Page 3 of The Breaker
“Yeah, I’m home.”
I heard her quick footsteps, and then a moment later, she appeared nearly at a run. “Oh, I’m so happy.” She clapped her hands quickly, then gave an excited scream when her eyes landed on mine. In dark jeans and a blouse, with a gold cross that hung around her neck, she came to me with her arms outstretched and hit me with her momentum.
I caught her with a chuckle, my arms hooking around her and giving her a tight squeeze. “I’m happy to see you too.”
She squeezed me back, then cupped my face and gave each of my cheeks a kiss, probably leaving lipstick marks there. “My boy.” She patted my cheeks. “Is Aurelia with you?” she asked hopefully.
“Yeah, she’s at the house. Medusa is hurt right now, so someone needs to be with her at all times.”
She looked happy at the mention of Aurelia, but the news about my dog changed her mood. “Why is she hurt?”
“She broke her leg.”
“Oh, that poor baby. But why did you bring her here?”
I took a step back from her. I was so close, I could smell her perfume. “That brings me to the reason for my visit today ... we’ve decided to move back to Taormina.”
Her face was like a fireworks display, explosions and sparklers going off in her eyes. Her hands cupped her mouth, and she took a step back as she tried to process the greatest news she’d ever received. Even her eyes started to smart because having me close was her dream, a dream she’d never forced on me. She stood there and started to breathe harder and harder, like she really might burst into soul-racking sobs. “Oh, Con, I can’t remember the last time I was this happy.”
Now I felt guilty for two different reasons. One, I wasn’t back in Taormina because I wanted to be there. And two, I still felt like shit for leaving Rome and letting the Skull King turn it into his playground. Whatever horrible things happened to that city and her people ... would all fall on me because I wasn’t there to defend it.
“You mean it?” She dropped her hands and blinked to stop the tears. “You’re here to stay?”
It pained me to do it, but I nodded.
Then the tears she fought so hard to defeat returned with a vengeance. “Oh, Con.” She moved back into me and hugged me hard, hugged me like I’d just returned from service in war. Her face planted in my chest, and she cried for another moment before she composed herself. “All of my children ... together.”
Except it wasn’tallof us.
Edric was probably in my old home at that very moment, because Darius was enough of a prick to move him there, to turn him into a nightstand like he promised, in the room where I used to sleep every night.
I’d made my decision and wouldn’t turn back, but fuck, it was a hard decision to live with.
My mother pulled away. “What about work? Did something happen?”
She and I had a mutual understanding never explicitly stated that we wouldn’t discuss my job. That I would let her bury her head in the sand because it was the only way she could cope. After the loss of one son, she wouldn’t be able to breathe if she lost the other. So I didn’t share the details, let her know as little as possible. “It’s just time to move on.”
Chapter 2
Aurelia
Once Constantine’s staff were back to their positions, we had someone take care of Medusa while we were out of the house so she wouldn’t be alone. She was doing much better now, and with her walker to assist her, she was in much higher spirits. It seemed that the immobility, not the pain, had been the source of her depression.
We got out of the cab and stepped into the village, and even though it’d only been a few months since I was last here, it felt different. Felt magical, special—and like home. I was a different person from the last time I was here, so I also felt like I was experiencing it for the first time.
Constantine took my hand and held it as we headed down Corso Umberto, the main road, and we passed the Duomo and the fountain with the horse statues on the right. It was where we’d met on our first official date, before he’d taken me into the village and introduced me to Bam Bar and La Focaccia.
I’d thought we were just a fling at the time, and now I hoped he would be my husband someday. The street was busier than it’d been in May because the high season hadn’t started yet, but now it was late June, so there were a lot more people around window-shopping, ordering gelato, looking at the dishes and pottery from the boutique shops.
“Where are we going?” I wore a light-blue sundress and platform sandals. I’d taken only the essentials when we’d left, so I didn’t have my full wardrobe, just my summer stuff. The rest of it had been left behind, and I imagined Darius had someone toss it all. But I’d brought the stuff that mattered, like keepsakes, pictures, and items that belonged to my mother.
“Daiquiri. The boys are meeting us.”
“Oh.”
“That a problem?” he asked as he looked down at me.
“Well, I can just head back if you want to hang out with your friends. I don’t want to intrude—”
