Shadow Fire (Shadow Riders 7)

Emmanuelle nodded. “I’ve seen a few girls like that. They became so entitled, they didn’t care if their entire family was drowning so long as they got everything they wanted.”

“That’s Fayette. She was groomed to be the wife of an Archambault. They studied my family and began to teach her everything they thought she should know in order to become compatible with one of the riders. They hired tutors and bought her clothes. Took her to the theater and had her run in social circles far above their own. She developed a habit of lying and they went along with it even though they had to have known she wasn’t telling them the truth. She was a terrible rider because she was lazy and didn’t want to work. She argued with the trainers. She believed she would marry an Archambault so why bother?”

“She doesn’t sound like a nice person.”

“Believe me, she isn’t. Can you imagine someone like that for a sister? When Brielle was born, she was unwanted from the beginning and raised to serve those in the household. She was made to work, bring the money home and provide Fayette with whatever she needed or wanted. Nothing Brielle did was good enough. She was told she wasn’t good-looking.”

Emmanuelle gasped. “Elie, she’s gorgeous.”

“I think so, and you do, but Brielle had a lifetime of her parents and sister telling her she was overweight and had a million other flaws. It’s difficult to overcome that. Then I come along and hurl insults about her, which only added to her feelings of insecurity.” There was pure regret in his voice. He didn’t bother to hide it. Not from Emme. “I want her to feel welcomed by Stefano and your brothers, the way they welcomed me. I need for the women in the family to accept her and make her feel a part of them.”

Emmanuelle smiled up at him. “I think we can do that, Elie.”

Valentino came up behind her, sliding his arms around her waist. “We can do what, princess?” He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin.

Dario came up on the other side of her. “What have you committed us to now, sorellina?”

Elie had never heard Dario refer to Emme as baby sister before, nor had he heard the affection so blatant in his voice.

“Making certain Brielle feels a sense of family from all of us. Ferraros and Saldis.”

“We can do that,” Val said instantly. “Elie, no worries on that score. Brielle’s your wife. That makes her family. I’m sure Stefano feels the same way.”

Dario gave an exaggerated sigh. “Don’t agree so fast, Val. Emme’s going to have an ally. The other women stay out of our business. Elie’s the only one who sticks his nose where it doesn’t belong all the time, so much so, we had to make him an honorary Saldi just like the fuckin’ Ferraros made him an honorary Ferraro. That means Brielle’s going to be a pain in the ass right along with Emme.”

Elie wasn’t certain how to feel about Dario giving him a bad time in that voice with absolutely no inflection. Dario rarely teased anyone, only Val and Emme, but somehow he’d managed to make it into that rare inner circle. He forced himself to keep a straight face when he wanted to break out into a huge smile.

“Brielle is a pain. She’s got a lot of sass,” Elie had to admit.

“As bad as Emmanuelle?” Valentino asked.

“Oh, yeah. Putting the two of them together might be courting disaster,” Elie said.

Dario sighed. “I knew it. Anytime it seems as if Emme is doing some good deed, take another hard look at it, because she has an ulterior motive and you’re bound to be the loser. Two of them will only double our chances of getting in harm’s way.”

Emmanuelle dusted her fingernails on her sleeve. “Nice to know you fear me, Dario, and you should be afraid.”

Valentino burst out laughing. “You walked into that one, Dario.”

“I guess I did.” Dario gave Elie a faint grin as if he couldn’t care less that Emmanuelle had gotten the better of him. “We’ll take care of your wife, make her feel part of the family,” he assured him.

Elie nodded, not certain what to say. Had Valentino reassured him, his response would have been easy, but Dario wasn’t a man to include others in his circle, so having him suddenly admit Elie was part of those he considered “his” mattered. That put Brielle under Dario and Valentino’s protection as well. That was huge.

“I love these floors, Dario,” Emme said. “What kind of wood is this, or do you even know?”

That was Emmanuelle, causing a distraction when it was needed.

“Mahogany, you little snip. Are you implying I don’t know everything there is to know about the house I bought?”

“I don’t know why, Dario, but it didn’t occur to me that you would be that interested in actual things like what the floor is made out of. I knew you would know everything there was to know about entrances and exits and how the sun hits the house at what hour for security reasons,” Emmanuelle confessed, “but things like whether you had granite countertops or mahogany floors is beyond anything I expected you to know. I don’t know that kind of stuff about my own house.”

Dario nudged her with his shoulder. “Yeah, well, babe, you know where the cutting boards are in the kitchen and I don’t.”

She burst out laughing. “You know exactly where they are. You know where everything is.”

Elie loved her for her honesty. She really didn’t know anything about floors and countertops and she readily admitted it after teasing Dario.

“The property came up for sale a few years back,” Dario admitted. “Long before the break between Giuseppi and his brother Miceli. I bought it, but never moved into it. The house is a little over five thousand square feet. I renovated it, adding several security measures. There’s a full basement, which was a huge draw for me. The three-car garage and boathouse were also something I could tie into security as well as the steel barn. At one time, the property was used as an operational lavender farm.”