’t seeing eye to eye with one another.” I admitted. That wasn’t just because my eye was swollen shut, either.

“Personal issues don’t matter when business is the topic. Besides, Martina told me you held your own in the fight. She’s equally pissed at the both of you for breaking her table. Make that up to her before Sunday dinner. She might not let you get seconds.” He laughed.

“Sunday dinner?” I sighed. What the hell?

“Yeah, you’ve missed enough of those. Be at her house today around five. Bring the family and make sure you leave your pride outside the house. We don’t need to air it out more than once while she prays to every saint known to Italians. I’m talking candles, incense, and maybe even sage too.” He joked, but I heard the seriousness there as well.

“Simo will have an update when you get there. No business in front of the women. I tell Martina what she needs to know. The rest makes her restless. Did you handle the driver?”

Damn, what didn’t he know?

“I did.”

“I’ll send some guys your way. You’re going to need a hell of a lot more security at that big ass house you bought.”

“I got a deal on it.”

“It’s not what you paid, but how it looks. Scale it down a little.”

“I’m getting shit from you, too?” I growled.

“Who else is?”

“What, you don’t know that already?” I teased.

“My guess is Yolanda. She’s a tough fucking nut to crack. She hates my guts, so I can’t help you there. But talk to her about finding something different since she handles real estate. Maybe get something less like your ego and more like hers. She’s a badass, but she doesn’t need to tell the world. Everybody already knows.”

The son of a bitch was pissing me off with how right he was. Though my ego wasn’t inflated.

“I’ll talk to her.”

“Good. I’ll work on protection, and we'll go from there.”

“Deal.” The call lasted a few more minutes before I got off feeling better about their safety.

Now I had to tell them we were expected at dinner today and figure out how to make things right with Martina. Why was it I needed to fix things with all the women in my life today?

Didn’t matter. All that did was that I was never in this fucking situation again. The three of them were forces to reckon with individually. If I didn’t do something soon, I’d have the three of them alone in one room, conspiring on how to make my life hell. Now that was something that I didn’t need.

Jumping up and into action, I went to go figure out things quickly so that at least one of them was on my side later. Yolanda was going to be the hardest one to crack. Getting in good with Asmaria and Martina would only help my chances.

Goal. Win them all over.

Welcome, operation: get out of the trenches.

I had a lot of work to do, and the day had already begun. It was time to make friends with Time and get it the fuck on my side.

YOLANDA

Dinner. I’d thrown a silent fit the entire time that I’d been getting dressed. I didn’t have time to play nicely with the in-laws. Instead, I had things to figure out to get me out of this marriage. Getting Ro on better ground in order to conquer this Puff issue was my highest priority. There was no way that I was going to make it five years with him.

Here we were, though. On the way to meet his family and pretend like we were the perfect one over here. I didn’t want to grin and bear it. However, Asmaria seemed so happy at getting the chance to meet more family. With me being an only child, she only had my parents. With Ro, he provided uncles, aunts, and cousins. I couldn’t deny her a chance to meet her family, no matter how crooked they were.

Forgetting when Simone was supposed to be back proved problematic right now. I needed to figure out if she was friend or foe, and I really needed her to be the first. A person completely on my side would be helpful right now.

Martina greeted us at the door with welcoming arms. She was all over Asmaria and wasted no time introducing her to Amina. They were far in age, but that meant nothing to Asmaria. She was learning about her heritage, something I couldn’t teach her. Though a small part of me was sad, most of me was extremely happy for her. Growing up as an only child was difficult for me and I wished more times than not for siblings that I could play with. That’s why I wanted at least two children, but when Ro left, he left a hole I couldn’t quite fill with anybody else. When anybody got close, I was always terrified that they’d disappear. Yeah, I know. I needed therapy, especially since his reappearance hadn’t had the happily ever after that I’d needed.

“It’s going to be awhile before I serve dinner. I have refreshments in the kitchen, though.” Martina informed me.

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