Page 85 of Rosetti Family New York
“We thought you were gonna sleep all day,” Carmela teases, running a hand through her curls. “Dom kept you up late?”
Emilio shoots her a look, a quick don’t-start-something-you-can’t-finish. It reminds me of school, but warmer. Like theymight actually like each other. That makes it even harder to sit there with them, smiling and pretending I'm one of them.
“No, I…” Forget it. I don’t need to explain myself to my rivals. I’m here for a reason, and I won’t achieve it by lounging around. “I’m just going to explore for a bit, if that’s ok.”
“Sure,” Rafe says.
“I’ll show you around,” Carmela offers, but I turn her down.
Emilio just watches me with those gray eyes.
“Let me know if you want company.” Matteo winks at me as I leave the room. “I’m much more fun than my brothers.”
I wander the halls, cold and sterile, art like my father's on the walls. My instincts scream at me to find out about Iride, to give my father an update. If I fail, I know exactly what I'll pay, so I pretend to explore the house, the entire time looking for information.
Room after room, I come up empty. My heart pounds faster with every useless search, the familiar fear trickling through me as the walls echo my footsteps. As I reach another impossibly long hallway, I finally see the first sign of life. A note left on a side table. It’s nothing but a reminder about a meeting with a chemist, but I clutch it like a lifeline. It’s not much, but it’s a start.
I decide to ask Dom about it later if I can make it sound natural.Hey, husband, where do you keep that genius chemist everyone’s trying to find?
I give up on my mission and head back toward where I left the Rosettis relaxing.
Even the thought of letting down my father when he hears about it makes panic swell in my chest, and I try to push it down, push everything down. I need to breathe, even if it’s just for a minute.
When I make it to the living room, it’s only Carmela lounging on the couch. Thank God. I sink into the cushions across from her, finally able to exhale.
“You’re back!” Carmela chirps. “Did you find your way around?”
I’m about to reply when we hear two of the missing brothers before we see them. They storm into the room, arguing so loud I’m surprised the glass doesn’t shatter.
“It’s your mess, Matt!” Rafe says. He’s got a murderous look in his eyes.
Matteo grins, angering Rafe even more. “If you don’t like how I’m handling it, do it yourself.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Rafe’s voice booms through the room. He throws his brother a furious look, his icy eyes narrowing to slits. “You never put this fucking family first.” With that, he storms past us, his heavy footsteps reverberating as he makes a beeline for the door, his muscles tense and ready for a fight.
I flinch instinctively, cowering into the cushions as I brace myself for an inevitable explosion of Rosetti tempers. An argument about loyalty is bound to end in bloodshed, and I want no part of it. I scan the room frantically, checking the distance to the nearest exits, calculating whether it’d be quicker to leave via the front foyer or dash toward the kitchen.
But the room is uncomfortably quiet. I glance up, and to my surprise, everyone is staring at me. The argument has petered out, like they’ve forgotten about it entirely.
“What’s wrong, hon?” Carmela whispers, her eyes soft and curious.
“It’s nothing.” I sit up straighter to prove it.
“You’re shaking like a leaf.” She rests a hand on my arm, and I flinch away but try to cover it with a cough.
I shake my head, but the words pour out. “My father always said, ‘Broken bones are easier to mend than broken loyalty.’ I guess I just figured this was going to be one of those times.”
“One of what times?” Matteo asks.
I shrug. “Oh, you know, an opportunity to learn with fists, as Baba would say.”
Carmela's eyebrows rise, and she steals a glance at Eleanor. "That's not how it works here."
My hands won’t stop trembling, so I stuff them under my thighs. "This is the mafia, isn’t it?"
Carmela and Matteo look at each other like I’ve told a joke in the wrong language.
Even Rafe looks confused. He snorts. "We fight. It's family."
