* * *
REMY
"You realize that it's going to be a lot harder to say no to getting a dog now that you've touched about a dozen dolphins," Luca said as we stepped out of the water. I was still riding the natural high of interacting with the beautiful animals. I practically threw myself into Luca's arms.
"Thank you," I said. Seeing the dolphins had been a dream in itself but to have actually been able to swim with them…
"You're welcome, baby," Luca said as he held me.
"And we’re definitely getting a dog," I said. "But I claim naming rights."
Luca laughed in my ear and said, "Deal." He started to say something else, but a voice calling from the house caught our attention.
We saw Gio waving at us from near the pool. We quickly pulled our clothes on and then hurried to the young man.
"Is everything okay?" Luca asked worriedly.
While Gio looked physically better than he had a few months earlier, he was still struggling to get to his full health, both physically and mentally. Luca had been nervous about this trip to the Hamptons, but we had plenty of support in the form of Gio’s uncles to help us watch out for the teenager.
We'd only just arrived that morning, but already Gio was starting to ask questions about the house and the area. His memories at that point were pretty simple, but we knew there would be a time when he might want to see the place where his mother had been killed or the house he'd grown up in before his abduction. Those were things we'd deal with when we needed to. Right now was all about Gio taking things at the pace that he needed.
"Um, yeah," Gio began. "Con—I mean, Uncle Con—said you should come to the house. There’s someone here… Dad."
Luca and I both froze at the title. It was the first time Gio had actually called Luca that. I knew Luca was likely struggling to not completely lose it because he'd been dreaming of this moment. I reached for his hand just so I could give his fingers a squeeze.
"Um, yeah, okay, we’re coming," Luca said. His voice sounded thick and uneven, and I suspected he was doing everything he could to keep his cool and not make a big deal out of things. Luca took a step forward, but I dropped his hand so he could walk to the house next to his son.
But instead of walking away, Gio held his ground, so Luca stopped. "Thanks for bringing me here, Dad. It's really cool."
Luca tried to say something but gave up and then reached out to put his arms around his son. I smiled at that because Luca was rarely a man who was at a loss for words. Gio, for his part, seemed a little uncomfortable at first, but then he was hugging his father back. As much as I loved swimming with the dolphins, this moment would be what I would always remember about being at this house for the first time.
Luca held his son for a moment, then kept his arm around his shoulders as they started to walk back toward the house. But he stopped after just a few steps and held out his free hand to me expectantly. I hurried to catch up to them and felt my heart turn to mush when he closed his fingers around mine.
It took just moments to get inside and to the front part of the house. We walked past the foyer, which was empty, and into the library next to it. I saw Vaughn, Aleks, Con, and King first. I immediately noticed how quiet they all were. Tension hung in the air and I steeled myself for whoever the visitor was. What if it was someone from Luca's past? What if it was a threat?
I turned to seek out the stranger and saw two men standing near the fireplace. I didn't recognize either of them, but when Luca breathed, "Lex," my breath caught in my lungs. Luca dropped my hand and hurried across the room to his youngest brother. I couldn't help but notice that all of the other brothers had remained silent and weren't moving to join in on the embrace.
I started to sidle up to Aleks to see if I could ask him what was going on when my eyes caught on Lex as he turned to face his brother. The fact that he was wearing sunglasses inside threw me at first, until I noticed what he was holding in his hand. I felt my heart drop as my mind connected the dots. I wanted to warn Luca, because I knew he was too excited to even notice what everyone else had.
Sure enough, Luca walked straight up to Lex and embraced him hard. "Lex, thank God. We've been so worried about you," Luca said. He pulled back and opened his mouth to say something else when his eyes caught on the sunglasses that his brother hadn't taken off, despite the room being quite dim. And then his gaze fell to the red and white stick in his brother's right hand.