Family Ties (Morelli Family 4)

“It doesn’t take it back. The harm was still done. All it does is protect him and Meg, and put the cost of that secret directly on Mia’s shoulders.”

“But that was her choice. He didn’t make her lie—he didn’t even ask her to. I’m certainly not defending what he did, but I can maybe see why he…” Stopping, he tries to formulate a response. “She let him off the hook. He accepted the free pass. What do you expect?”

“It’s not about that. It’s about him investing everything in a woman who can’t withstand his worst side.”

“But she doesn’t have to. So why should he tell her?”

I can only stare at him. “Why should he be honest with the woman he’s going to spend the rest of his life with? I don’t know, Sal, maybe because you don’t build a steady, reliable life on a foundation of lies?”

“It’s one lie. One lie about one really bad thing he did that he knows she wouldn’t be able to get past.”

“If she would leave him over the truth, then he shouldn’t be with her,” I state.

Sal rakes a hand through his hair, looking far more invested in this argument than I understand. Finally he shakes his head and glances off at the wall behind me. “Fine. We’ll have to agree to disagree.”

“I can’t believe you’re so strongly defending a lie.”

“I just don’t think one wrong decision…”

My eyes are wide as I wait for him to finish that insane sentence. He doesn’t, because he realizes what he’s about to defend. “Go on. Tell me how one measly rape—which is also inaccurate, because it was more than once, but it doesn’t even matter—should just be wiped from his record now that he’s met someone else. Please.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Yes, it’s exactly what you’re saying.”

“I’m not talking about—” He stops, clearly aggravated. “Never mind. Let’s just drop this.”

I don’t want to keep fighting, but I’m also profoundly uncomfortable with the stance he’s taking on this matter now. We’re nearing the servants’ quarters though, and we certainly can’t continue this conversation there, so—at least for the moment—I let it go.

Chapter Forty One

Salvatore

Fighting with Francesca over her family is not how I expected to spend the evening I proposed to her, but we aren’t really fighting over her family. She just doesn’t know that.

I can’t even defend my own stance, though. I could, if I didn’t have so many goddamn secrets, but as of now my hands are tied. I could give her clear-cut examples to show her that Mateo and I are making the right call by letting the women we want to love us believe a lie here and there. I could show her exhibit A, Vince, the idealistic schmuck who tried exactly what Francesca considers the right way. Without having to, Vince went home and told Mia about his fuck-up. If he hadn’t told her, she’d still be a functioning girlfriend. Because he made the massive fucking mistake of telling the ugly truth when he didn’t need to, her feelings for him hit a wall. He did something she couldn’t accept. He told her. Two totally separate things. Kid could’ve got away with it if he’d kept his damn mouth shut.

Like Mateo. Mateo’s smarter. Mia covered his ass, so he took advantage and kept his mouth shut.

Like any sane fucking person would do. What possible benefit could there be to telling on himself? Sure, maybe Mia could deal with it, but we aren’t all in relationships with Mia. Even the guy who is managed to fuck it up, so I don’t think Mia’s love is as unconditional as Francesca thinks it is.

I know Francesca’s love isn’t unconditional. I’m not a mentally abusive asshole like Mateo, so I don’t expect unconditional love. I only expect Francesca to love me so long as I’m loving, respecting, and treating her right, but I’m pretty sure she would file “being complicit in a plot to kill her brother” under the mistreatment category.

It’s also a matter of practicality. When you make a move like that against a guy like Mateo and you fail, but you get away with it? The less people who know, the better. It’s bad enough Vince knows. The more people there are who know, the greater the chance it gets back to Mateo. That would be the end of the line for me. Vince may be alive because of whatever feelings Mateo has for Mia, but Francesca doesn’t have that kind of pull. He wouldn’t hesitate to take me out if he knew the truth, and I couldn’t blame him, because I wouldn’t in his place, either.

I don’t like lying to Francesca, but that was a lie I had to tell. It’s a secret I have to keep. It might count for something that when I realized it would absolutely come between us, I pulled out. Turned my back on my own father to keep Francesca’s morally corrupt brother safe. But it might not. That’s not a chance I’m willing to take.