His gaze drops to mine, and his tone softens.“Sorellina, a month where he’d gone from planning to kill your father to suddenly wanting to marry you.”
“Newsflash, moron,” Cade snarls, “most people don’t need a failed engagement, two years, and three fucking wars to figure their shit out!”
Dante’s smirk broadens into an all-out grin. “God, I love it when we fight dirty.” He flashes me that look, and I desperately want to smack it off his face.
How the hell does Addy deal with this guy?
I glance at Addy, only to see her trying to school her expression into a passable glare while clearly biting back a smile.
To be fair, it’s the same question every single person who’s spent more than two minutes with Cade has asked me.
“Anyway, you’re welcome,“ Dante continues. “At least now you know Quinn loves you. He proved that in the hospital room. And he’s proven it every single day for the last nine months.”
“And you,” Addy interjects coolly, “can now prove your wisdom on the couch for the next nine weeks.”
“Excellent suggestion, Addy,” Nico quips, his tone all business.
Dante’s smirk disappears. He jabs a thumb toward his brother, indignant. “Now wait a minute. Nico was in on this too!”
All eyes swivel to Nico, who barely reacts. He only has eyes for Sophie. With a casual shrug, he murmurs, “It wasn’t my secret to tell,fiammetta.”
Sophie stares at him for a beat—long enough for everyone else to hold their breath. Then she shrugs right back. “Makes senseto me.” And, just like that, she captures his mouth in a searing kiss.
“Oh, come on!” Dante scoffs, throwing his hands up as if the universe itself has betrayed him. He turns to Addy, his expression wounded. “Tesoro…”
“Don’ttesorome, Dante,“ Addy snaps, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “That was one joke too far.”
Dante whirls on me next, exasperation written all over his face. “Luna, are you seriously going to sit there and act like you didn’t know?”
“How could I? I trusted you, jackass!” I fire back, already plotting my revenge. My brain settles on a particularly satisfying payback plan: long-acting laxatives.
Dante puts both palms on the table, spreading his fingers wide. “Well, I’m not taking the fall for your judgment lapse. You could have done any number of things. Checked the fucking result yourself, undergone new tests, or actually started seeing some geneticists. But you didn’t. Know why?”
He leans forward, his chin jutting in that way he knows gets on my last nerve. “Because you’re too wrapped up in Quinn to even know what fucking day of the week it is.”
Before I can throw myself across the table at him, a knife embeds itself between Dante’s fingers followed by a squirt of red that tells me something’s been nicked.
“What the—” Dante’s chair clatters to the floor as he shoots to his feet, gun drawn and aimed at a point above my head. Blood runs down his forearm, dripping onto the table.
Cade cut him. Bad.
I sigh, resigned. Good thing we have a surgeon on call twenty-four hours a day.
“Nine fucking weeks,” Addy hisses at Dante, completely unfazed by the sight of his blood. She spins on her heels and stalks out with her signature gait.
Dante’s entire body goes slack as he watches his wife leave the room. He holsters his gun then grabs his chair and sits. Reaching into his jacket for a handkerchief, he shoves it between his middle and ring fingers and makes a tight fist to staunch the blood.
“You know I love you, Luna.”
“Wrong fucking words,” Cade growls, his voice laced with warning.
Dante throws Cade a withering look. “Better words. But since we’re being petty,” his gray eyes drop to mine, bright with insincerity. “I’m sorry,sorellina.”
My lips curl into an equally fake smile, relishing my payback. “I forgive you,fratello.”
“Great, I’ll get the doctor,” Sophie mutters, shaking her head as she slips out of the room, somehow turning even that into a runway-worthy exit.
“Well, then,” I glance at Nico, who nods to excuse me. “I’ll let you gentlemen finish here.”