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“Is he paranoid?” Stefano asked.
“I think he’s a smart man in a lot of ways,” Severino said. “And seriously, he may be onto something with this nonsense about a reality show. I can have our people reach out to him, Stefano, if you think it will distract him at the right time. He’s running drugs and guns so he has a lot to lose if he doesn’t juggle everything just right, because he could incriminate himself with cameras running all the time. I don’t think he knows what reality television is.”
“I hate to put him in a position of furthering his goals of meeting silly women who might do exactly what he wants them to do. That could turn out badly.”
“I agree,” Severino said, “but if we keep an eye on them, we could stop them before they get too far.”
Stefano drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “Something this big, Severino, we usually talk about and put to a vote. What do your brothers and Velia think?”
“We just gathered the information and came to you.”
“How soon can we expect the Demons in LA to make their move?”
“You don’t have to worry about that. Giovanni is there with Maximino, Remigio, and Vico. They’ll handle them, no problem,” Severino said with confidence.
Taviano knew his other three cousins fairly well. Maximino was lightning fast when it came to handling any kind of weapon or working with his hands or feet. Taviano had trained with him often, both benefiting and improving their speeds.
Remigio was direct and to the point, all business when it came to work. He was quiet, had a soft touch and was in and out before anyone knew he was close by. He had trained in France with the Archambault family, just as Stefano and Severino had, and it showed in his direct, lethal style of fighting. He was very proficient with weapons but excelled with any kind of stick or cane.
Vico, like Ricco, had trained in Japan, and he was a mixture of both Ricco and Remigio. He had a grace and smoothness about him when he moved or worked. Taviano liked all of his cousins, but more, he respected them.
Severino’s voice held absolute confidence when he said they would be able to handle those coming toward Chicago, and Taviano had that same confidence in his cousins and Giovanni. It didn’t matter how many men Tonio had chosen to send after Nicoletta, they would be disposed of in the same manner as the other Ferraros had taken care of the Demons coming to their territory to aid Benito in taking her from Taviano.
“How’s Francesca doing?” Velia asked. “Giovanni told me she wants to have another baby. That would be wonderful, Stefano.”
Taviano kept his face expressionless but couldn’t help the glance he threw at his brother. No way in hell had Giovanni disclosed that information. Velia had to have inquired in such a way that his brother had no choice but to answer her. Francesca did want another child, but she’d had trouble before, during and after she’d had Crispino.
Stefano’s expression was pure stone. “Francesca had three miscarriages prior to carrying Crispino. During her pregnancy she was quite ill, and when she had him, she lost a great deal of blood.”
“Does the doctor think she can successfully carry again?” Velia persisted.
Taviano had been there the night Francesca had gone into labor. They all had. Stefano had been with her right up until the time she’d begun to hemorrhage, and she’d had a seizure. He’d been ordered from the room while they did emergency surgery. Taviano would never forget the look on his brother’s face. So lost. Completely and utterly lost.
There was a small silence. Taviano glanced warily at his brother. Nicoletta tightened her fingers in his. They both knew this was an ongoing argument between Stefano and Francesca. She wanted to try again. Stefano wasn’t certain he wanted to try. The losses had been hard on both of them. The ordeal of Crispino’s birth had been very traumatic on Stefano. He had faced losing Francesca and didn’t want to go there again no matter what the doctors told them.
“He does, yes. She carried Crispino, so yes,” Stefano admitted finally after another small silence. “But she did have complications giving birth.”
Velia pulled back, genuinely upset. “I’m so sorry, Stefano. I didn’t know. Francesca never said a word. I thought all was fine.”
“It is. She’s very healthy and fit these days,” Stefano assured.
“That’s good,” Severino said briskly.
Velia scowled at her brother, but he didn’t pay any attention.
“I suppose you have to wait a decent amount of time between children. How long is the recommended period?”
Velia heaved a sigh. “You don’t have to answer that, Stefano. Severino has no delicacy when it comes to actual relationships. If he ever meets the right woman, she’ll run screaming for the hills when he opens his mouth.”
