Page 13 of Vows of a Mobster

Normally, I wouldn’t want to involve him after what happened to him last time but I was desperate. For Emma, I couldn’t leave any stone unturned. I’d have to find a way to find the family that Emma’s father referenced the last time I spoke to him. Just the thought of it had me cringing, but I couldn’t leave anything to chance. I’d start with my mother and then go down the list.

It was moments like these that I wished I could lean on someone. I considered myself fairly independent, but once in a while, it would be nice to lean on a partner and let him take care of it all. I couldn’t even fathom trusting a man so unconditionally to lean on him for complete support. Nonetheless, I yearned for it… for someone that would hold me and tell me it would be okay. If it all fell apart, he’d help me get back up, and I’d do the same for him.

I knew it was a stupid sentiment. I saw how badly my mother’s marriages were and where love took you. But writing the love stories and reading so many gave me that dangerous hope for happy endings.

Talk about being stupid,I scolded myself.

“I’ll take anyone that volunteers to check whether they are a match,” I finally answered Marissa.

God, I felt so tired and old. I was barely twenty-five and felt like I lived through two lifetimes.

Five

Mateo

My phone buzzed, signaling an email. Surprised to see it was from my brother, I opened it.

* * *

Mateo,

Your reminder that your estate showing is today in three hours.

Xoxo

Marcus

* * *

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. I forgot all about it.

At least Marcus remembered. Then I frowned. Did my brother really sign the email with Xs and Os? What the fuck was that about?

“What is it?” Giovanni asked. He was still young and tended to be nosy. Antonio sat in the chair casually, the disinterest across his face although I knew better. He was curious too.

I met Giovanni’s clear green gaze, so much like mine and Marissa’s. He looked more like my younger brother than my own brother. And he certainly behaved like it too. Everything that Marcus lacked in character and discipline, Giovanni didn’t. Despite what happened two years ago and the way shit went down, he still stood firmly by the family.

“I forgot about an appointment,” I told him, although I didn’t owe him any explanation. “Giovanni, what does it mean when someone signs their email with Xs and Os?”

God, my age was showing. I had to ask my twenty-eight-year-old cousin what that meant.

Giovanni chuckled. “It means kisses and hugs. Who signed their email like that?”

“My brother,” I retorted dryly and both Antonio and Giovanni burst into laughter.

“Maybe he loves you a lot,” Giovanni suggested, his eyes twinkling.

“Highly unlikely,” I told him. “More like someone else wrote the email. Anyhow, Giovanni, I need you to check out the security detail for a new property I want to purchase.”

“Today?”

“Yes, in three hours.”

“Shit,” he muttered. “Could I go this evening? I have to go and have blood drawn.”

I raised my eyebrow at the unexpected excuse.

“Are you sick, son?” Antonio asked.