Page 9 of Snake's Head

My face wrinkled in mockery. “Does that still counts as an arranged marriage?”

“It is for the other party,” said Antonio.

Sal raised his hands to stop us. “Can we fucking talk about Borelli’s invitation, please? We can talk about the marriage stuff later first…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence because a scream rang out in the mansion, “Sal!”

My brother immediately got to his feet; he pulled out his gun and ran towards his wife’s voice with a worried expression. Antonio and I followed with our own guns drawn.

Mia’s voice carried us to the kitchen. She was there with a painful expression on her face, clutching the counter with a death grip. Sal scanned the area quickly and put his gun back when he realized there were no external threats. He immediately went to Mia and held her body gently. “Angel, what happened?”

“I had some contractions since last night, but I thought it was nothing. And then.” She looked down.

“Your water broke,” Sal said as we all looked at the wet floor.

Mia nodded, looking way too stressed. Sal got it together fast, though. He was normally not very level-headed, but he probably realized Mia needed something steady at the moment. He grabbed his wife and started moving. “We are taking you to the hospital, Angel. It will be okay.”

Antonio followed them. “I’ll drive.”

And I knew what my role was. “I’ll take Gia to Priscilla.”

I guess our L.A. plans have been canceled.

After a little over three hours, all of our family was cramped inside a hospital room. Mia held two healthy babies with a huge smile on her face. Sal was beside her, his arms around his wife, and his eyes looked suspiciously red. Their older daughter Gia was also sitting on the bed. She looked at her younger siblings like she was even afraid to touch them.

I looked at the twin that was clearly fatter. “I guess Dante was the one filling all that space.”

Mia gave me a disapproving look, but she smiled. “Were you expecting Sal to have a tiny kid?”

“Well, the other one is tiny.”

Sal touched his daughter’s cheek. “She is like Mia.” He whispered the next words, “An angel and a devil.”

Only Sal would call his own son satan, but what made me laugh was Priscilla’s low answer next to me, “Only you don’t know which one is which.”

“I am sorry?” Sal perked up at her.

Priscilla shrugged. “I am just saying you don’t know which one is like you and which one is like Mia.”

I smiled, but Sal only gave her a hard look. Antonio rubbed his wife’s shoulder. “You are confusing him, Love.”

“So, what is the name?” I asked to take Sal’s focus away from Prisy.

His eyes turned back to his daughter, and those murderous greens filled with adoration for the small baby. “Angelina.”

I barely held my laughter inside. My sister’s husband Alessio couldn’t. As they started bantering, I looked at Antonio. “There is no way he is leaving them to go to L.A.”

Antonio nodded. “I know, but the invitation should be answered. Otherwise, there might be problems.”

“What do we do?”

“I will take his place as his Consigliere,” Antonio said. “You and I will attend.”

“And me,” Priscilla said with a smile.

Antonio’s arm around her waist tightened, and he kissed her cheek. “Of course, Love.”

I looked at them, and then I looked at Sal and Mia as they sat on that bed, looking like the picture of bliss. There was no happiness guarantee to an arranged marriage, but maybe I could have what they had.

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