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Scarlett and I looked at each other, and if our eyes could have grinned, they would have. She reached out and squeezed my hand. Our men were mad that they had not caused this reaction from us.

Nonno and Magpie led the way, the rest of the group falling in line by hierarchy. However, at the door, Nonno stepped back and allowed Mariano and I to take the lead.

Our doorman, Zorzo, greeted us.

Zorzo blinked at me a few times before he mouthed my name to himself. He recognized me, but not at first. Mariano squeezed my hand. Atta squeezed my arm. Love must have suited me. I had had a metamorphosis of sorts.

A starving soul seeking love as sustenance and plumping up on it, changing into who she had always dreamt to be.

Me.

Sistine Evita Fausti.

A woman who was given love and loved in return—beyond measure. A love so fulfilling that her lover claimed she glowed from it.

I cleared my throat. “We are here to speak to my grandfather and father, Zorzo,” I said to him in Italian. I pulled Atta next to me. “This is Atta Watt Fausti, Bianca’s daughter.”

“Hiya, Zoro,” she said, but it was not full of her usual Watt…wattage. She had called him Zor o . She was forever getting people’s names wrong when she was nervous.

He did not notice, it seemed. His eyes widened and then narrowed, and he slowly took her in. It was clear to deduce he was comparing her to Bianca and Capri. She resembled them both. I was the odd duckling in my family.

Angelo took Atta’s hand after the five of us—Mariano, me, Atta, Nonno, and Magpie—entered, Zorzo moving aside and sweeping a hand toward the entrance.

Although Nonno and Magpie were beside us as we walked in, I knew this was not the norm.

Nonno was allowing Mariano to lead because he felt this was mostly Mariano’s situation to settle.

When the entire group came to a halt in the foyer, my grandfather and father made their way from upstairs as Mariano’s eyes roved all over the grand palazzo.

It was a romantic place to grow up. I love the Watt ranch, but the palazzo was spectacular as well.

We had visitors at all times of the year wishing to see it.

It had all the Venetian charm and a long history.

It had a timelessness that I had not found anywhere else.

I could appreciate the art of it, the design, even if my upbringing was not the most nurturing inside of it.

It was not nurturing to me as a daughter at all—only to what I could do for the family. I knew I was an employee of my family, therefore the Fausti family, before I understood that I was blood-related to my people.

I noticed Scarlett’s eyes were taking in the place as well, as if she had never stepped foot in a place so palatial before. However, her look was more of…appreciation for the beauty of it. Mariano’s was different. It was almost a look of wonder.

“What?” I breathed out before my grandfather and father made it down the stairs.

Luca did not have to check his watch, but I knew he was keeping track of time.

We were never late for the Fausti family, either early or exactly on time.

We were early arriving, so my grandfather and father were going to be exactly on time when they met the man who led the family, my husband’s grandfather.

Was this to show the gavel was in their court? I was not sure.

Mariano met my eyes. “This is where you grew up. You were here. You were always here.”

I grinned a little, my cheeks heating, feeling suddenly shy. “Yes,” I whispered simply.

My grandfather and father made it down the stairs and were greeting Luca.

They both bowed to Magpie before doing the same to Scarlett.

My grandfather and father gave a nod to Atta, but did not do such a thing for me.

They both met my eyes and then moved them, inviting everyone upstairs to the office used for meetings. We had three of these rooms.

Mariano was stiff next to me, his eyes never leaving the backs of my father and grandfather.

From the warmth of being in awe that I had always been in this palazzo, he had gone to the cold of what he felt was their blatant disrespect toward me.

It did not bother me. Even outside of this situation, my only value was in what I could do. My sister. My sister had all the value.

Speaking of…

The serpente of Eden met us at the top of the stairs.

Her long flaxen hair was done in waves, and she was wearing a long, silky brown dress with a cross belt around her waist that made her seem as if she was from the Renaissance era.

The dress was from my closet, and the belt was one I had designed and created.

A surge of heat overtook me. The outfit clung to her in all the right spots.

My eyes moved naturally to the left of me, although they almost wanted to dart, and Mariano was watching my face. Bene . He was not watching hers.

