Page 20 of Sins of Bliss

My heart skips a beat.Does Mamma know of Vinnie?

“What girl?” I ask tentatively.

“The girl you met. I know my son well enough to know when he has met someone whom he truly cares about. It was written all over your features, despite you not saying any words. You had met someone shortly before you left.”

A shuddering breath blows past my lips, and I scrub my face with my palm. “Mamma?—”

“Do not lie to me, Sylvester. I’ve had enough of your lies.”

“Mamma, this is not the time for this conversation, nor am I in the place. Please allow me to come home first, then I will tell you everything. We will go to brunch.”

“Fine. But you need to come home, Sly. It has been too long. There are people here who need you.”

I know Mamma, and I suspect my Vincenza is one of them.

“Sì. Give me another week, possibly two. I will be home. I swear to you.”

“Please rest, mio figiio. Te amo.”

“Te amo, Mamma. It is good to hear your voice.”

“Yours too. I cannot wait to hold my boy in my arms again.”

I disconnect the call, and my fingers dance over the touch screen, dialing the next phone number.

A single ring resonates through the speaker before it’s answered. “This is Sullivan.”

“Have I been away so long that you now answer the phone as though you are a CEO, mio amico?”

“Sly?” Sully questions in disbelief. “You take my jet to California, then step into the fog and disappear, never to be seen or heard from for months, and the first thing you do when youdocall is mock me? Hi! So great to hear from you, pal.”

“Ciao, Sullivan. I hope you are well,” I snark, fighting against the smile creeping onto my lips.

Sully scoffs, and I sense he is genuinely upset. “You’ve got some nerve, Sly. Do you have any idea what your family’s gone through? What I’ve gone through?”

“I was shot,” I say simply, as though my recent injury could excuse me from all my other transgressions.

“I know.”

“You weren’t worried?”

“OF COURSE I WAS WORRIED,” Sully booms through the phone. I hear rustling, then the sound of him expelling a breath. “Look, Sly. You left, and things got really hard. Your parents were devastated, and Enzo was left to pick up the pieces. He’s pissed at you—more than I am. I was just his wingman to try and cheer your mom up. You broke her heart, man, and honestly, you broke mine, too. Thought we were better friends, but you up and cut me off.”

“There are things you don’t know?—”

“No, Sly. There are thingsyoudon’t know.” His words freeze me in my spot.

“What things?”

An annoyed laugh resounds through the speaker. “Is this your number now? Or is this a burner phone you’re going to chuck after we hang up?”

I scrub my hand down my face. Neither of these conversations are going how I expected them to. “This is my number now.”

“Good. I’ll call you when I’m ready to talk to you.”

“Sully, I’ve called to apologize.”

“Well, I’m not ready to hear it, man. I’m glad you’re not dead, but for the last however many months, you might as well have been. I’ve got a lot going on at work right now, I have to go.”

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