Page 119 of Vicious Behaviors

Thankfully, when we rejoin them, Frankie and Lucky are also with my mother and Izzie, serving as a perfect buffer against any baby talk.

“What did I miss?” I ask as casually as possible, slipping a protective arm around Izzie’s waist.

“Nothing much,” she answers with a bright smile, completely in her element. “Your mom was just telling me what a shy kid you used to be growing up. More so than Annamaria.”

“If shy is code for emo, then sure, that’s what he was,” Lucky snorts.

“Speaking of Anna, where is she? I’ve got tickets for Taylor Swift’s concert burning a hole in my pocket,” I say, steering the conversation away from my awkward childhood and the reason behind why I mainly stuck to myself.

“Oh, I saw her a few minutes ago. She just went to the bathroom to freshen up. She’ll come down any second,” Izzie explains a little too quickly, a lie embedded in her autumn eyes.

She’s fitting in with my family so well, I don’t have the heart to call her out on it. I’ll ask her later why she’s covering for Anna and why she keeps looking over my shoulder outside.

“You got her Taylor Swift tickets?!” Frankie squeals, practically bouncing. “Let me see!”

“Oh, Marcello did more than that. He got tickets and backstage passes for all of us girls.” Izzie laughs as she digs into her clutch to show them to Frankie. Lucky drifts closer to me while the others ooh and ahh over the tickets.

“I thought we didn’t like her,” he mutters under his breath while eyeing my woman.

“And what made you think that?” I snap quietly.

“Enzo. He told me to stay clear of her. Said that she was bad news. And now here she is, meeting Mom and Dad, no less. Did I miss something?” he asks with genuine confusion.

Leave it to Enzo to poison his twin against the woman I love with little to no info.

Fuck my life.

“And where is Enzo?” I ask darkly, needing to find him before he runs to our father to claim he doesn’t trust Izzie, mere minutes after I told the old man she was as clean as a whistle.

“Where do you think?” Lucky rolls his eyes. “Unlike you, Enzo can’t exactly bring his problematic date to Anna’s party. Alejandro’s Roman collar would steal the spotlight from her for sure,” Lucky explains as if I should’ve known that already. “Don’t worry. He’s bound to make an appearance, even if only to help Anna blow out her candles.”

Good. If Enzo’s mind is busy with Alejandro, maybe he won’t run off to our father about Izzie. Unless, of course, our father goes to him requesting another background check on her.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

All I wanted was to introduce my girl to my mother. How did this whole night get so fucked?

When the waiter passes by us, I grab two champagne flutes and down them both in one go, grabbing another to keep on hand. Everyone stares at me as if I’d grown another head.

“What?” I wipe my mouth with my sleeve.

“You don’t usually drink,” Izzie says, concern stitched across her lips.

“I think the excitement of the night is getting to our boy,” my father smirks, sliding an arm around my mother’s waist.

“Not at all. I’m just celebrating,” I counter, doing my best to mask the fact that the alcohol is already rushing to my head.

“Of course you are.” My mother winks before strutting to stand beside me. “Like I said, I know all my children’s tells.” But then her teasing grin falls from her lips, staring into the crowd. “All of my children.”

I shift sideways to see who she is looking at, only to find Stella laughing away at something Jude or Mina just said to her.

“Everything alright,Mammà?”

“Yes. Yes. Everything is fine,” she quickly says, forcing a smile.

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t worry about me,” my mother says. “I’d rather you focus on your date and show her a good time—though God knows it will be a hard thing to accomplish in this stiff, uppity crowd.” Then she leans into my ear and whispers, “Izzie is lovely, Marcello. She’s perfect for you.”