Page 62 of Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings

“Of course, she did.” Staten shook his head. “Have a seat in the living room. Cambrie, can you go grab Tavi and Saga?”

“Yeah.” I nodded and started up the steps.

Tavi still had an attitude, but she and Saga followed me back to the main level.

Nadia had picked up a photo of the kids that was framed on a table in the hall.

The four of them were seated together on the front porch in their old house in Chicago.

I’d found it in an album and thought it deserved a place in a frame.

Observing the room, I noticed that Staten was no longer present, so I assumed he went to deal with his mother and her interference.

Here I thought we were making a little progress, but clearly, Rossi had other plans.

“Mommy!” Tavi squealed the minute she laid eyes on her mother.

She sprinted past her brother to get to her mother, nearly knocking her over in the process. Nadia grinned and kissed the top of her head while holding her.

“Hey, beautiful. How are you?”

Saga was more chill, greeting her with a hug and allowing her to kiss his cheek before she toyed with some of his locs.

His sister seemed more excited than he was about seeing her.

I wondered about the dynamics of their relationship but didn’t want to seem like I was hovering.

Nadia’s presence had damn sure shaken things up, and given the raised voices coming from the kitchen, I guessed Staten wasn’t pleased.

“You two are so big! Saga, your hair is long!” Nadia observed.

“What are you doing here?” Tavi nudged away but kept her arms wrapped around her when she peered up into her face.

“Visiting you, of course.” Nadia pinched her cheek.

“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything,” I told them, slowly pivoting away from their happy reunion.

“I’m sure we’re good.” The sweet tone she’d used with the children had faded and was a lot colder with me.

Going toe-to-toe with her wasn’t going to resolve a thing, so I slowly turned and padded down the hall to the kitchen.

I figured she would want some alone time with her kids to grill them about me anyway.

The woman gave seriously petty vibes, and her hate for me was on sight.

I stopped in the kitchen doorway, not wanting to interrupt the conversation between Staten and his mother.

I’d never heard him angry. Agitated maybe, annoyed, for sure, but this was a tone I wasn’t familiar with.

“The fuck, Rossi! I told you to stay out of this shit!” he hissed.

“I did. I booked the flight for her and instantly regretted it, but she’s here now. Let her see the children, and then she can leave,” I heard his mother respond.

“Why would you do this? I told you we’re done, and ain’t shit you or Nadia can do about that. Now she’s here thinking what… this is some reunion or some shit?”

“I did this for you, Staten.”

“For me?” he scoffed, tension-filled silence taking up the room. “How the fuck this for me when I made it pretty fucking clear that I didn’t want her here?”

Rossi sighed. “I know that you have feelings for Cambrie, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get involved with her.

Your father always thought you and Nadia just fit.

He predicted you two would eventually come back to each other and figure out how to make things work.

You have to admit, she was an asset to have around. ”

“What’s between me and Cambrie ain’t none of your fucking business!” he barked.

“Maybe not, but what do you know about her? Did you do an actual background check on her?”

“Cambrie is cool, Rossi. She’s one of the most genuine people I know,” Sol divulged, which made me smile that she was defending me even when I wasn’t around.

“I know enough. She’s good for the kids, and she’s good for me too. Before we got here, before she came into our lives, we were coasting, and that ain’t no way for my kids to live. They’re happy here, and it hasn’t been long, but she’s making a difference in their lives and mine.”

“So does that mean you’re going to pursue something with her?” his mother queried.

“I don’t want to argue with you about this,” Staten voiced in frustration.

“Then don’t,” Rossi remarked. “Nadia isn’t going anywhere though, that’s also a fact around here. She’s the mother to two of your children.”

“And she doesn’t acknowledge the other two,” Staten rebutted.

“You think I want to spend my life with a woman who can easily take off when shit is hard or not going how she planned? Then I suddenly come back home, and here she is on my fucking doorstep. I’m supposed to wife that to preserve the Marek name? Is that what you telling me?”

“If you get close to Cambrie, you need to know the risks you’re taking. At least with Nadia you already know what you’re getting. I know you love her?—”

“Love ain’t got shit to do with this!” Staten yelled. “And when you talk about the risks with Cambrie, you talking about the fact that it was her mother in that other car the night we were ambushed?” Staten prompted his mother, rocking me to my core.

Something shattered in the distance, maybe a plate or a glass.

I wasn’t sure. Sol’s wide eyes locked with mine across the room as she stood there with her hands up.

With ringing ears and a heart thrumming so loud it pulsed in my ears, I gasped.

Robbed of the air in my lungs, my chest tightened, and I found myself struggling to breathe.

I’d hear him wrong. I had to. There was no way.

Gripping the doorframe, my hand fell against my chest and I fought for oxygen as my airways closed.

Staten and his mother both turned to me with mirrored expressions of shock.

“Wh-what did you just say?” I demanded shakily from the kitchen doorway as my knees buckled.

To Be Continued