Page 104 of Skin Deep

My sister seemed like she was doing a lot of purging lately. Maybe we all were. Because she said things to Mari that needed to be said. Things that involved secrets that my sister had been keeping from her. Then the room grew quiet. Mari looked at me and I looked at her.

I cleared my throat. “You’re like my little sister,” I said. “I was blinded and tangled up by—”dreams that were not meant for me, I was going to say, but she cut me off.

“I know,” she whispered. “I’ve seen the way you look at her. The way she looks at you. Capo—”

“That’s between us,” I said.

She nodded. “It’s so good to have my brother back.”

“Ahh! It’s so good to have all of us back,” Keely said, kissing the baby’s cheeks. “Can I take him home?”

Mari laughed and we all settled into what we used to be. Family. And no longer divided on this side of it.

The door opened a few minutes later, and Macchiavello came in, as proud as a king introducing his heir to the new kingdom.

“Mari,” I said, nodding to her, because I used to call her Strings.

I smiled, and she did, too.

We met Kelly out in the hallway, and I told them I’d meet them downstairs.

“He’s in a good mood,” Kelly said as he and Kee stepped onto the elevator. “But lone wolves pay no attention to moods.” The doors closed and they disappeared.

I knocked on the door again. Mac opened it.

“I need a minute,” I said. I didn’t wait for an answer. I stepped back and out into the hallway, an expectant look on my face. He looked at his wife, sighed, and then stepped out with me.

“Whatever I say will sound like excuses,” I said. “And I’m not in the habit of making those. So, here it is. I was wrong. Mari is like my sister. I didn’t realize it until Georgina.”

“You’re right,” he said. “Fucking excuses.”

I nodded. “You ever hear a story about women being like flowers in a garden? How sometimes we’re attracted to the outside before we know what the roots need?”

His eyes narrowed. His face pinched. I recognized my wife in the features. Their eyes were so much alike. I almost laughed at how oblivious I’d been. But to laugh was like laughing in the face of danger. Because Mac Macchiavello was a dangerous man. And he wasn’t in the mood for jokes.

Neither was I.

This was important to Georgina. Therefore, it was important to me.

“Yeah,” I said, realizing it the moment the truth dawned on his face. “Nonno. He told me that story the day after your wedding. When I had no fucking clue what to do with myself. He knew before I did. I would fall in love with your cousin. Maybe he saw it the moment she looked at me. The moment I looked at her. He seemed to just know things. She looked a certain way, so I thought her roots were not deep enough. How fucking wrong I was. But how right she is—for me.”

I sensed it before it happened, and I let it. He had my back pressed against the wall, his hand around my throat, but he wasn’t applying pressure. Then, as fast as he had me, he let me go. He went back to the door, his hand on it. He looked at me.

“Just when I think it’s the right time to kill you, Harry Boy—” he shook his head “—you go fuckin’ it up.”

I grinned as I took the elevators down.

* * *

My phone rang as I was walking to the car.

“You got a minute to go for a ride and talk?” Owen said.

“Georgina?”

“Sleeping.”

“I’ll swing by and pick you up.”

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