Page 7 of Doll's Eye

My head starts whipping side to side. “I’m not there yet. Massimo and I have yet to meet one-on-one, so I’m not even considering the wedding.”

“Do you at least know when you’re supposed to be married?” Fia asks.

“Within a year.” Upon agreement.

“Wow. In one year, you will be Massimo De Luca’s wife,” Gemma says dreadfully, adding a shiver at the end.

“He isn’t that bad!” I chuckle.

“He certainly isn’t bad-looking,” Fia mutters, and I bite back a smirk.

“What! You two are insane! How can you see anything about him that doesn’t shake you to the core?” Gemma exclaims.

Fia and I exchange a look, then break out into laughter as Gemma officially thinks we have lost it. “Oh, I think he makes my core quiver alright,” Fia jokes, making me laugh harder and giving her a playful swat.

“Hey, that’s my fiancé you’re talking about there.” We keep laughing.

“What is wrong with you two?” Gemma stares at us with great consternation.

“Oh, I’ll explain it to you when you get older,” I tease.

She growls and climbs off the bed. “I need some alcohol if I’m going to hang out with you two all day.”

Chapter four

Alessia

I’m headed into the kitchen when I stumble upon Armando and his lovely Italian-tempered wife, Lesina, arguing as usual.

It’s gotten to the point where we’re all so used to it that they don’t even bother to stop when someone enters the room, and we don’t turn right around to avoid it. It’s almost like background noise at this point.

The woman is hardly Italian but has totally embraced the whole Italian mob wife persona. Using this fake-ass accent and always throwing a fit over nothing. Gets her hair and nails done weekly and uses my brother as her personal ATM. She wasn’t so bad in the beginning, and they seemed like they were really in love. Then, after a year of marriage and one baby later, all they do is fight, and all she does is spend his money.

But who am I to say? Maybe they are still in love, and this is just their relationship. They might both get off on all the fighting. It’s not like you can really judge a couple when you have no idea what goes on behind closed doors.

I overhear Lesina telling him to ‘ask your sister’, and I know what’s coming next as I grab a drink from the fridge. Lesina is standing there with her hip popped and her arms crossed over her recently enhanced chest.

“Alessia, my beautiful and wonderful sister,” Armando lays it on thick as I give him an unamused look. “Can you do us a solid and watch Alba for a couple of hours? I have to be inBabbo’soffice, and Lesina here made plans tonight.”

“Importantplans,” she adds, and I give her a tight smile.

One of the unspoken rules within the family, no matter how much we despise someone’s significant other, we are to be civil with them. Especially after they’ve gotten married. They’re officially a part of the family, and we stick together.

“Yes, I can watch Alba.” I concede because, one, I fucking love my niece to pieces, and two, why would I let her go off with her mother, who’ll try to pawn her off to someone else?

“Thank you,la mia sorella preferita.”My favorite sister. He smooshes my face in his hands and plants a wet kiss on either cheek before I shove him away and wipe it off.

Lesina smiles in victory. “She’s in the other room, still asleep in her car seat, and the diaper bag is next to her. Thank you,piccolina. You’re a doll.” She gives me two air kisses and plants a big kiss on Armando’s lips while he relishes it. They both murmur gross words to each other, and then she sashays out of the kitchen gleefully as if the heated argument never happened.

Armando watches her the entire way, then looks at me with this goofy look on his face, which quickly drops when he sees mine. “What?”

I put both hands up. “Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”

“You sure you don’t mind?”

“I’m sure. Go do what you need to do.”

“Thanks,sorellina.” He gives me another sloppy kiss, which earns him a punch in his arm, making him jump away and hissas he holds the area with a pinched look on his face. “How do I always forget how hard you can hit?” He backs away.

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