Page 23 of Winter Love

“It happens a lot.” Sebastiano laughs. “I told Schuyler once that Dom should wear contacts and dye his hair.”

We all laugh.

“You two really are identical. When I first saw you, I thought you were Domenico.”

“Gianluca Mancini, the third baseman for the Panthers? He’s my cousin. He’s a triplet to Salvatore.”

“Holy shit. Seriously? Now I’m officially jealous. I want to be a Mancini.”

Sebastiano laughs. “Well you’re officially family now that we’re here. Family helps family.”

“You guys hear that? I’M A MANCINI.”

Emmanuelle starts laughing with Sebastiano and the rest of the guys come in and look at us.

“Who’s a Mancini?” Galen asks.

“I am.” I laugh.

“Cool. Welcome to the family.” He smirks and heads to his room.

“Did I hear we have more family now?” Leonardo comes in.

“Yep. Vandenberg is code for Mancini.” Sebastiano chuckles.

“Nice. I do have to warn you, we’re a crazy bunch. But loyal as hell,” Enea adds in.

“Sounds like we’ll fit in perfectly.”

Chapter Twelve

Emmanuelle

We see my parents’ car pulling into the driveway on the security cameras. Suddenly the butterflies in my tummy are swarming. How am I going to tell my papa that I kept this from him? And my brothers? Fuck. They’re going to be so pissed.

Lukas and I head outside to greet everyone.

“The house looks good, Lukas,” my papa says. “You’ve added onto it.”

“Thank you, sir. We’ve done our best to make sure we keep up on everything. And Paxton is an incredible carpenter. We added a wing to the house for guests. And made our bedrooms bigger,andadded a bathroom to each one.”

“That’s impressive.” Papa smiles.

“And how many times do I have to tell you—Maman and Papa.” Maman laughs as she hugs Lukas.

“Why do you look like you’re going to be sick?” my youngest brother, Henri, asks me.

“What? I do not. I’m fine.”

“You’re lying.” Amélie squints at me.

I roll my eyes at both of them. Truth is, I do feel like throwing up, but they don’t have to point it out. Siblings suck.

“I need to tell you all something before you come inside,” I start.

My family stops unloading and turns to look at me. I take a deep breath as I feel Lukas take my hand. I look over at him and he nods.

“What is it, mon ange?”

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