Page 29 of Little Rabbit

“They’re going to love you.” I caress her jaw with my thumb.

She stares up at me but doesn’t reply. As much as she tries to hide it, I see the vulnerability in her eyes. “It’s not every day you meet members of your long-lost family. One tries to kidnap and kill you, while the other might resent you for getting out when she couldn’t. Not exactly an easy reunion.”

“Your brothers are bastards and you’ll do well to not worry about them at all, but your sister, she’s nothing like them. You’ll see that once you meet her. If you need a buffer, I’ll step in.” I can’t resist leaning down to kiss her again. “I’ve got you, Sienna. And if you really can’t do this now, then I’ll take you back up to my room and do this without you. My father will understand.” I’ll make sure he does.

“No, I’m fine.” Then she surprises me by lifting her hand to mine and leaning into it for the briefest of moments. “Thank you, Alessio,” she whispers, before dropping her hand and nudging me back. I move, but all I want to do is pull her back into me. I want more of this side of her. The soft, vulnerable side that makes me want to hold her close and never let go, that balances the stubborn side that drives me insane. Fuck, the woman is seriously messing with my head.

I take her hand again, and this time she doesn’t try to pull away as she follows me to the sitting room at the end of the hall. The noise of everyone talking increases the closer we get, and I can feel myself sliding back into that practiced skin as I always do. Sienna glances at me with a slight frown, but says nothing as I let a wicked smile pull on my lips. Then she rolls her eyes when I yell, “Where is my Boo Bear? I’ve missed you! Come and give me a kiss.”

The entire room bursts into laughter, even as Nico shoots me a withering glare. He glances at Sienna before he grinds out, “You’re lucky you have a shield protecting you or I’d kill you where you stand.”

“Awww, Boo Bear, are you jealous?” I taunt, pulling Sienna in close and wrapping an arm around her waist. “Don’t worry, you’ll always be my first love.” I blow him a kiss that has everyone else snickering, while Nico looks like he’s ready to murder me. I understand his intention to make me pay for all the shit I continue to poke at him with. Standing over six feet tall, with dark hair that he currently has swept back in a simple style, dark eyes, and a five-o’clock shadow, I know he and I would be equally matched, but the woman in his lap would never let that happen.

That very woman is staring at Sienna with a look of shock, longing, and even fear. The smile falls from my face as I look at Sienna, who is watching her with a look I can’t quite decipher. I give her hand a quick squeeze and say, “Sienna, I’m sure you’ve already figured this out, but this is your sister, Giulia Armani. Gia, your sister, Sienna Harris.”

“Hello,” Gia says softly, her voice cracking. Nico’s face morphs into a scowl at the sound and he holds his wife closer, his arm curling around her protectively. The look he aims at Sienna is one of warning. Sienna meets it head on, her gaze direct, and pride swells inside me. There she is, my fearless little rabbit.

Sienna tugs her hand away from mine; as much as I want to snatch it back, I force myself to let her walk away. From behind her, I send Nico a dark warning look of my own. I will never allow Sienna to be disrespected by anyone, not even him. Nico’s gaze is hard, but he also releases Gia—extremely reluctantly—who gets to her feet, wringing her hands. I want to soothe her too, but I know that’s not my place. Though I don’t miss the way Sofia moves from her position near Dante.

When Sienna stands in front of her, she gives her a wry smile and says, “Can we agree that men suck, and our brothers, well one for sure, suck ass and could use a good pistol whipping to knock some sense into their thick, misogynistic heads?”

Sofia lets out a snorting laugh, and Gia’s mouth lifts into an amused smile. “Yeah, we can agree on that.” The sisters grin at each other, and it strikes me how alike they look. Then it’s instant as they reach for each other and hold each other close. I can see the relief on Sienna’s face from here, and the longing and pain on Gia’s.

I glance around the room at the smiles and knowing looks from my family and friends. This is what we hoped for, and to finally have it happening is another step towards winning the coming war.

I look back at Gia and Sienna who have pulled back, but are still holding hands as if neither is ready to let go. I step forward, but Sofia shoots me a warning look. Normally I would ignore it, but something tells me not to screw this up. So I stop my advance and watch as Sofia steps forward with a warm smile toward the women. “Welcome, Sienna,” she says warmly. “Seeing as this is an emotional occasion, how about us ladies step out for a moment? I have some lovely wine in the kitchen waiting for us.”

“Sofia,” Nico growls, getting to his feet.

“Oh calm down, Nico,” Sofia sniffs, clearly uncaring he is also her boss and could fire her if she pushes him too hard. “I’m not going to steal your wife away. I’m merely going to give her and her sister a few minutes to get their emotions out in private instead of in front of a bunch of people that one of them doesn’t know. You can cool your obsessive husband vibe until we’re back.” She takes each of the women by the arm and leads them toward the doorway without another word.