Severino glared at her. “Why do you always say that? Having children is a real concern, Velia. There are too few.”
“Perhaps that’s so, Sev, but Francesca is more than a broodmare to Stefano. She’s his wife. He actually loves her, in case that hadn’t occurred to you. She’s gone through a difficult time, as has he. Losing babies isn’t easy.”
Severino instantly turned to his cousin. “I’m sorry, Stefano. I didn’t think before I spoke. Naturally you wouldn’t want Francesca to get pregnant too fast. I really don’t know how long one waits between children.”
“I don’t think there is a set length of time,” Stefano said, taking pity on his cousin.
Taviano knew Stefano could and probably did relate to Severino. They both thought a great deal alike. And both had put the shadow rider program first for many years. It was only after Stefano had found Francesca that he had begun to think differently.
“You are going to have another child.” Severino made it a statement, proving that he was exactly like Stefano in that he could so easily read others.
Stefano sighed. “It isn’t always so easy or as black and white as we think it is, Sev. The thought of losing another child, or watching Francesca suffer, isn’t something I want to go through. Nor am I prepared to lose my wife in exchange for another child. I’m not having children for the sole purpose of producing them as riders. I am their father, and that means something. I didn’t know what that was until I saw Crispino born and then I held him in my arms. It changes something in you.”
Severino glanced at Velia and then across the room, where Tore had disappeared into the corner so silently. “There’s a small part of me that understands. I had to take over when my parents died. I knew I wanted the others to be safe. We were spread out in age, and several of them were quite a bit younger. Velia was just an infant. Tore, a toddler. I made it my business to make certain they were safe. I’m certain you remember. You went with me. You, Geno and me.”
Velia leaned forward and peeked around Marzio to look at her oldest brother. “What does that mean? I’ve heard vague references to something of that nature before. Keeping all of us safe, but no one talks about it. What does that mean, Sev?”
“It’s of no consequence, bella,” Severino said. “It’s in the past and it can stay there.”
“But no one ever says how Mom and Dad died,” she pointed out. “Am I the only one who doesn’t know? That’s not right. Do you know, Taviano?”
He didn’t. He only knew that Severino had come in the dead of night asking that Stefano come with him immediately. Vittorio had told Taviano later than none of them had ever seen Severino upset that way. He was always cool, calm, a boy, a teen and later a man who refused to be shaken by anything. Stefano had heard him out and then was gone. He hadn’t consulted Eloisa or Phillip, but by then, as a boy in his teens, he didn’t anymore. He simply left, and his parents never knew that he was gone or that he returned hours later. Taviano had been told by his brothers that there had been blood in the shower and sink, but they hadn’t seen any signs of damage to Stefano.
“Leave it,” Severino said softly, but his voice was a whip.
Taviano realized they all had history. He wasn’t the only one. He br
ought Nicoletta’s fingertips to his mouth and bit down gently to distract her from the byplay. They all deserved to have their own privacy if they wished it. He didn’t want his siblings to know his story, and Nicoletta didn’t want the cousins to know every detail of her story. The cousins had the right to their privacy.
“I would like a daughter,” Stefano ventured.
Taviano knew he was deliberately changing the subject to distract Velia.
“Although I’m not certain I want Francesca to know that. A little girl who looks just like her. Unfortunately for me, if that happened, there would be two females in my house ruling me instead of one.”
Nicoletta laughed. “Francesca would say you rule her. She says you’re very bossy.”
“I have to be. She sits on all those committees and visits every single household in our territory, just to make certain everyone is fine. Half the time the bodyguards can’t keep up with her. She wanted to work two days after she had the baby. It was crazy. I had to put my foot down. Thank God for Mariko and Emmanuelle. They helped me sit on her for a few weeks after Crispino was born so she could heal. And you, Nicoletta, helping with the baby so we could keep her resting the way the doctors ordered.”
