Page 26 of Sugar, Sprinkles, and Secrets
I look back to Max, but instead of grinning, he’s reading something on his phone and looks far too serious for the topic at hand.
“Is everything okay?” I ask quietly.
“Yeah. I thought I would have a little more time, but that’s okay.” I raise an eyebrow in question to what he’s talking about. Maxwraps his arms around me and kisses me deeply. “What’s going on? You’re being weird.”
“I just want you to know that I love you and you are impossible to shop for, but I think I have the perfect Christmas gift for you,” Max says with a half-smile that tells me he is clearly up to some shenanigans.
“Honestly, just being here with you and the kids is perfect in itself,” I admit.
“I know you think that … but I promise you this is better.” Max winks at me as a knock sounds at his front door. “Why don’t you go answer that?”
I scowl in confusion. Why would I answer his front door? To be fair, we basically live here and haven’t slept at the apartment over my shop since the kids were rescued, but we haven’t officially had that conversation yet. I shake my head as I walk over to check the front door. I promptly squeak in surprise as I open it and find Ace standing in front of the door.
“Merry Christmas, Cara. I hope you don’t mind, we had some gifts for Dante and Mila and wanted to stop by to check in on them,” Ace greets me as I throw my arms around the giant man in a hug. I barely got to thank them for what they did for Dante and Mila, but I will never forget what they did for us.
“Of course! But who iswe?” I look behind him and don’t see anyone else in the hallway. It’s not a large space as the floor is only two apartments, but clearly Ace is alone right now.
And then the elevator chimes.
The doors open and Liam steps out, followed by the face I haven’t seen in person in almost two years. The sob that escapes me sounds almost feral as I launch myself at my brother.
“Ciao, cara sorella.” Luca’s voice rumbles in his chest as I cling to my little brother.
“How are you here right now? I’ve missed you so damn much, Luca!” I manage to get out between cries. My brother carries me into the apartment as I get my bearings.
“Papà!” Dante yells as he runs to his dad. Luca sets me down and scoops Dante up. I look over to see Mila staring wide-eyed ateverything happening. Luca kisses the top of Dante’s head before setting him down to squat low. My brother is a big guy, and his size is more aparent in person than over a video call.
“Hi principessa. How are you, baby?” Luca asks Mila. She pauses for another second before she runs full speed into her daddy’s open arms. I hear her crying into his neck and realize I’m still crying myself. Familiar arms wrap around my waist and pull me back against the body that I now consider home.
“How? How did you do this?” I manage to get out as I watch Luca sit on the couch with both Dante and Mila hugging him. I look up at him as he smiles in response.
“I asked Liam if there was any way we could make a Christmas wish come true.” Max shrugs.
“And when Liam mentioned it to us, we thought we could help out and also get a chance to check in on the bravest two kiddos we knew,” Colt chimes in as Ace and Liam nod in agreement. I didn’t even notice that Colt was also in the elevator behind my brother, let alone the large bags of presents he and Ace are now carrying into Max’s living room. My brother is the best gift they ever could have given us today anyway.
“Unfortunately, this is just a quick visit. We have ninety minutes before we need to move and bring Luca back to a secure location.” My heart falls a little at Liam’s announcement, but I swallow and nod.
“Well then, let’s not spend the entire time crying, huh?” I try and swipe away my tears as I grab Max’s hand and tug him to the living room. “I know you guys have talked on the phone, but maybe introductions are in order here. Luca, I would like you to meet my boyfriend, Max. Max, this is my little brother Luca, and Dante and Mila’s father.”
“It’s my papà!” Mila squeals with delight while smushing his face with one of her hands on each of his cheeks.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, man.” Max reaches his hand out and Luca shakes it without standing or moving his kids from his lap. “You have an amazing sister and wonderful kids.”
“The pleasure is mine, Max. And thank you for everything you’ve done for my family. I can never thank you enough, but I will owe all of you for the rest of my days.” Luca is solemn as he makes eye contact with the men that were responsible for bringing Dante and Mila home. The U.S. marshals were not thrilled that they were basically on clean-up duty after Liam and his team, but somehow nothing else was really said about it. There may have also been an element of them being thrilled to finally have Salvatore Serrano in custody which made it easier to let things go. Salvatore Serrano’s trial starts next month, and with the amount of evidence the feds have against him, paired with my brother’s testimony and the information in the cloud storage from Rafa, it isn’t expected to be a long trial.
One of Sal’s cousins already took over control of the family and quickly shut down the fentanyl business that Sal was so determined to expand, resulting in Rafa’s death, and who knows how many other people’s deaths by overdose from the lethal drug. I’m not sure that I’m supposed to know the current state of the Serrano family, but Liam has stopped by multiple times to check on the kids and has answered all my questions to the best of his ability.
The time flies by faster than I’m prepared for, and before I know it, we’re saying a very tearful see-you-later to Luca. My brother extends his hand to Max and pulls him into a dude hug with the double pats on the back.
“Whenever you’re given the green light that it’s safe for you to have your life back, I hope you will consider joining us here in Forrest Falls.” Max already talked to Luca about introducing him to the owner of the local auto shop and it sounds like Luca is more than open to making Tennessee his new home. “And until then, I promise to keep an eye on them.”
“I appreciate that, man. And yeah, I’ll be coming to wherever my kids and sister are—but it’s going to take me a minute to get used to calling you Cara.”
“That’s okay, I don’t think I’ll go back to Alessia after everything is settled. And someone pointed out it’s not that big of a stretch from my middle name anyway.” I bump Max’s hip with my own.
“He can stay in my room here! I’ll sleep on the floor!” Dante offers but before I can correct him that his room here is technically a guest room, Max interrupts.
“You know what bud, your Zia and I need to have some discussions, but I promise when your papà gets to come home to us, he will have a place near us, without having anyone needing to sleep on the floor. Deal?” He sticks his fist out and Dante fist bumps him.