Atta squeezed my arm as my dumb-ass (borrowing one of Atta’s expressions) sister curtseyed to the Fausti family.

“Every time I see her, I want to wipe her face clean,” Atta angrily whispered in my ear. “I hate that she stole features from my face.”

It was true. They looked remarkably alike.

Luca barely gave Capri a nod as he and Magpie followed my grandfather and father into the main office.

My eyes locked on my sister’s as I passed her.

An impish grin had come to her face when she fluttered her lashes at Mariano.

He had ignored her, but it was the point of it all.

I went to step out of line to greet her with my own sort of justice, but Mariano deftly maneuvered me back in line and kept his hand on me as we entered the office. I almost shook him off.

Everyone always held me back from her. My hands ached to turn into claws and tear her to shreds. Mariano squeezed my hand, as if he could read the violence coming from my body, and then held out my seat for me.

“Here.” My father said, nodding to a seat that had been placed at the front of the long table. He was standing close to a seat on the left. I assumed the right seat would be for Mariano. The center seat was for me. The hot one.

Mariano shook his head. “My wife will sit here,” he said, which was the seat next to his, on the opposite side.

My grandfather and father met eyes. This was going to be a meeting full of demands and agreements, or…not. Was this a point worth warring over? Where I sat? My grandfather shook his head. Mariano kissed the top of my head, and an animalistic sound came from the hallway.

Magpie jumped a little. “What was that?” she asked in Italian.

My grandfather had the nerve to look sheepish. “My granddaughter.”

“Your granddaughters are sitting right there.” Magpie stuck her chin toward Atta and me.

“Ah, no,” my grandfather breathed out. “Capri. The young lady you just encountered at the top of the steps.”

“Is she okay?” Magpie asked.

I could not tell if Magpie was being sincere or not.

All the same, it brought a slight grin to my face.

My father caught it and narrowed his eyes at me.

Mariano stepped in front of me, blocking the look, then set his hands on the back of the seat assigned to him, directly across from my father.

He fixed his suit, and his backbone was straight.

Luca took the seat next to Mariano. My grandfather took the seat next to my father. My grandfather looked as if he wished to teleport himself out of the meeting and into another realm. Luca’s eyes almost glowed. He was high off the tension.

The ruthless.

The romantic.

My great-uncles, who ran other branches of the jewelry stores, were attending the meeting and must have noticed the look.

They gave each other surreptitious looks, as if to say, Why do we not just let her go?

They all looked at me, and it was clear to see this was a point they were fine with agreeing on.

After Nonno Luca took his seat, everyone took their seats.

A hush fell over the room as my mamma was walked in by Capri, the men all rising and fixing their suits.

The color of her hair was like mine, but that was it.

Neither one of Aurora Mocenigo’s daughters resembled her.

My mamma was present, but her eyes were mostly vacant.

She would sometimes look at me and narrow them—I was told this was because at my birth, she had lost her mind.

At times, during bad weather, she would lose it. She would bang on all the doors and scream that we were all going to die.

I would almost jump out of my skin when she would do this.

However, she and Capri always laughed and had a nice time together. Capri might not have resembled her physically, but something told me my mamma agreed with my father. Capri was the sunshine of their lives, even if she caused storms around her.

My father introduced my mamma to the table. Greetings were made. She gave me a stern look and then took the offered seat.

A man had walked in during the hush mamma had caused.

He was a slight man with birdlike features.

He wore round spectacles, and his hair must have been a golden brown once upon a time.

The color had faded, and it was speckled with silver.

Rocco, Mariano’s uncle, who was next in line to rule the family, got to his feet and offered the man his hand.

He squeezed his shoulder and then introduced him to the table.

“Benedetto Dandolo.” Rocco announced. He went on to explain that Benedetto Dandolo’s family had been present when our families had “created” the law between my family and Mariano’s. He would be the mediator, for lack of a better word.

Benedetto Dandolo was a lawyer, same as Rocco, and a historian. His family had marked down the date, the rules, and had brought the two families together in harmony after the couple had almost destroyed their relationship.

This was how our jewelry business was seen to the Fausti family—a marriage.