Page 41

Chapter 41

Juliette

A dark cloud had been hovering over Constantine’s head for the last hour and a half, and he’d gone out of his way to avoid being alone with me since he came downstairs from his father’s office.

I could physically feel the secrets he promised he wouldn’t keep hanging between us, making it hard to even fake a laugh at Salvatore’s surprising self-deprecating jokes or smile anytime his mother shared a sweet moment with Colin.

If Constantine didn’t talk soon, I’d have no choice but to ask him for answers in front of everyone at the dinner table we were setting.

It was now eight thirty, which apparently, was a regular dinner hour for Italians.

“The boys should be here any minute from JFK. Why don’t we have a drink while we wait for them?” Angela suggested once we were seated at the table in the gorgeous dining room.

I was too focused on the disturbingly quiet man at my side to pay attention to the exquisite and lavish details in the room that had me feeling as though we were in the presence of Sicilian royalty.

“Where’s your sister? Hudson?” Angela asked while picking up an open bottle of Chianti to fill her husband’s glass.

“They’re working on something. They’ll be down once Enzo and Alessandro arrive.” Constantine pulled his phone out of his pocket and kept it on his lap and out of view while responding to a text.

There was no saved name on the screen, only a number. I couldn’t read what he typed out. He was too quick.

Not suspicious at all. He caught me spying, and I didn’t feel bad. I knew whatever he was texting had to do with our son.

“Later, I promise,” he mouthed, brows drawing tight as he shoved the phone back in his pocket.

I returned my focus just in time to decline Angela’s attempt to offer me wine. “No, thank you.”

Colin licked his lips at the food on display, staring at the multitude of dishes prepared by their live-in staff. Angela had thoughtfully checked on our food allergies before dinner had been cooked.

“Are you really expecting me to sit here and look but don’t touch?” he asked his grandparents, who both laughed.

“He’s got a point,” Salvatore said while dipping his hand into a basket of freshly baked sourdough. “Here.” He passed it down to Colin.

“So,” Colin began after swiping three pieces of bread from the basket before Angela handed it off to me, “did Dad tell you I plan to enroll at his old high school?”

“He did not,” Angela answered as I handed Constantine the basket, not taking any for myself. I didn’t have the best appetite. “At the start of the next school year? I imagine it’s a little late now since you’re out next month.”

“Actually, I’m suspended.” Colin flicked crumbs onto his lap from the table, and I made a quick note to teach him a few table manners at some point. “So, now’s the perfect time to change.”

“And why are you suspended?” she followed up.

Here we go.

Colin gave a quick recap, and Salvatore shocked me by fist-bumping him. He was downright incorrigible.

“I knew you’d understand.” Colin’s lighthearted expression and smile managed to peel back a few layers of my stress to appreciate the moment. “I also want to go to NYU, which I learned is where Bianca went.”

Angela choked on her wine, and Salvatore reached around and slapped her back as she set down her glass.

“Colin,” I warned, doubtful anyone wanted to talk about something so sad at the dinner table.

“It’s quite all right.” Angela held up one hand, then patted her mouth with a napkin with the other. “Bianca would love that you want to go there. Did you know she was a writer? A brilliant one, at that.”

She shared a few personal stories, and I couldn’t help but reach under the table for Constantine’s hand and squeeze it.

“What about you, Juliette? What do you do for a living?” Angela’s pivot gave me whiplash. “I’m embarrassed I haven’t asked that of you yet.”

“She’s a pediatric nurse,” Colin piped up while drizzling a little olive oil on his bread.

“And he’s good at answering for everyone,” I added with a small smile.

“Hmm. Well, do you plan to continue to work?”

Why was she asking me that? What’d she think I would do, expect to live off their dime?

Ironically, one of my main complaints whenever I’d read a novel featuring an uber wealthy guy and a woman working hard to make ends meet was her insisting she wanted to keep at the daily grind.

Now, there I was a walking hypocrite. Didn’t I tell Constantine just yesterday in his kitchen that I wouldn’t let him take care of me?

Constantine smoothed his thumb on top of my hand beneath the table, reminding me I never answered, and Colin, of all times, had chosen that moment to keep his mouth shut.

“Juliette will more than likely need to stay out of work all week until we handle the, uh, situation,” Constantine offered when it was clear I’d gone into overthinking paralysis mode. “Once it’s safe to return, I’m sure she’ll decide what she wants to do.”

Angela sipped her wine, assessing us from across the table. I wasn’t that shocked when she went straight for the heart and asked, “Does Colin have a stepdad?”

