Page 20 of Black Widow's Kiss

“So, what happened?”

Not liking where his questioning was going, I settled at my desk and began my day.

“What happened was that I crashed.”

“But why? We had someone check in on the doctor but she wasn’t saying.”

“We?”

“Yeah, you know, Pa and me.”

“So it’s you and Pa now. After everything he put the both of us through, that’s still where your loyalty lies? After all of the cleaning up I’ve had to do with your messes?”

“Hey, I never asked you to do the things you’ve done,” he said defensively.

“You never had to. That’s what it means to be family. We look after each other. It would be good for you to remember that.”

“I remember that,” Matteo said backing down a little.

“Good,” I said turning my attention to my computer hoping he would see himself out.

“But, speaking of cleaning up my mess. Pa and me were wondering what happened with that idea you had about marrying one of Sato’s people?”

Did he know? He had to know something. If they knew what hospital I was in, it wouldn’t be hard for them to figure out what else is near there and then piece together why I was there.

Shit! I was going to have to tell everyone. And there was no way I was gonna avoid telling them that the head of the Ricci family had just married a man.

“Yeah, it’s been settled,” I said casually.

“How? When did this happen?”

“Yesterday. There was small ceremony at Sato’s place.”

The silence that drew out made me look up. Matteo was more than just stunned, he was white-faced.

“What do you mean there was a small ceremony at Sato’s place?”

“I took care of it.”

“You took care of it as in, you’re now a married man?”

“Yeah. I took care of it,” I said trying to raise my voice to make it seem like he was the idiot for making me repeat myself, but my heart wasn’t in it.

“So, my big brother and the head of the Ricci family got married with none of the family there?”

“Of course not. Lorenzo was there.”

Matteo, who had gotten up to talk to me across my desk, flopped down into a chair. He pulled on his face like his head was spinning.

“What? It’s not a big deal. There was a problem you caused, and like usually, I took care of it. What’s new about that?”

“What’s new is that you got fuckin’ married.”

“Yeah,” I confirmed starting to get a little confused regarding what we were talking about.

“My big brother, who I always imagined standing by his side on his big day, got marriage and the only one there was Lorenzo?”

“Matteo, it’s not a big deal.”

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