“Sasha took over a lot of the visits,” Taviano pointed out. “Emmanuelle showed her the ropes, although she didn’t have the amount of time she needed because she was very involved with her brother’s care. His brain injury is very severe, and she’s determined to spend as much time with him as possible while she can. She knows she’s going to lose him soon.”
“Isn’t there any hope at all?” Nicoletta asked. “Sasha loves him so much. She’s lost everyone in her family.”
Taviano hated to tell her otherwise, but he wasn’t about to lie to her. “I’m sorry, amore mio, we had the best doctors available, and all of them came to the same conclusion. There is no recovery for Sandlin, and he’s slowly deteriorating. Sasha is aware of it. Giovanni and Sasha spend most of their free time at the care facility with him, or they bring him to their home. He’s used to both places now. A nurse accompanies him if they bring him home. They are amazed he has lasted this long. We believe it is his bloodline that has managed to keep him going, but even that will not save him forever. We all see the signs.”
“I hate that for her.”
“We all do,” Stefano said. He turned his attention to his cousins. “You’ve met Giovanni’s wife, Sasha, of course.”
Severino nodded. “Yes, a beautiful woman. I actually have met Sandlin on two occasions as well. I needed to speak with Eloisa on an urgent matter and she was visiting him at the medical facility where he lives. He’s quite interesting. He had the capability to be a very powerful rider. I imagine Sasha did as well.”
“Eloisa visits Sandlin?” Nicoletta asked.
Her voice was so filled with disbelief that everyone turned to look at her. She didn’t seem to notice, but Stefano’s eyebrows went up and his eyes met Taviano’s in a question. Why was it that Nicoletta was so adamant that Eloisa wouldn’t ever go visit Sandlin? Especially when Nicoletta was aware Eloisa often visited the elderly and sick in the Ferraro territory. She looked incensed. She vibrated with outrage.
“Piccola.” He tried his gentlest tone to calm her, to remind her that one didn’t ever give Stefano any kind of a puzzle. He always solved it.
“Is Eloisa still a terrible trial to everyone?” Velia did her best to turn the attention onto herself. “My aunt is a holy terror when she gets going.”
Taviano shot her a grateful look. “She’s made it very clear to both of us that she doesn’t like Nicoletta.”
“That’s not unusual,” Stefano said, leaning back in his seat, one arm stretched casually along the back of the chair, his piercing eyes on Nicoletta. “So far she hasn’t approved of any of the women we’ve chosen. You’ve been around a long while now, bella, and she’s been bad-mouthing you every chance she gets. How is it any different now that you’re married to Taviano and a part of the family? There really isn’t much she can do about it but make herself miserable. She can’t tear your shadows apart.”
“She would if she could,” Taviano said, to keep Nicoletta from answering. He wasn’t certain what she would say. She was still too angry with Eloisa for her choices when he was just a little boy.
“She was here,” Nicoletta said, making an effort to smooth out her tone. She sent a smile to Velia, silently thanking her for the diversion while she got herself under control. “I lost my temper with her. It’s just that this is our home and I feel that if she wants to be rude to me, that’s all right, just not here. Not in my home and not in Lucia and Amo’s home. It distresses them and I told her that. She doesn’t have to speak to me, and I won’t speak to her. But if she comes here, that’s different. This is where Taviano and I live. This is where we should be able to have peace.”
Taviano leaned into her, tilted her face up to his and brushed her lips with his. “I’m so in love with you, woman.” It had taken one small reminder, and she’d gotten herself under control in seconds and immediately given Stefano a very good reason for her to be angry with Eloisa.
“I applaud the fact that you refuse to back down from Eloisa,” Stefano said. “If you show her weakness, she will eat you alive.”
“I made that mistake,” Velia said, with a mock shiver, her fingers stroking her throat. “I thought she was going to rip my heart out.”
Severino froze. A muscle ticked in his jaw. “When was this, angioletto?”
There was a sudden stillness in the room. Velia uncrossed her legs and pressed her lips together. “It was nothing, Sev.”
