Page 83 of Highball and Chain

“Yeah, it is.” Smirking, I took my frustration out on the innocent vegetable. “And how is it I’m ruining my life?”

My brother hung his head, drew a breath, and stood. “Look, man. I know you have this rebel without a clue, loner thing going on, but that’s on you. The rest of us love you.”

I had better things to do with my time than to discuss our dysfunctional family. “Skip the brotherly love and get to the part where you flew in wearing a red cape to save me from myself.”

Scowling, he shook his head. “This thing with the Lazios isn’t going away.”

“Which thing?” I assumed he meant the arranged marriage between me and Nico, but wasn’t sure. “I’ve been out of the loop since Gabe sent me home to babysit.”

Marco smirked. “Dude, you really need to get over that. Insecurity isn’t a good look on you.”

“Fuck off.”

“I’m serious.” He sighed. “Gabe sent you here because he trusted you with his wife’s best friend’s life…and because he knew you were into her.”

I’d never thought of it like that. “Would have been nice of him to tell me that.”

“The Marchionni men aren’t known for our conversational skills.” Marco chuckled. “Now that we’ve psychoanalyzed you, what are we going to do about the Lazios? They aren’t going to let up until there’s a wedding.”

“They will if Gabe agrees to business as usual.”

He looked at me as if I’d grown horns and a tail. “You and I both know that isn’t going to happen.”

“Right.” I shook the knife at him. “Then someone needs to convince Nico that marrying me is a horrible idea.”

He snickered. “We could do a press release detailing your erectile dysfunction and chronic STDs.”

“Ha-ha.” I’d heard enough. Shanna would be down soon and the last thing I needed was her overhearing any discussion of Nicolina.

“Nico doesn’t want this marriage any more than you do.” His tone grew serious.

“How do you know that?”

Marco hitched a shoulder. “We’ve been talking since you tossed her out of the villa.”

“Did she tell you she all but demanded I propose to her?”

“Yes. She had her reasons, but it’s not my place to tell you what they were.”

“That’s convenient.” I rubbed the seasoning into the meat and washed my hands.

“She’s a victim in this scenario, too.”

I walked to him, clamped my wet hands on his shoulders, and looked him square in the eyes. “I appreciate you coming to tell me this, but you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

Marco glared. “I know you left the exterior security cameras on last night. I turned them off when I came home, but…”

My stomach sank. Shanna’s going to kill me. “Who saw the footage?”

“Pops, for one.” He took a step back. “Ma had an epic meltdown, so I assume she heard about it, if not witnessed it for herself.”

Christ.It was a miracle they hadn’t called and chewed off half my ass.

Marco plopped into a chair. “How could you forget to turn them off? The feed goes live to Marchionni Corp security. Anyone with the password can log in and check it out.”

I barely heard a word he said through my pulse pounding behind my eardrums. “Do me a favor. Don’t mention this to Shanna. I should be the one to—”

“Don’t mention what to me?” She stood in the doorway with her arms folded and her eyes narrowed.

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