Page 116 of Urgent Vows
"Your family is my family now,mi dolce bellezza. I will take care of all of you."
"I wish you didn't have to, but I'm glad you are."
My beautiful wife really is incredibly sweet.
I stand and swoop her off her chair and into my arms.
She gasps. "You haven't carried me like this in a while."
"Text my mother and tell her you won't be doing whatever it is you both have planned for today."
"Why? What will I be doing instead?"
"Me."
Chapter 38
CATALINA
Carlotta arrives for dinner and our visit with a bodyguard. A woman who looks like she could break my sister in half. She doesn't smile and she doesn't say goodbye to Carlotta when Severu dismisses her to have dinner with the rest of the staff.
My sister runs to me and gives me a hug. "I've missed you so much,soru. I've been all alone."
I hug her back, my heart squeezing with love for my little sister. But then I remember the videos and I pull away. She's been alone because Severu doesn't trust her and won't allow her to stay in our home.
"Severu won't even let me have a phone. I wanted to call you so many times."
"You will address me as Don De Luca." My husband walks into the living room. He wants to get the discussion of Carlotta's future out of the way before Aria and Miceli arrive for dinner.
"You're my brother-in-law."
Severu doesn't reply, simply staring Carlotta down.
She looks away from him. "Fine, I'll call you Don. Alright?"
"You do not have a phone because you cannot be trusted with electronic devices."
"Is this about the Stellina thing?" my sister asks, her tone implying Severu is being unreasonable.
"The account has been shut down, but millions of people saw your sister's private moments because of you."
"She was playing the piano, not bathing."
My sister's callous attitude hurts. It also makes me angry. "You knew why I played, and it was selfish of you to use my pain for your own benefit."
I sit down on one of the sofas but Severu doesn't allow my sister to join me, taking the seat beside me and man spreading so she has to sit elsewhere.
With a frown for him, she plops down into a nearby armchair. "Some posts did better than others. The ones after…" She lets her voice trail off. "Well they went viral. Your emotion was so raw in them."
"My emotions.Mine. You had no right to share those moments of catharsis with strangers."
"If Sev…I mean the don hadn't told you about it, you would never have known."
"What I don't know can't hurt me?" I ask, shaking my head "No wonder my husband doesn't trust you with a phone."
"That's not fair. I needed money to pay for culinary school and there was no other way."
"So, you weren't saving up to run away?" Severu asks.
