Micah got to his feet as the woman approached their table. He watched as Dante kissed both of her cheeks and pulled her in for a hug. When she turned to Micah, he did the same. She looked just like his brother. Dark straight thick black hair and tan skin. Her eyes were a bright blue, which she must have gotten from her mother. Learning he had a sister and meeting her within minutes of finding out wasn’t something he could process correctly. Isabel kept coming to mind and all he kept thinking about was how he would break the news to her. She would think it was crazy to believe a random person he had just met was family, but he knew it was true. Dante wouldn’t have risked his business to bring her into their lives if he wasn’t certain.
“Micah, I presume?”
“Yes, hi. Have a seat.”
Dante stood when they both sat and reached into his pocket. He threw two hundred-dollar bills down on the table and placed a kiss on the top of Sofia’s head. “I’m going to leave you two alone. I need to meet Anton and catch a plane early in the morning. Dante, consider this his notice.”
“Right, thanks.”
“Sofia, call me if you need anything, okay?”
“Sure, thanks Dante.”
Micah stared as his cousin made his way out of the restaurant. It was getting late and in Miami, that meant things were getting busy. Dante let off an air about him that just felt like danger. As he approached crowds, they parted for him and when he was halfway through the restaurant, two men followed him out. Nico and Ares, his two best friends. It surprised Micah that he didn’t notice them earlier. They had all grown up together and now the two of them ran the business with Dante. They held the roles Luca and Micah were destined for, but turned down. He should have known they’d be there. Dante never traveled alone. The man was more paranoid than his father had been. Which may be a good thing, considering his father was murdered.
“So,” she started, then stopped.
“Yeah, so.”
“I’m guessing Dante didn’t tell you I was coming.”
“He said he wanted me to meet someone, but he didn’t tell me it was my long-lost sister.”
“It took him a few weeks before he told me you and Luca existed. I’m sorry, I feel like I have an advantage here because I’ve known about you both for a while now.”
“It’s okay. I mean, it’s not like it’s your fault. Dante is... well, honestly, he’s an asshole.”
She chuckled, “I guess in his line of work you need to be.”
“Did he tell you what he does?”
“He told me about the real estate, and the gambling... and the drugs. But evidently that is coming to an end. You can imagine my surprise in finding out not only do I have two brothers, but I have an entire extended family full of criminals.”
“You will learn quickly Luca and I don’t really associate with them anymore.”
“Dante mentioned that. So what do you do?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“He said you were in finance and Luca did something with computers.”
“I run my father... our father’s old investment firm. Luca lives in New York City now. He’s a silent partner but has his own company. I guess you would consider him a bit of a tech tycoon.”
“Is everyone in this family successful?”
Micah laughed. “When my mother was alive she used to always say dad was building an empire. The Corsetti Empire was something to be handed down to his sons one day. The only problem with that was Luca didn’t want to have anything to do with the man.”
“What was he like?”
“You know how they say not to speak ill of the dead?”
“Yeah.”
“If I take that to heart, then I have nothing to say about him. You didn’t miss out on much. We were raised by nannies mostly or shipped off to cousins when we were younger. He didn’t really show any interest in us until we were in college, and at that point, he expected us to step into the family business and do what he did for a living. The problem with that was most of it was illegal. Luca took off after college, but I was younger. I didn’t have anywhere to go when I finally finished, so I started working for him. He died a while back from cancer and I cleaned everything up with Izzy.”
“Izzy?”
“My fiancée.”