Top Dog

The love of my life and my own flesh and blood.

CHAPTER 16

JULIA

Matteo was napping, and my head was still reeling fro

m the fiasco the other day. So many thoughts were running through my mind. How relieved I was to see that Romeo had been alive. How nice it had been to stand there as a family. How easy it seemed to be for Romeo to get on Matteo’s good side. It was like the two of them had an innate bond already. I kept replaying the scene in my mind before the detective interrupted us. How Romeo made his son smile and how, for a moment, it felt as if things had always been that way.

I looked back at my sleeping son and sighed.

Was I doing the right thing, keeping him from his father? He lit up in Romeo’s presence. He was guarded, sure. Matteo always had been. But he came out of his shell around Romeo faster than I’d ever seen him do with anyone. Was that a natural thing, a father and son bond? Or did he simply feel that comfortable around Romeo?

I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing any longer.

I walked out of my son’s room and shut the door. Enrico was standing guard, and Stefano was downstairs. I made my way into his office and poked my head in, watching him as he scribbled some things down on a sheet of paper. He looked just like my father. The same head of salt-and-pepper hair, the same dark eyes. Both left-handed. Both bull-headed. Both strong and barrel-chested.

I stood there, watching him work until he lifted his head to see me.

“Julia. Come on in.”

“You look like him, you know.”

“I get that a lot. Especially in my older age. Come. Sit,” he said.

“I was wondering if you would be around for a couple of hours,” I said.

“I don’t have anything planned. Why?” he asked.

“I need to get out and breathe. My mind—it won’t shut off.”

“Is Matteo upstairs? I can stay with him if you want me to.”

“Are you sure it isn’t too much?” I asked.

I watched my uncle get up and walk over to me before he rested his hands on my shoulders.

“Julia, I can’t imagine what you’re going through. The emotions that hit you every time you see Romeo. Even I know how much that boy looks like his father. You’ve been through a rollercoaster of a ride the past week or so. Go out and clear your head. Enrico and I will watch Matteo until you get back.”

I leaned into him, and he wrapped his strong, broad arms around me.

So much like my father in so many ways.

“I miss Dad,” I said breathlessly.

“I know, my dear,” he said as he kissed my forehead. “We all do. Two years and it still hurts as much as the day I got that phone call. The only thing that gives me solace is that he’s with your mother now. And I know he missed her very much.”

I sniffled into his chest before I pulled back. I felt weak, crying to him like that. It had been years since my mother had died. Cancer that couldn’t be solved by traditional medical practices. It ate my father alive, watching her die like that. It ate all of us alive.

“Buy yourself something. That always helped your mother,” Stefano said.

I snickered and shook my head as I stepped out of his office.

“Thank you, Uncle. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“Take your time,” he said. “Matteo’s in good hands.”

I picked up my purse by the front door and left the house. The driver my uncle hired offered to take me somewhere, but I wanted to be alone. I wanted to process things on my own. I drove into town and parked along the curb, then slowly started walking around downtown, amidst all the high-rise buildings and the shops with all their brightly-lit signs. New York City was a place that always captured my imagination. If I ever felt downtrodden or lost, I could walk around its streets and go home refreshed and energized.