Page 131 of Marry Me Not
“You’ll have to give me some pointers,” Dominic said. “My feelings may not survive much longer.”
Rom let out an amused scoff.
My temple twitched. Christ. Was this man capable of winning over everyone in a room within thirty seconds?
Alessio sat down beside Romolo, eyeing Dominic curiously. “Who are you exactly?”
I blew out a breath. “This is Dominic Santoro.”
That killed the cheery mood fast. Romolo straightened. Alessio grew very still, his expression going cold.
“He seems awfully calm,” Alessio said, “for a man who’s not going to walk out of here alive.”
“We’re not going to do anything to him.”
“And why the hell not?” Romolo asked.
I dragged my tongue over my teeth and ripped the Band-Aid right off. “Because he’s our brother.”
Silence.
Romolo looked between Dominic and me. “Did someone spike my coffee?”
“If they spiked yours,” Alessio said, standing up, “they spiked mine too. Because I could’ve sworn Cos just said this man is our brother.”
“Half brother to be precise,” Dominic said pleasantly. “Same father. Different mother.”
I brought them up to speed. When I was finished, Rom and Les stayed quiet for a moment, both squinting at Dominic with some mixture of shock and suspicion.
“I don’t know if I buy it,” Rom said.
“He does look like Dad,” Alessio muttered as he moved to sit on the edge of the coffee table right in front of Dominic. He braced his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, studying Dominic’s face.
“Shouldn’t we do a DNA test or something?” Rom asked.
I reached for the journal sitting on my desk. Fabiana had shown me photos of it on the flight home and pointed out one particular drawing.
I opened to the page she’d marked and turned it toward them. “We could. But I don’t think we need to.” I pointed to the boy in the tree, above the three others playing in the grass. “At first, Fabiana thought it was a drawing of the three of us, but look at the boy in the tree and the letter on the back of his sweater.”
D.
Alessio took the journal from me. After a few seconds, he passed it to Rom.
“There’s some text underneath,” Rom muttered. “Dad wrote,I hope that one day my sons will visit Villa Lucente, the place where I spent many happy summers.”
Alessio shook his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think it means our father wanted the four of us to find each other eventually,” I said. “Even if he never told us we have a half brother.”
A heavy silence settled over the room. Romolo rested an ankle over his knee, brow furrowed, rubbing at his mouth while he processed everything. Alessio still kept his eyes on Dominic, as if he didn’t fully trust what might happen if he let him out of his sight.
To Dominic’s credit, he didn’t seem to be bothered by their apprehensive reaction. He wore a magnanimous smile while he waited for them to come to terms with the situation.
“So what’s next?” Les asked eventually.
“Dominic and I have been talking. We think the best way through this conflict is for us to make a deal.”
Rom’s expression darkened. “A deal. With the man whose family killed our father.”
