Page 68 of Ruined in Vows

“Get to the point,” Dante grates out.

“He is married to Vincenzo’s older half-sister,” Nico tells us.

“Vincenzo has another sister. How did I not know this?” Dante asks it as a question but it's rhetorical.

“They hid her well,” Nico drawls before continuing. “Anyway, my PI has been looking into connections and such, but couldn’t find anything.” His stare bounces between us both. “Until thismorning. Giordano is Riccardo’s second cousin from his dead mamma’s side.”

My heart rate kicks up in my chest at the news. Dante freezes.

Is this the information we have been looking for?

“What does this mean?” I whisper, almost scared to say it out loud.

Dante squeezes my hand, his voice a rumble when he speaks. “What are you saying, Nic?”

My brother runs a hand through his hair. “I’m saying we may have found our connection. My PI is looking further into it and will hopefully find the paper trail we have been searching for.”

“Dante,” I choke out, my throat tight with emotion.

“I know,principessa,” he whispers, though he keeps his attention on my brother.

Nico sighs. “Look, I don’t want to build your hopes up. It could mean nothing. It could mean everything. I don’t know. For all we know, Riccardo has no clue about his second cousin. It’s possible, considering Franco did everything he could to forget his ex-wife. The kids were young when she died and, I would assume, Franco never forced them to have a relationship with any of their mamma’s family.” Nico’s words are like a bucket of ice-cold water, shitting all over the small glimmer of hope, but I don’t let it ruin my mood. I know he is just being cautious.

“It is something. I feel it,” I say with grit.

Because it has to be. There is no other outcome for this but me and Dante together.

“Leg,” my brother warns.

I shake my head. “No. I won’t hear any of the negatives. This is it. Remember how you felt when you got the call about Ocean? Though you didn’t know for sure, every fiber in your body told you it was true,” I remind him.

He exhales, grunting out. “Yeah.”

“Well, that’s how I feel.”

My brother stares at me for a long beat, conceding. “Okay. Now the next part of what I wanted to discuss with you is a little more…” he trails off and my stomach sinks. I know before he even says it what it is going to be about. “Delicate.”

Dante tenses beside me, his grip on my hand tightening almost painfully.

“What does Riccardo want?” he bites out, obviously picking up on where Nico was going.

Nico’s gaze bounces between us, an apology in his eyes. “He wants to have dinner with Allegra tonight.”

“Absolutely not,” Dante roars, shooting up out of his chair.

“Calm down,” Nico barks.

“No. How would you feel if it was your wife having to go to dinner with another man.” Dante snaps, pacing the room and shooting my brother a challenging look.

Nico tenses, rage emanating from every inch of him. He looks murderous and I know Dante said the wrong thing.

“Don’t ever fucking talk about my wife and another man. Best friend or not, I will shoot you in the head.” His voice is deathly quiet, the threat clear.

Nico would kill him.

Dante glares. “And that’s exactly how I feel.”

“Both of you calm down,” I shout, gaining both of their attention. “We can discuss this like adults.”

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