When her brother continued to stare at her, her fingers stroked her throat again. Taviano recognized that gesture as a nervous habit. It surprised him that his cousin, so sophisticated, could have developed such a tic.
She shrugged, a delicate little motion. “I was visiting with Emmanuelle. Clubbing actually, and Eloisa dropped in. She was her usual charming self to her daughter, and I couldn’t help myself. I don’t like it when she’s so ugly to Emme. Emme never stops her. Never. She’s always so nice to Eloisa and yet Eloisa is venomous to her, stripping her raw, especially about Val Saldi. She knows it hurts her, but she just keeps lashing at her. I knew better, but I still told her to stop. She’s my aunt and it was rude, but honest to God, Sev, she was tearing strips off Emme, and I was already worried that Emmanuelle might … I mean, what is she trying to get her daughter to do?”
“What did she say to you?” Severino bit out between his teeth.
Taviano had seen him like that a few times. Nothing good had ever come of it. He almost wished his mother was in the room. He knew exactly what Velia meant. Eloisa couldn’t seem to help herself. The moment she was around Emmanuelle, she seemed to tear into her, hissing out the ugliest venom, throwing out recriminations, practically accusing her of selling out the Ferraro family for sex. Sometimes he’d like to remind his mother that she’d chosen Phillip over her son’s welfare and see how that went over, especially when they all knew Emmanuelle had never once given Val a single piece of information on the Ferraro family.
“Sev, seriously, it was a while ago.”
“You were here to go clubbing with Emme no more than three weeks ago, Velia. Answer me now.”
Even Marzio moved closer, and in the corner, Tore actually stirred, making his presence known. Taviano was grateful to know that his LA cousins protected their sister with the same fierceness that he and his brothers did their sister and now, the other women in their family.
Velia sighed, the expression on her face telling all of them that none of them, including Stefano and Taviano, were going to like it.
“She said I was nothing but a beautiful whore like my mother. Everyone knew what she was like, and my father had to marry her because his father made him. She said naturally I’d side with Emmanuelle because look who I came from. She would expect nothing less of someone like me.”
Her hand went to her throat again, and Se
v caught it and pulled it down to her lap. “You had gotten over this habit, cara, but suddenly, in just this last couple of weeks, you’re back to it. Now I understand why. I think I’ll have a word with Eloisa if you don’t mind, Stefano.”
“Not at all, Severino. I will be going with you.” Stefano stood up.
“Now?” Velia looked shocked. “Sev, you can’t. Stefano and Taviano have work tonight. Don’t say anything to her. She’s vicious. She might say more ugly things about our mother. I don’t want you to hear them.”
She had her head down, and to Taviano’s consternation, he saw tears glistening on her lashes. He’d never seen Velia cry, not since she was a little girl. She was a shadow rider, a very good one, seasoned and, like Mariko, a force to be reckoned with.
“Angioletto, look at me.” Severino’s voice was unexpectedly gentle, but it was nevertheless commanding, more than ever reminiscent of Stefano. It was very evident who the head of the family was and who the head of the LA riders was.
Velia lifted her head and Severino wiped at her tears with his thumb. “You are mine to protect. No one abuses you. They don’t say vile things about our deceased mother, especially to you or to hurt you. I don’t tolerate this from anyone, let alone a family member. This will never happen again.”
“She’ll think I’m weak. A tattletale.”
“She said these things about my mother. About Marzio’s mother. Tore’s mother. She said these vile things to you, Velia. She is your aunt, and she should protect you. She should be protecting Emmanuelle. She said them about another shadow rider. I don’t know why she’s lost her way, but dragging everyone else down with her cannot be tolerated.” Without another word, Severino and Stefano turned, stepped into a shadow and were gone, leaving behind silence.
Velia closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temples. “I can’t believe I just did that. Taviano, Eloisa is going to go after Emmanuelle. Whenever anyone confronts her, she turns around and gets ugly with her daughter.”