Page 18 of His to Honor

Actually, I have my doubts. I suspect Livvy would be better off in New York under my mother’s guidance, but Antonio preferred to send her away. It’s what he does when the women in our lives become a problem. He tries to pretend the issue doesn’t exist. Unfortunately out of sight, out of mind doesn’t work for him. He’ll worry over our sister more while she’s here than he would if she was at home where he can keep an eye on her.

Though I disagree with my brother on this occasion, I won’t express my thoughts on the matter to anyone outside of the family, not even Giulia. Unity and loyalty are the keys to our success. If I have something to say, Antonio is the only one who’ll hear it.

“I do.”

Giulia shakes her head disapprovingly. “Fucking prehistoric assholes, the lot of you.”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to hurl insults, sweetheart. You don’t know the whole story yet.”

“I don’t need the whole story to think you’re a bunch of medieval dinosaurs.”

The corners of my lips lift. “Medieval dinosaurs? I think you’re getting your time periods confused.”

Giulia scowls. “You know what I mean. So what’s the rest of the story?”

“Joey Gallo got hold of the photos.”

Her lips pull back as she hisses through her teeth. She knows as well as I do the Gallos are all snakes. “How?”

“No fucking clue.” So far, my sister has refused to go into detail about who took the photos and how they got passed to our enemies. “Joey used the photos to blackmail Isabella into letting him and his cousin Vito into their house.”

“Antonio’s house?” Giulia clarifies.

“Yeah, there was a tussle and Antonio got shot.”

“Fuck!” Giulia takes a moment to process what I’ve told her. “What happened to Joey and Vito?”

“Leo took care of them.”

Though Alessandro and I were present during their torture and execution, my second oldest brother did most of the work. He’s closest to Antonio and took the attack on our brother as a personal insult. We barely convinced him not to shoot Isabella too.

“Is that why Antonio sent Izzy away?”

“Yes.” My brother sending his wife to live in his beach house in the aftermath of the shooting is another shining example of how he deals with women who disappoint him. “She covered for Livvy.”

Giulia’s jaw clenches. I knew she’d be pissed when she found out my sister was to blame for our friend being punished.

“I assume Livvy finally told Antonio the truth, since Izzy’s home now.”

“She did, but that’s not why he brought her home.” I rub my chin as I weigh up whether to tell her the rest of the story. It’s probably better coming from me rather than Livvy blurting something out if she gets upset. “There was an incident with Rico Mancini.”

Giulia purses her lips. “Does thisincidenthave something to do with the entire Mancini family disappearing off the face of the earth?”

“Rico tried to assault Isabella. She split his head open with a frying pan.”

“She killed him?”

The surprise in Giulia’s voice echoes the shock I’d felt when I saw Rico’s body. Isabella’s always been a gentle soul, but when she needed to protect herself, she became a savage.

“Yeah. His family came after her. They drove Dante off the road when he was giving her a ride.” I omit telling her that Isabella was only in a car with my brother’s closest friend because Antonio was banishing her again. He wasn’t pleased when Livvy told the truth and took it out on his wife. “Dante ended up in the hospital and…”

“Dante?” Giulia scrunches up her nose as she interrupts me. “He drove me to the airport before I flew over here. He didn’t mention being in an accident.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Does Dante usually share things with you?”

“No,” Giulia snaps. “So what happened with the Mancinis?”

“They got what was coming to them.”

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