Coming Home (Morelli Family 6)

“He isn’t going to kill me—unless it’s over this, you bringing me here and getting me into trouble.”

I widen my eyes at her pointedly. “Mia. Come on. How can you even justify staying with someone you know might potentially murder you?”

“I was mostly kidding,” she mutters, looking down.

“I’m not. I’ve watched him do this before. I was around when he had Beth. I was living under the same roof. I knew her.”

I can see this stirs her curiosity. I guess that makes sense. I have no idea if he ever told her anything about Beth, but he’s never liked talking about her since she died. It became one of his sore spots and we all knew better than to poke at it.

“Was she like me?” Mia asks. “He’s told me a little bit about her, but not as much as I’d like to know. I get the impression he had similar feelings for her.”

I latch onto this like a bird with a worm. “She was like you, yeah. That’s why I worry about you with him. I think it’s a legitimate likelihood that if you stay with him, he will end up killing you.”

Her gaze drops and she pulls out of my arms. “Mateo wouldn’t kill me; he loves me.”

“Like he loved Meg? Like he loved Beth?” I reply evenly. “He was crazy about Beth. Unfortunately, Mateo’s crazy side is not the most reliable, and it goes both ways. Maybe he’ll give you his heart, maybe he’ll strangle the life right out of your body—who knows what can happen?”

Mia rolls her eyes. “He’s not insane; he doesn’t just murder for shits and giggles. Beth turned on him. She tried to lock him up and she cheated on him. I would never do what she did.”

“Mia, I know you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid for a while now, but you understand trying to put Mateo behind bars doesn’t make her the bad guy, right? He’s the bad guy. He should be behind bars. For many lifetimes. There aren’t a lot of laws he hasn’t broken.”

“I know that,” she mutters. “Logically, I know that. But I don’t care. I picked his side a long time ago and there’s no going back from that.”

“There could be. This could be a fresh start for you. You say you don’t want to start over like it’s a bad thing, but what if it isn’t? What if it’s the start of something good? What if the toxicity and dysfunction could end now?”

Cutting me a “come on” look, she says, “There’s plenty of dysfunction and toxicity here, Vince. Let’s be realistic.”

“But we don’t have to stay in this life,” I tell her, grabbing her hand. “We don’t. I only came back to my dad’s because I needed his help to get you, and… well, let’s be honest, where is the last place in the world Mateo would ever think to look for me?”

She doesn’t look excited when she realizes the answer.

“But we don’t have to stay here. Just until this all blows over and I make sure he doesn’t find you. But once things calm down, we can leave. We can go back to having a normal life, and someday when my father dies, I will inherit all this, but we don’t have to live it. If you hate this house, I’ll sell it. We can buy a house anywhere. We can have a life anywhere—a normal life.”

“I don’t know how to live a normal life anymore,” she admits.

“It’s like riding a bicycle,” I assure her, smiling a little and pulling her hips close to mine. “You just have to live with jarred spaghetti sauce for a little while.”

That makes her smile, even though I’ve pulled her close. “You and your spaghetti sauce.”

“I’m kidding, I’m not gonna live like a pauper; we can make our own spaghetti sauce.” She hasn’t moved away from me yet, so I’m gaining enthusiasm with this idea. “It’ll be perfect, Mia. Just you and me, like it would’ve been if none of this shit ever happened to us. If Mateo hadn’t found out about you. This can be a second chance for us.”

Mia’s quiet for a minute, then she tells me, “This conversation is making my heart hurt.”

“I know it’s hard. I’m not saying it would be easy. It’s like sucking the poison out after a snake bites you. He’s been biting you for five years. But I can save you from him now. I have the resources to make it stick this time. All I need is you on board.”

“But I don’t want to be saved, Vince. I love him. I want to be with him.”

“But he’s dangerous,” I reply, patiently.

Her mouth turns down in a pouty frown. “He said the same thing about you.”

“Well… we’re both dangerous in this life, but take me out of it and I can be normal. The same can’t be said for him.”