Page 211 of Modern Romance June 2025 1-4

Emilio didn’t know how to respond. This was the last thing in the world he’d expected. Was he supposed to say everything was fine because of a few words?

We need honesty…

He heard Jasmine’s voice, so this time he chose to listen.

‘You’ll never understand, Enzo.’

‘Then explain it to me.’

Emilio laughed. How did he explain twenty-nine years of neglect?

Enzo shifted forward in his seat, as if he possibly wanted to offer comfort, but he held back and Emilio didn’t know how to respond to that uncertainty from his brother. ‘Emilio, I promise to listen. I will try to understand. I have many years to make up for, but we need to start somewhere. So, please, explain it to me.’

‘You were never bothered that Mamma favoured me.’

‘No, I never was.’

‘You were so indifferent to me because you were so sure of your place. You had both our parents’ attention, their love that you didn’t even see the point of getting upset. I didn’t have that. I spent every single day knowing I was invisible. Papa wouldn’t even look at me at dinner. Do you have any idea what it’s like to know that you would only ever receive attention if your big brother died?’

There was horror on Enzo’s face. Tears welled in his bright-green eyes. ‘No.’

‘You have never had to earn anyone’s affection, Enzo. You’ve never known what rejection is like.’ Emilio couldn’t remain seated any longer, not when everything was boiling up in him. He couldn’t control what he felt now even if he’d tried.

‘Did you celebrate?’ he asked viciously, surrendering to the impulse to pace the office. ‘When you learned of our father’s deception? It got you everything, as usual. I was the one that was there for Mamma. I was the one that stuck around. I saw her die. I stayed for the funeral and comforted people who would never know how I felt.’

Enzo scrubbed his hands down his face and shook his head in denial. His eyes scrunched closed. It took a moment for him to collect himself and, when he spoke, his voice was low. Scratchy.

‘Just because the vineyards are mine doesn’t mean you have no right to them. We both have memories there, Emilio. It’s equally in our blood. Look, we can’t change the past, but we can choose a different future. Maybe we can start with you looking at that diary.’

‘What?’ Emilio didn’t want to read the diary now, not in front of his brother. He wasn’t surewhenhe would be ready to reopen the wound of losing his mother.

‘Not the whole thing, unless you want to. But look at the page I’ve marked.’

Emilio stared down his brother. Enzo could not possibly be serious, but it didn’t seem that he was going to back down on this.

‘What the hell? It’s not like this day could get worse.’

‘That’s the spirit,’ Enzo muttered, and Emilio smiled despite himself.

He opened the book to a page marked with a sticky note. He resumed his pacing as he read.

I signed my will today. Bennedetto made me create the first one all those years ago. Stood over my shoulder as I signed it. But I always knew I would leave the vineyards to Emilio. He never had his father’s favour. And now there will always be something to tie Enzo and Emilio together. Especially when I’m gone. If Enzo takes the vineyards, there will be nothing to tie Emilio to the company; he’ll leave and that will be the end for my sons. My death might bring them together…but that is probably wishful thinking. Maybe if they are forced to work together, they will talk. I’ll talk to the lawyers, try to give them that time. They need to learn to be brothers again.

Emiliohadbeen thinking of leaving; his mother had foreseen it. But this explained why there were two wills. Why she had instructed the lawyers to wait. The memory of those family dinners flashed across his mind. Perhaps she’d been doing the same back then. Perhaps those had been for the benefit of Enzo and him, not their father.

Their father…

He read the words again, anger curling in the pit of his stomach. ‘Why would he do that? Why force Mamma to create a will for something he knew wasn’t hers?’

‘I don’t know,’ Enzo admitted. ‘To keep up the appearance that he had given them to her? Perhaps it was a test. He was fond of tests.’

‘Did he test you?’

‘Constantly.’

Enzo seems more like an investment than a son.

Jasmine had been right yet again. Emilio felt a pang of sympathy for his brother. He thought of his own child who he loved so completely even though they were not yet born. Thought of how he wanted to give them the world, protect them from everything. He would never force his child to endure tests to prove their worthiness. The thought was horrifying.

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