Page 30 of Bellini Bound
She shrugged. “Gave Allie mine.”
I was on my feet without conscious thought. “You gave her a phone?!”
“Yes, among other things.”
“Summer.” I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Did you ever stop to thinkwhyI took herphone?”
“Clearly, to keep up this asshole persona”—she circled a hand before my face—“you’ve got going on.” Sass leaked into her tone.
“Ormaybeit’s because I don’t trust her. She was a nurse. She took an oath to do no harm. What happens if the guilt of taking a life becomes too much, and she’d rather come clean and accept her punishment if it means putting the rest of us away for life? We are tiptoeing around a bomb set to go off, and you may as well have handed her a detonator.”
My cousin’s wife appeared sufficiently chastised, her eyes having dropped to the floor. “I didn’t think about it like that.”
A scoff fell from my lips. “Of course you didn’t. You were too busy having a fucking slumber party.”
Matteo took a menacing step forward. “Final warning.”
The thin thread of my patience snapped. “You might be the boss everywhere else, but this ismyhome, and how I handle my wife ismybusiness. If you two don’t like it, you know where the door is.”
His eyes widened, and Summer’s mouth dropped open, neither of them able to contain their shock.
Summer recovered first. “You know what? Right now, I like Allie more than I like you, so until you get your act together, I’ll be taking her side.” Moving toward the door, she extended a hand for her husband. “You coming?”
“Go on ahead. I’ll be out in a minute.” His eyes never left mine.
Oh boy, here we go.
Footsteps grew distant, signaling Summer’s departure. Once Matteo was sure she was out of earshot, he got up in my face and unleashed his barely contained fury.
“I can’t stop you from being a dick to your own wife, but don’t you ever speak to mine like that again.”
In a mood for a fight, I taunted, “Or else what?”
Fire flashed in his dark brown eyes. “Or else maybe it’s time I appoint my own second, and not one I inherited by default when Gio left.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. That might as well have been the knockout punch in a heavyweight fight.
Matteo knew this family—and the position I held within it—was my life. Sure, the blood in my veins meant I would never stop being a Bellini, but being stripped of my role would destroy me. Forget the shame of a demotion; protecting and backing up my younger cousins, who’d each served as Don, had become my whole identity. I wasn’t sure who I would be without that as my driving force.
But I also had a stubborn streak a mile long, so I lifted my chin. “If you think you can find someone better suited for the job, then go ahead.”
“Take a few days off,” he ordered. “I think we could both use a cool-down.”
I gave him a mock salute, “Aye aye, captain.”
My cousin turned his back on me, shaking his head and muttering as he made his exit. “Biggest pain in my ass.”
All my effort went into biting my tongue instead of shouting back that the feeling was mutual. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be in my current predicament. He was the only man on this earth who could have ordered me onto that altar and had me obey.
A door slammed in the distance, and that was my cue.
It was time to deal with my wife.
My fist made contact with the door. “Allison?”
An exaggerated sigh sounded through the barrier. “I don’t have the energy for this today, Enzo.”
You and me both, princess.
