Page 62 of Forbidden Property
“Have you tried just… asking her how she feels?”
“You’re a fucking idiot.”
“Am I?”
“Yes. Why would that work?”
“Okay. What was your plan, then?”
He’ll judge me but… Gino doesn’t understand women. He doesn’t understand much of anything except how to piss me off.
“I was going to tie her up while Roman slept and then eat her like an oyster until she finally confessed the truth.”
“I… I think I need to order you a drink.”
“It’s a good plan.”
“Eating her out is your plan. After scaring the crap out of her.”
“Is your plan better?”
“Yes. Much better.”
Gino orders me a drink, mostly to buy himself some more time on this earth.
I’m happier with a drink in my hand, which was a good call on Gino’s part. This is a pretty hoppy IPA and the painful burn down my throat and quicker drunkenness will make me happier and less likely to slap the shit out of my twin brother for bringing up yet another stupid suggestion.
“What’s your plan?”
“I knew you would ask eventually.”
“You bought me a pint,” I grumble. “I guess I can hear you out.”
Plus, he did allow me to get closer to Roman than I think I would have otherwise. I can’t admit that to Gino. He’s too arrogant about being right all the time.
“Talk to her.”
“You’re a fucking idiot.”
“I’m not.”
“How?”
“Just pour your heart out. Tell her how you feel. You have a child together, Renzo. Don’t you think everything changed for her too?”
Yes. She’ll want to protect Roman the same way that I do, and she still sees me as a dangerous and unpredictable person who she can’t trust. But I love my son. He might not look at all like I thought my son would look, but I can’t imagine him being anything else other than Roman. He has a strong nose already, like all the men in my family.
But his skin tone is the color of a cappuccino and already, he has thick curly black hair that reminds me of the men who live on the Italian coast where I went to business school. I want him close to me. I need Geralynn and my son to be my family.
I was wrong about… everything. And in America, we get to lose some traditions, don’t we? The Taviani family succeeded in America and we will succeed regardless of our so-called racial purity. It seems obvious now and like I should have learned the lesson before my son. I feel strangely… ashamed.
“She will never see me as the good guy.”
Gino laughs. “You’re not the good guy.”
“Exactly. That’s her problem.”
“No. She fell in love with the bad guy and knows exactly who you are. She just wants to know that the bad guy will burn down the entire world to keep her safe.”
