The Arrangement 26 (The Arrangement 26)

“Did she build the babies a fairytale castle?” I stand there blinking and then turn to him.

“So it would seem. I should have checked on her from Manhattan. This is what happens when you leave her alone and let her be happy. Holy fuck.” He runs his hand through his dark hair as his eyes rake over the fairytale before him. The curtains in the tower open and Connie waves down at us, babe in arms. “Oh my God.”

Sean rounds on me swiftly, takes my hands in his, covering them. But as his lips part, filled with apologies, I just laugh. “It’s fine. It’s rather sweet actually. Your mother never shows any sort of anything. She built a shrine to childhood over the part of your house that was covered in blood. I’ll never have to look at the pool again. Or the spot where Marty died.” Where I killed him. My eyes drop to the ground as grief and guilt flood me.

Sean pulls me to him and tucks my head under his chin. “Avery, Marty died for you. You didn’t kill him. You aren’t the reason he’s dead. Your brother did that.”

“Right and now my insane family wants to make it even by taking our son. Do they mean to kidnap him or kill him?” I can barely get the words out. “I inherited the Campogne estate unchallenged. Who sent this?” I gesture toward the piece of paper with the threat. The moment I first read that note, my heart sank. But something is happening to me. I feel a fierce protectiveness growing inside of me, lined with steel walls ten feet thick. Nothing will happen to my son. I’ll see to that. I’ll do anything to keep him safe. I know Sean is thinking the same thing when our gazes connect.

He breathes in heavily. Tired. That’s the only clue that he’s worn out and teetering on exhausting. He hides it better than I do. “We’re working on discovering who is rallying the rest of that family.”

My exhaustion gets the better of me and I voice the fear that’s festering in my heart. “Sean, you cut off the head—or Bryan did, which we need to talk about—” my finger is in his face, just under his nose. Sean grins like a schoolboy who just filled his teacher’s desk with frogs. “Yeah. You two have a lot of explaining to do. I thought he was dead. For months and months. He has a kid for Chrissakes. Does Hallie even know?”

“Avery, let’s talk about it inside. What were you saying about the Campognes? Cut off the head…?” He lets the leading sentence fall off and waits for me to finish my thought. The thing is I don’t want to say it. Things have a way of coming to pass once they’re said aloud. At the same time, admitting a fear sometimes makes it lessen. You realize it isn’t as impossible as you’d thought.

I spit it out. “You cut off the head and then another took its place,” a shiver licks my spine, “worse than the last. What if this new person is worse than my brother?”

Sean kisses the top of my head before sweeping me up in his arms. “As you said, we remove the threat.” He laughs darkly as he strides toward our new castle. “If anyone doubted you were made of stronger stuff, that’s gone now.”

“I’m a Ferro. We’ve got iron hearts.”

“Yes, we do.” He kisses my head again and stops before the threshold. The door is massive, with two panes of hand-scraped wood that looks like it was yanked from some Italian village a thousand years ago.

I wriggle to get down. Sean holds me tighter. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“You can’t carry me over the threshold yet. We aren’t married.”

“Superstitious?”

“Sometimes. Iron heart. Iron head.” I wrap my knuckles on the side of my skull. Sean chuckles and I get treated to one of those crooked grins before he sets me on my feet.

“I had no idea she did this, Avery.” There’s an apologetic tone to his voice. His palms are up, and it’s obvious he didn’t know about this and feels awkward, if not shocked.

I link my hand through his arm and rest my fingers on his forearm. “Well, it was built during my pregnancy, without either of us knowing, which means she made this for her grandbabies. So I bet it’s a big Barbie Dream House.”

Sean glances around. “I don’t see a pink corvette.”

“Yeah, but I bet she spent money where it matters.”

At the same times, we look at each other and say, “Petting zoo.”

“With weird animals.”

“Like ponies,” Sean adds.

I laugh and look up at him. “And unicorns. Maybe a walrus. As long as she doesn’t gift us that bear, I’m okay with it.”

Sean barks a laugh. “Withdraw your statement, my love, until you actually see what she’s done. My mother has a way about her.”

That’s an understatement.

Chapter 5

The foyer is nothing like the old house with the grand entrance and spiral staircase. This is more compact. The front wall is solid stone with cedar beams soaring less than twenty feet above us. The ceiling is plaster or appears to be. A fresco adorns every inch of it with cherubs and fluffy clouds. Golden corbels gather laurels of pink and white gold every few feet, like metal drapes. The room is about twenty feet wide and fifteen deep. A concrete staircase spills from an upper landing forming a C. You can come down either side. Thick beams are surrounding the low doorway. And I mean low for a Ferro mansion. It’s still an oversized door for a normal person with a much grander entrance than our apartment in the city.

The stone floor is slate with antique rugs that are plush under my feet. Despite the amount of stone and lack of windows, the room isn’t dark. There’s a huge chandelier hanging in between the twin staircases, making light bounce off the golden ceiling ornaments. It gives the room a happy golden glow. This place is brighter than the old entrance to the mansion. Less imposing.

Sean glances at me before threading his fingers through mine. “What do you think?”

“There’s a lot less red than I’d imagined.” The Ferro mansion is full of it. Henry’s place too. This place has a historical feel, but the clean lines make it feel modern. It’s a strange juxtaposition of the present and the past. And oddly enough, it’s baby-friendly. I can see the twins sitting on these stairs. They’re

covered in carpet runners. The banisters are made from wrought iron and curl into floral patterns, but there are no hard edges or points. And the openings are so tiny, I doubt my hand will fit through the design. We won’t have to worry about having a panicked moment when my kid stuffs his head in the railing. Sean’s kid won’t. But mine will. Just to see the view from the other side.

“Do you think the twins will take after us? Like a mini Avery and tiny Sean? Or do you think they’ll be a mix?”

A smile teases his full lips. “I supposed we’ll have to wait and see. But I hope there’s a little Avery, running around here, throwing caution to the wind.”

“and a little Sean plotting to take over the tri-state area.” I start for the stairs but Sean stops me, and suddenly I’m in his arms again.

“We passed the threshold. And you’ve not rested much since you had the babies. I’m carrying you to your bed.”

“My bed?” I want to kiss him and hold him in my arms. It feels like we haven’t been alone in days.

“For all I know, she gave the babies the master and we have servant’s rooms. Let’s go see.”

I remain in his arms and rest my head against his chest. “Actually, I’m surprised I’m still upright.”

Sean easily navigates the stairs, and as we pass through the upper landing I see a dark line down the wooden frame.

Sean mentions, “Easier to guard. There’s a steel door that comes out if we need to lock the place down. She probably built it as a firewall, but you never know with her.”

“No, you don’t.”