Page 22 of Brando

“Head home.” His voice is a steadying force as he finishes my sentence. When we were children, we’d been well versed in anticipating each other’s words. It was funny now to think that we still had the ability to do so, without even trying. Two parts of a whole, that even after years apart, could so easily contemplate the others’ mood.

I note the tendons in his hands, standing out like cords as they grip the wheel. He’s a man wrought from the same darkness we’re hurtling toward—a darkness that threatens to unravel me as a sense of loss overwhelms me.

“You were never meant for him,” he murmurs, voicing the dread that coils tight in my belly. The edge in Brando's words is sharp enough to slice through my resolve. I realize that we’re still stuck in that place in time when we were fifteen, the elevated level of enmity between Frank and Brando still alive and well after all this time.

I turn back to the window, watching the cityscape distort with speed. Each blurred light feels like a step closer to the edge of nowhere. Yet there is no turning back. My sisters' faces flicker in my mind—innocent, vulnerable, lost—and something within me clicks into place, a final piece of armor sliding over my heart. For all their faults, they’re still my sisters, and I would do anything to protect them with the same fierceness I’ve smothered them with since they were toddlers.

“Agreed.” My single word response has his hands tightening against the wheel. The car veers around a corner, throwing me unexpectantly against the leather seat. The city continues its relentless parade outside, indifferent to the silent battle raging within the confines of the vehicle.

“Where are we going?” I ask, my nails digging crescents into my palms as I realize we’re heading in the opposite direction of the penthouse.

Brando shoots me a glance, eyes glinting with an unspoken vow. “A little detour.”

We drive on in silence, through the streets and back toward the city. But we don’t quite make it there before Brando takes a sharp right and pulls through a gate in a residential area surrounded by acreage. He smiles to the man at the gate as we’re let in and I look around at the little slice of heaven situated in the midst of the urban sprawl surrounding us. Acres upon acres of land surround us as we drive up a winding driveway, until Brando stops the car and comes to my side. He opens the door and ushers me out, even as I look up in surprise at the beautiful homes dotted on the green landscape.

“Where are we?” I ask him.

“Home,” he says, as he starts walking. The word is a breath on the air, an exhalation of peace. It feels like home coming from his lips.

It’s obvious he expects me to follow him, but I don’t move. He stops and turns, fixing his sullen eyes on me.

“Where are we?” I ask him again, anxiety rising within me.

“My brother’s home. We’re going to have dinner with my family.”

I quirk my eyebrows and look down at my casual attire of jeans and a black shirt.

“I don’t think I’m dressed for dinner,” I argue, and he probably knows I’m clawing at excuses. Brando shrugs and starts to walk again, but halts when he hears me call his name.

“I can’t do this,” I tell him.

“We have to eat,” he growls, before he turns back to the house, leaving no room for argument.

“I told you; I’m not dressed.” Anxiety lances through me. We’re at his family home. His family is here. This is so out of left field and I’m not ready to meet them. I’ll probably never be ready.

Brando smirks and shoots me a cocky grin. “You’re dressed, alright.” He clucks his tongue. “No-one here has a judgmental bone in their body,” and I know his words are meant to comfort me, but famous last words, right?

“I don’t even know your family. Did you tell them I’m coming?”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about, because Mommy Dearest is buried right beneath your very feet.” My eyes act of their own volition and drop to the ground in horror. I jump back at the thought that I’m standing on another human being’s grave. When I look back up at his face, I know from his expression that he’s not exaggerating.

I feel the blood drain from my face, even as the front door of the house closest to us is flung open and a shard of light illuminates us. An older woman stands at the door, holding it open, as though expecting us.

My eyes skim down my clothes to make sure I’m at least halfway decent. It’s not ideal, but jeans at dinner it is.

Brando’s family home, or his older brother’s home as he explains, is palatial. I step through the front door, and the world outside vanishes. It's as though the house itself has swallowed me up—gently, but firmly. The air smells new, like fresh wood and polished stone, warm and inviting. This is so easily a home, not a house.

I don’t know how long I stand there, absorbing the sheer scale of everything, from the soaring ceilings to the light that spills from every crevice into the entryway. A wide hallway stretches out before us, a vast, open expanse of white marble floors that gleam like glass underfoot.

I don’t even hear the conversation that’s unfolding between Brando and Juliana, who he introduced as the family housekeeper. I take a few steps behind him, my eyes sweeping across the grand foyer. It’s wide, too wide for any normal house, and it’s beautiful. We enter through a hallway until we’re standing in a substantial dining room where dinner is being served.

A deathly hush falls upon the room as all eyes fall on me and I feel myself receding into my shell as curious eyes dissect me. Brando is saying something, and I think I hear my name, but I’m stunned into silence as my frozen mask fixes on the ground in front of me.

It’s the beautiful woman with the large brown eyes and large belly that speaks first. She rises from her place at the head of the table and waddles a few steps toward me, greeting me with an embrace that catches me off guard and a smile that beguiles.

“So happy to meet you, Mia. I’m Allegra.”

I watch as she turns toward the table and looks at the other family members sitting there, pursing her lips as she gives them a warning glare and introduces them one by one.

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