Page 84 of The Veiling

“What?” He grinned.

“My mom is getting married to Mr. Michael.”

“Oh?” He arched a brow with a confused smile.

Elise stood, sauntering over, hugging me. “Hi.”

“Hi,” I giggled before pulling away, keeping my hands in hers. “Congratulations. Carissa sure knows how to keep a secret.”

She smiled. “Thank you, I—” Her eyes widened as she stared behind us. Her grip tightened on mine, and she trembled. “Oh my God!”

“Dio mio!” Valentino’s parents shouted in unison.

I spun around, dropping my hands. Marco was in the archway, having snuck into the home during the commotion of Carissa. Alessandro, Valentino, and I exchanged a glance, watching his parents and Elise sprint to him. He gazed at us over his mother’s shoulder while she squeezed him, sobbing. Elise patiently waited for him to finish having a moment with his parents. The moment they parted, he sheepishly smirked at Elise.

“Heyyy, Elise.”

For several agonizing seconds, we watched before she finally leapt into his arms, weeping. “What the hell did you do?!” she sobbed into his chest. “Where have you been, Marco?!”

Carissa whispered, “My dad is here?”

“Yes.” Valentino set her down on the floor. “He’s here.”

Elise and Marco parted, and he bent down, holding his arms out for his daughter.

Carissa dashed over, jumping into his embrace. His eyes began to tear up, holding her close. She laid her head on his shoulder while Elise rubbed her back in a circle.

“I can’t believe you’re back,” Elise murmured.

“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” he countered irritably.

“Marco, I—”

“You’re not marrying him.”

“We can discuss this later,” she leaned closer to him, “when we’re alone. Now isn’t the time.”

“You want to be alone with me?” He smirked.

She groaned before hugging him and Carissa together.

Giulia whirled around to the brothers. “Did you boys know about this?”

Alessandro and Valentino nodded.

“It’s complicated mamma,” Alessandro sighed. “We—”

“We wanted him to have time to adjust before he saw everyone again,” Valentino interjected, unsure what his insolent brother would say.

His mother broke into tears again. His father tried to fight them back as much as he could, but the floodgates opened. He sobbed almost harder than his wife. Valentino tugged at my fingers. I peered up at him. He jerked his head toward the back staircase. We laced our fingers together, and I followed him out of the room and up the stairs toward the guest room we always stayed in.

The moment we were alone, he closed the door, leaning back on it. “Oh God, this is going to be a really interesting weekend.”

“Why?” I sighed, thinking he was going to bring up Marco’s situation again.

“I need to tell you something.”

“What?”

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