I want to grab her and hold her back, but I also know Sofia’s right. This is a big moment for them, and Sofia will make sure Sienna doesn’t go too far away. As Sofia walks past with them, she sends me a knowing look, and that’s all I need to relax. She’s got it handled, and I can focus on what we need to discuss. Still, I can’t help but groan when I hear Sienna remark, “I can already tell that we’re going to be fast friends.”

Sofia chuckles. “Honey, I knew it the moment you put that knife to Alessio’s throat and took a picture. You’re going to have to show me some of your moves and I’ll show you some of mine.”

“Wait, I think I missed this,” Gia chimes in. “What happened?” Their voices drain away as Sienna explains, and I make a mental note to make her pay for that again later.

“I’m killing you if your woman even thinks of teaching my wife any of that shit,” Nico warns Dante darkly. “Or yours,” he adds to me as well.

Dante Esposito just smirks. At a little over six-feet, he’s a large Black man that keeps himself in remarkable shape, and even though he works with Nico in New York, the man’s reputation is well known across many different continents. His eyes are a bright blue, and few know that he is an illegitimate cousin of Nico’s; his father is Nico’s uncle. It’s a tangle of family connections, but the loyalty Dante has for Nico is unbreakable. He also isn’t one for talking; at least not around here. Probably because he knows that one wrong word will have all of us on his ass. Sofia is the only girl in the Cattaneo family, and ours by extension, so to say we’re protective is an understatement.

“Afraid to wake up to a knife against your throat, Armani?” Massimo snickers. My younger brother by two years, he’s the only one out of the three of us that looks like our mother, something that has irked him since the day we found out about her betrayal. But he is just as lethal as the rest of us. His hair is a dark blonde, and his eyes are hazel, much like Sienna’s. He runs the logistics side of our businesses, making sure our products have a clear route wherever they need to go.

“Probably more afraid that he wouldn’t wake up and would just feel the slash, then it would be over,” Zeno snickers. The youngest of us, and six years younger than me, the only thing that he got from our mother is her hair. The rest of him is purely our father, right down to the dark eyes. Zeno is often the quiet one unless he’s with us or close friends. He handles the soldiers and contractors we employ, while also dipping his hands in the logistical side when we need him to. He is the one who took our mothers’ betrayal the hardest; he wasn’t himself for a while until he seemed to finally snap out of it.

“It’d be more like Sofia to be the one to do it and then help Gia escape,” Lazaro states. “Might need to start hiding the weapons, Armani. Make sure no one gets any ideas.”

“A foolish thing to do when war is coming,” Papa remarks with a shake of his head. “Gia will no sooner do such a thing than Sofia unless she was ordered.” He gives Nico a sly smile, the underlying implication making the rest of us grin. Nico just narrows his eyes but doesn’t reply. “Now, we need to get down to business. We don’t have much time before we have either the Parisis or some faction of the De Lucas on our doorstep. Having both women under our roof will draw them in like buzzards.”

The room sobers and I move to take a seat on the sofa next to Aurelio, who gives me a slight chin lift in greeting. An older version of his sons, the man stands at six-six, with salt and pepper hair, dark eyes, a well-kept beard, and built like a fucking brick thanks to keeping himself in tip-top shape. I’ve had a few cracked ribs thanks to those fists when I was young and training with him. He and my father have been friends for a very long time, and there were times growing up he was the only one I felt I could go to with my problems. He never made me feel less for it, and he graciously stepped aside as the Underboss when I came of age and took over as head of our security. There are few men I respect as much as him.

“My guy has been looking for any information on the De Lucas or Parisis and their movements, but so far most things are quiet, aside from their men currently in Europe to get to Sienna,” Aurelio says, leaning forward and looking at his phone. “And we can confirm that Rafaele is still in New York.”

“He’s going to be pissed when he finds out that Giovanni’s men failed to get Sienna,” Alonzo remarks grimly. All the Cattaneo brothers look like their father, with dark hair and eyes, but Alonzo is the shortest—if six-five could ever be considered short—and has a boyish charm to him that the others don’t. The final brother is Urso, who is six-six like his father, and has a quiet intensity that makes him very good at his job, and also one of our most intense soldiers. Not to mention the bastard is fucking creative in his torture techniques.

“You think he’ll kill Giovanni?” Lazaro asks.

“It’s a high possibility,” Massimo answers. “He’s always killing people that piss him off, so I doubt he’s going to care about killing a man who’s not even a Don. I mean, if he does, Leonardo isn’t going to go after him for it. He’ll probably send him a fucking medal for getting rid of one of his problems.”

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