Page 130 of The Killer Cupcake
Sandy found herself alone with the stranger, tears still wet on her cheeks. He studied the portraits with an unreadable expression before focusing on her.
"Shouldn't have shown you this place. Some doors are better left closed."
"Who are you?" Her voice came out smaller than intended.
"Name's Caesar. Your uncle Matteo asked me to keep an eye on things." He gestured toward the exit. "Let's go. Party's still happening upstairs."
"Is it true?" She held up the crumpled documents, needing confirmation from someone, anyone. "Am I really Carmelo Ricci's daughter Alessandra?”
Caesar's look held years of buried secrets. "Truth's a luxury, men our life can’t afford. He's in the ground. That's all the truth you need."
Sandy turned back to the gallery—her childhood preserved in charcoal and paint, her identity rewritten in legal documents. The ache for her mother became unbearable. Mama wouldhave had answers, explanations, comfort. Instead, Sandy stood in a basement surrounded by proof of a life she couldn't fully remember, with only a mobster's dismissal for guidance.
“Why are you angry with me?”Matteo asked, leaning against the doorframe.
He watched Debbie storm around their room, a whirlwind of silk and frustration, hurling stuff onto a chair and kicking off her heels with lethal precision. The house was finally quiet. The kids—including Junior—were settled. Sandy was safe and with them. Caesar had efficiently exiled Nicolas and Nina back to their own dramas. It was just them. A time for peace. And he desperately wanted his bride.
“Debs, talk to me. Why are you mad?” Matteo’s voice was soft, a low rumble meant to soothe. He walked over to the bed and sat down with patience.
“How the hell do you disappear from your own reception?” she shot back, yanking an earring out of her lobe. “Leaving me to make small talk with your second cousin who breeds attack dogs. Abandoning me! Then you waltz back in with Junior, both of you smelling like a Grateful Dead concert. You said you don’t do that anymore!”
Matteo closed his eyes and sighed, a small smile playing on his lips. “I don’tfuckwith drugs, woman. I shared a single, celebratory joint with my son because we…” He paused. Bringing up José now, the ghost who’d forever be between them, felt like tempting fate. The ice he was on with her was still thin. “It was a father-son thing. A peace treaty. That’s all.”
“And that’s even worse! You’re supposed to be the responsible one now! You stop him from doing drugs, you don't join in!”
“Enough!” he yelled, the word cracking through the room.
Debbie froze, her eyes wide.
Matteo immediately winced, running a hand over his face. “Debbie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. Christ. It’s just… sometimes, babe, you come at me with both barrels. All I need is a chance to explain.”
She hugged her arms around herself, the fight slowly leaving her posture, replaced by a familiar, wounded pride and sexy pout.
He humbled himself, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. Forgive me. Please. I was wrong. No more weed. No more disappearing. I’m sorry. Okay?”
Debbie rolled her eyes, but the edge was gone. “I’m not being a bitch.”
“Never in a million years said you were,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. “You’re a lioness protecting your pups.”
“And my King,” she said. A faint smile touched her lips. “I was just embarrassed. And… left out. These people are only nice because you’re their boss. They don’t really like me and my children. I’m not stupid.”
“I know, baby. I know,” he said, his heart aching for her to be accepted and happy always. She had paid a heavy price for his mistakes. He only wanted to make life better.
“So you and Junior made up?” she asked, her voice softening. “Really?”
He nodded, with a genuine warmth spreading in his chest. “He’s my boy again. I feel it.”
“You sure?” She searched his eyes, looking for the truth she’d waited years to see.
“He’s my boy,” he repeated, his voice firm and full of promise. “And I’m not going to fuck it up this time.”
He smiled. "I'm the luckiest man in the world to have kids with you. All I ever wanted was for us to be a family. All I dreamed about in prison was a second chance with you, Debs. That I could be forgiven and given a chance. And now I’ve got one. The best one. Because you forgave me, and I got you."
She finally relented. "Of course you got me, stupid. You've always been mine. Now I’m going to get fat. And my feet are already swelling.”
The tension melted away as she walked her sexy ass over to him, each step a promise of a wild night. He grabbed her by the hips the moment she stepped between his parted legs, pulling her close. He buried his face in the soft warmth between her perfect breasts and inhaled her perfume—home, and hope, and everything he’d almost lost.
She rubbed his head, her fingers gentle in his hair, and kissed the top of his head. “We did it. We finally did it,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
