Page 77 of The Pretender

“I wasn’t born in Wisconsin,” she says, as if she can read my thoughts. “I came here as a young bride of twenty with Amadeo’s grandfather. We heard it was a good place to raise a family far away from New York and a lot of the trouble we ran from in Naples.”

Her meaning sinks in.

“But we weren’t entirely free. We both had family, blood relatives, who didn’t escape and came to us many times. I’ve seen things. My own brother was involved. He was gunned down the night before he was supposed to go to trial.”

“Oh god.”

“Your blood would run cold from the stories I could tell you. I can spot it from a thousand miles away. I admit, you had me confused at the beginning. You don’t conduct yourself like someone involved in the business. But hearing your call, I knew it.”

“I’m not involved. Not the way you might think.”

“Any interaction is involvement. You work with their money?” She shakes her head. “It doesn’t get much more dangerous than that.”

“I didn’t know when I went to them. I had reasons.”

“We all do. That’s how they manage to survive.”

“Right.”

“You need a plan.”

“I know.” I reach out and grab her hand. “Please don’t tell Deo. I don’t want to put him in any kind of danger.”

“I won’t. At least for now. I guess the good news is they aren’t tracking you, or they’d already be here.”

“I’ve made sure. They don’t know I have a personal phone, and I keep my business phone turned off.”

“That’ll work for a while.”

I rub my forehead. “Your family has been amazing to me, and I’m very grateful. I thought it would blow over.”

“It never blows over, son. What did you do?”

“Nothing. It’s a rumor.”

She raises an eyebrow? “Nothing?”

“Mostly,” I mumble. “They gave my sister two weeks before they return. I’ll figure something out before then.”

She nods. “Godspeed.”

Opening her arms, she gestures for me to accept her hug, and I do, getting to my feet and letting her wrap me in her embrace. It’s been ages since I’ve had a warm, familial hug, and I missed it. So damn much.

“Everything okay?”

Deo’s voice startles me and Nonna and I separate. She pats my arm, smiling and kissing Deo’s cheek as she passes him on her way back to the dining room.

“Everything’s fine. We were just chatting.”

“The phone call?”

“Nothing important.” The lie tastes bitter, but I have to protect him. “Dinner wrapping up?”

He nods, stepping closer. “Thanks for your stoic support during dinner. I felt brave just having you next to me.”

“You are brave, and you don’t need me, but I’m glad to be here.”

“It was your suggestion, and it’s a damn good one. I’ve been so wrapped up in the mess of figuring things out, I haven’t had time to be strategic yet.” He runs his hands down my chest. “So thank you.”