Page 93 of Shiver

Thatcatches me off guard. My head whips in her direction, eyes locked on hers. The little smirk grazing her lips makes my stomach twist in knots.

“Yep. You got up to cool off, and he sat there, telling us all off about how much we underappreciate you, how incredible you are, and that while he knows we have good intentions, we don’t show you love in the way you need it. You could say that I may have judged the book by its cover with him, but I’m finding that I like what’s written on those pages.” Her smirk remains in place as she twists her curls up in a pile on her head.

He defended me to my family?

The knots release, and in their place, a swarm of butterflies takes flight. Though it doesn’t take long for me to swat them all down, doing my best to protect myself. I feel my meticulously spackled walls rebuilding around me.

“Mara, he’s a good man, and he was respectful even while handing us our own asses. Besides,” she says, glancing over at me again. “That man is nineties fine.”

A full-bodied laugh spills out of me. “He absolutely is. He’s sexy beyond reason,” I agree, still unsure of what to say about the rest of what she just said.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to dwell on that either because there’s a knock at the door.

Vea scoots out of her chair, heading to answer the door for me. “Now, don’t be mad, okay? You can kick them out at any point.”

My stomach does another flip, and bile creeps up my throat. My appetite is suddenly gone.

***

My family’s seated around my small, glass dining room table. Mom reaches out a hand for mine. It’s an unfamiliar gesture, but I accept it, my muscles tense with anxiety.

“We don’t want you to feel cornered, so please tell us to leave if you want to. We can have this conversation another time if that’s what you need, but it’s important that wedohave this conversation at some point,” Mom says.

I nod slowly, still in a daze.

“I’m sure Vea has already told you about our conversation with Luca, but we want to make a few things clear.”

My stomach continues to churn, and my pulse is hammering behind my temples.

“You and Vea are the biggest blessings we could have ever hoped for, and we couldn’t be more proud of either of you.”

My muscles begin to relax, warmth seeping into my chest.

This may not seem like a lot, but they’re the words of affirmation I’m realizing I’ve needed to hear for so long.

“Baby.” She squeezes my hand. “I’m so sorry that I never realized we were hurting you. It doesn’t make up for it, but I want you to know that the reason I talk about you settling down and having kids so much is because you and your sister are the best thing to have ever happened to me,” she says, looking over at Dad.

“Tuh wi,” he corrects.To us.

“We just want you to get to experience that, but we realize now that you’ll do everything in your own time,” she adds.

The next several minutes are spent like this. My family apologizes for things they’ve said that have hurt me, and it feels good to hear my thoughts validated. Now that they’re aware of how they’ve impacted me, they understand it and feel bad about it. It’s why I go on to apologize for the way I’ve sometimes spoken to them out of anger, feeling like a caged animal.

By the time they leave for the night, there’s an overwhelming sense of relief that’s settled into my being, and I’m even more grateful for my time with Luca than I had been before. Without him, we may have never gotten here.

Chapter seventy-six

Luca

Friday, September 25, 2026

Ican’t even express how excited I am for the wedding tomorrow, and despite Samara being distant tonight, I had a great time.

“Gia,mia bambina, come on, little girl. Let’s head to your mommy’s house.”

Alessandro squeezes my shoulder, a big, dopey smile on his face. “Hey, you heading out?”

“Yeah, I’ve got to get Gia over to Cici’s. She’s gonna spend the weekend with her and head back over after the wedding, but I didn’t want her to miss one of her days, so I told her I’d bring her over tonight.”

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