Page 61 of His to Honor

I nod in thanks and walk away.

“For what it’s worth,” Emilia calls out, “I think you’re doing the right thing.”

I don’t respond. I can’t. Instead, I hurry along the corridor, choosing the guest bedroom farthest from the master suite. I don’t bother to turn the light on, but step forward and collapse onto the king-sized bed.

In the morning, I’ll go to Giulia and give her the annulment papers. I’ll set her free and hopefully some small part of her will come back to me one day. My chest tightens at the thought it might never happen. I hated those six months when she was out of my life. I’m not sure I’ll survive losing her again.

As light pours in through the window, I lie in bed and stare up at the stark white ceiling. I can’t help wondering if the pain stabbing deep into my chest as I think about Giulia is payback for what happened to Sofia Montalbano. Although my interrogation of the Rossi assholes revealed she was actually the target that day and not me, I don’t feel comforted. If I’d been more observant that day, if I’d drawn my gun a few seconds earlier, that Rossi asshole wouldn’t have had a chance to fire the shot that snuffed out her young life.

Now that I’m back in New York, I should quit wallowing and get back to my routine. Usually at this time of day, I’d be down at the gym, sparring with one of the guys or assessing the skills of some of our new recruits. Today, I can’t summon the motivation to go down there. I doubt the news of my marriage has spread beyond my immediate family, but I don’t want to risk it. Answering questions about Giulia would be tricky. The marriage is probably going to end before it started. That won’t go down well among our men, who’ll see it as a sign of weakness that I’m letting her go. Stability in the leadership is important to our organization.That’s something I’m sure my oldest brother will delight in reminding me, not that he can fucking talk after the shit that went down with Isabella.

Reluctantly, I haul my ass out of bed and head for the shower. If I’m going to see Giulia, I need to clean myself up. I don’t want her to think I’m trying to manipulate her by looking totally pathetic.

I can’t get the water to the heat I want. I like it to be scalding hot. Alessandro needs to get this fixed. As I’m rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, the door of the shower cubicle opens.

“What the fuck?” I yell as I find my brother standing there.

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,littlebrother.” Alessandro flashes an arrogant grin.

“I’m little?” Grabbing my crotch, I smirk right back at him. “I’ve seen what you’re packing. It’s a surprise that wife of yours looks so fucking happy all the time.”

Alessandro’s expression sours. I shouldn’t have brought Emilia into our dick-measuring contest. An apology sits on the tip of my tongue, but he doesn’t give me a chance to utter it.

“Get dressed. You have a visitor.” He whirls around and storms from the room. I guess I’m lucky he didn’t punch me.

I finish off in the shower and return to the bedroom to find Alessandro has left a dress shirt and pants for me. We’re about the same size. His feet are smaller, though, so there are no shoes. I’ll have to put my sneakers on until I get back to my apartment. Antonio, who I assume is my visitor, will just have to deal with me not meeting his exacting standards.

As I walk along the corridor, I hear a familiar feminine laugh. I stop dead. An uncharacteristic tremor of uncertainty runs through me. I take a deep breath and follow the sound into the kitchen. Barely noticing Emilia sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar with Alessandro standing next to her, my eyes fall on Giulia. She’s perched on a high stool, eating a bagel and drinking coffee, making friends with my sister-in-law, it seems. Wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, she’s effortlessly beautiful.

The moment she notices me, she sets down her coffee, her expression sobering.

“What are you doing here?” My question comes out harsher than I intended and Alessandro shoots me an unnecessary warning look. I’m not planning to give her a hard time.

“I came to see you.”

“How did you know I was here?”

Giulia scoffs. “You’re not the only one in this town with connections.”

I raise an eyebrow and wait for an explanation.

“I went to your place first,” she tells me. “Then I went to Leo’s. He told me you were here.”

“How did he know?” I look at Alessandro who smiles condescendingly. “Fucking gossips.”

Emilia touches Alessandro’s arm and clambers off her stool. “Let’s leave them to talk.”

“Oh, no.” Giulia sounds mortified. “I don’t want to drive you out.”

“It’s okay,” Emilia assures her. “I need to get to work and Alessandro has to go smooth things over at Ava’s house.”

“Why?” I turn to my brother. “What’s going on?”

“Mamma was so thrilled to hear you were coming home, Gio decided it was the ideal time to drop the bomb that he’s leaving in two days.”

“Leaving?” Giulia asks.

“For Scotland?” My younger brother’s been talking about it for a long time, but since he got shot in an ambush a couple of months ago, he’s been more determined than ever.

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