Constantine not-so-subtly cleared his throat, and I tightened my hold of his hand to signal a request to answer for me again. He shook his head no.

“So, that means you two are planning on marrying? It’s, of course, the right thing to do for Colin, si? ?” And those OMG questions from her, as Colin would’ve called them, kept on coming.

“Ma,” Constantine said like a reprimand.

“What’d I say?” She eyed her husband, and even he gave her a disapproving look.

“Um, we, well . . .” I was going to use up every filler word I could until someone, hopefully Constantine, rescued me again with an answer.

“We won’t get married because of that, no.” Constantine shut her down, then noted the disappointed look on our son’s face at the same time I did. “We’d marry for love, not out of obligation,” he explained.

I knew we’d just had a similar conversation in the guest room, confirming our feelings for one another, but still . . . when he said it like that and in front of everyone, I forgot all over again to be frustrated at whatever he was keeping from me.

Angela pointed her dark eyes at her son as if waiting for him to publicly declare his feelings for me. Spell everything out for her in black and white.

I was seconds away from pouring a glass of wine when two men walked into the dining room with Izzy and Hudson behind them.

“You started eating without us?” Enzo asked, appearing mildly offended.

Enzo could be the body double for the actor from the movie 365 Days. I recognized him immediately from the photos Angela had shown me while Constantine was with his sister in the office.

“Of course not,” Angela responded while greeting her sons. They did the European kiss thing I’d only ever seen in movies, and she turned away from them as they did the same with their father.

“They don’t know yet, right?” Colin pointed over at his uncles.

“Know what?” Alessandro remarked, lifting a questioning brow when his eyes landed on me. His gaze cut to Colin next, then volleyed between Colin and Constantine as he grumbled something in another language.

Note to self: learn Italian.

Alessandro took a step backward, bumping into Hudson now standing behind him. He was putting it together just as fast as Angela had.

Constantine slowly stood, discarding a deep breath as he did.

I understood why he’d hoped to get through this introduction to his family all at once. It wasn’t easy to tell everyone they’d also missed out on so much of Colin’s life.

“Hi,” I finally spoke up while standing. I hooked my arm with Constantine’s to give him my support. To let him know I had his back the way he had mine. Forever and always. The plea I read in his eyes told me he was hoping I’d take the lead this time, and so I did. “Constantine and I met in Aruba seventeen years ago, and I?—”

“Wait a second,” Alessandro interrupted as Enzo came up alongside him to stare at me, too. “You’re her? The her from Aruba?” His grayish-colored eyes flew back to Colin to confirm what I was sure he’d already guessed about him. That he was his nephew.

“I am. Yes, this is our son, Colin, and no, he didn’t know about him. I couldn’t track down Constantine after I found out I was pregnant.” I did my best to make this as quick and painless as possible.

“He left you a note,” Alessandro snapped out, his voice low and cutting. “You messed my brother up . . . and now you’re here? I don’t understand.”

His words were sharp and painful, stabbing me in the heart. Before I had a chance to defend myself, Constantine intervened. After his explanation, Alessandro covered his mouth, staring at Colin in disbelief.

Enzo slowly made his way over to Colin. “I’m your uncle Lorenzo, but you can call me Enzo. Uncle E works, too.” He offered his hand, and Colin stood and accepted it, then looked to his other uncle, worried he wouldn’t be getting the same welcome from him.

Alessandro stepped around his brother to confront Colin, then surprised me by pulling him in for a hug. He met Constantine’s eyes over Colin’s shoulder, and I saw the heartbreak he felt on his brother’s behalf.

Constantine lifted his chin, eyes moving to the ceiling, and I tracked the muscles in his jaw and neck as they strained, as he worked to keep it together.

“Why don’t we all sit and eat?” Angela blotted a few tears on her cheeks with her napkin, then gestured for Izzy and Hudson to join us, too.

Alessandro let go of Colin, his eyes glossy with unshed tears. Maybe he was better at displaying his emotions than the growly teddy bear at my right?

“This is just . . .” Alessandro’s voice broke as he went to sit next to his sister.

Constantine waited for me to take my chair, then scooted it closer to the table. He didn’t join us because a call drew his focus. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to take this,” he said over his shoulder as he took off, and Hudson and his brothers wordlessly followed him without a request.

“Everything okay?” Colin glanced at his aunt, then over at me.

Based on the look in Izzy’s eyes, she knew the answer. And she had no desire to be the one to tell us that no, no it wasn’t.