Page 33 of Bellini Bound

The little girl unscrewed the top of the bottle containing bubblegum-pink-colored nail polish. “That’s okay. Everyone gets a little too excited sometimes, Mommy.”

Summer squeezed Bianca’s shoulder. “Thanks for understanding.”

For a few minutes, we fell into silence. Summer weaved the strands of my hair into a style I could only dream of recreating on my own, and Bianca poured all her focus into making sure most of the paint made it onto my fingernails instead of the surrounding skin. While I wasn’t receiving these beauty treatments inside a traditional spa, it was the most pampering I’d ever received.

In the quiet, my mind began to wander, and I wondered if maybe this was my silver lining—making a friend who allowed me to be a part of her two little girls’ lives.

Though nothing could ever take away the pain of having the door aggressively slammed shut on my dreams of motherhood.

Chapter 10

Enzo

Ding.

Pulling my cell out of my pocket, I groaned when the image of lasagna filled the screen, accompanied by a text.

Matteo:Sick of takeout yet? Just think, if you didn’t have your head so far up your ass, you could be sitting here, enjoying this home-cooked meal. Bet you can almost smell it through the phone, can’t you?

Matteo:Oh, and did I mention, there’s tiramisu for dessert?

Damn him. He knew that was my favorite.

This was my cousin’s new thing. Taunting me via text.

It began shortly after I moved into my penthouse downtown. Matteo went out of his way to make sure I was aware that Allison had taken my place at their table, becoming a permanent fixture in their daily lives.

The message was clear: you can join us when you’re ready to play nice.

Did he honestly think I enjoyed being an asshole to the girl? Because just thinking about the horrible things I’d said to her and made her do ate away at me day in and day out. Thank God I didn’t have longer hair, because the number of times I’d attempted to grasp at the nearly non-existent strands of my buzzed head would have had me halfway to bald by now.

Matteo:You should hear Serafina when she tries to say Allie’s name. It comes out Owl-lee. Cutest fucking thing ever.

Matteo:*Video Attachment*

God help me, I wasn’t strong enough not to press play.

As soon as I did, laughter came through my phone speaker, along with an image of the woman I’d been forced to marry, her smile brighter than I’d ever seen it.

The camera view widened to showcase Serafina in her highchair, with Summer off to the side, coaxing, “Who’s this?” while gesturing toward Allison.

The eighteen-month-old let out a high-pitched squeal of delight before crying, “Owl-lee! Owl-lee!”

Then, my wife moved in to cuddle the baby girl and press a kiss to the top of her head.

Was it my imagination, or did Serafina look so much bigger than the last time I’d seen her, almost six weeks ago? If I wasn’t careful, those girls would grow up without me. While I didn’t want kids of my own, Matteo’s daughters held a special place in my heart, and it would kill me to be shut out of their lives permanently.

But there was no way to truly “fix” this, as Summer had demanded. Lines had been crossed that couldn’t be uncrossed. And even if it were possible,being in the same room with my wife was a temptation best avoided. There was no world in which I could ever be the kind of man who was worthy of her. My hands were covered in blood. She was so pure that my touch was bound to taint her.

It was better to keep my distance, keep our lives separate. Our marriage would remain nothing more than a piece of paper and a ring for me, and an upgraded bank account and around-the-clock security for her.

Matteo:Did you know your wife makes a pornographic moan when she likes the taste of something she puts in her mouth?

My grip on my phone tightened as blood rushed south.

That motherfucker was doing all he could to push me toward a breaking point. But I’d been a soldier for this family my entire life. I had perfected the art of bending without breaking, and I refused to let some curvy siren with big green eyes be my undoing.

With the switch of a toggle on the side of my cell, I placed the device on silent—something Ineverdid as the head of our security team in case there was an emergency. But I couldn’t afford any more bullshit distractions tonight. There was a shipment of guns arriving, and I needed to make sure my head was on straight. Because the minute you let your guard down was the exact moment when things went sideways. Every time. Without fail.