Andi's gaze met mine; she was so pale she looked like she was going to be sick. What was going on?
Frank set the folder on the table and opened the first page. A picture of a guy and girl around my age stared back.
Trace frowned. "I don't understand."
"More secrets…" Frank sighed. "Trace, your grandmother and I were not entirely honest with you."
Nixon pulled Trace closer. Bastard knew what was coming; I could see it in his eyes.
"Before we went into hiding — three years before to be exact — your grandmother had an affair."
The table was completely silent.
"With Luca," he whispered. "She was ten years younger than me, still in her early forties."
My mind tried to do the math, tried to put the puzzle together.
Andi was looking sicker by the minute, and Trace was well on her way to joining her.
"They had twins," Frank continued. "A boy and a girl. They both went to live with Luca, though his lifestyle at the time wasn't exactly child-friendly. He put them in the best schools, but when he discovered that by keeping them close he was putting targets on their backs, he let them go. He wanted them to live normal lives before getting sucked into the lifestyle he lived."
"Why now?" Trace whispered. "Why are you telling us this now?"
Andi spoke up. "Because the plan changed."
"What plan?" Trace repeated.
Andi's eyes met mine. What the hell was she talking about? She glanced back at Frank. "The plan was simple… take over the Russian crime family's hold in Chicago, protect me in the process, marry into the Nicolasi family by way of Dante Nicolasi, Luca's son."
Something slammed into my chest — maybe it was my heart, or maybe it was just the feeling of absolute disbelief.
"What?" Trace whispered.
Frank sighed and sat back down in his chair. "Andi was never meant for Sergio. She was meant for Dante. And Dante was meant to take over the Alferos when the time was right."
She wasn't mine.
She wasn't mine.
She wasn't mine.
Why the hell was that the only piece of information I was coming away with during the conversation?
"So why change the plan?" I finally hissed out, my voice sounded a hell of a lot like I'd just swallowed knives.
Frank met my gaze. "Because I made a judgment call. Dante didn't know Andi, doesn't even know this plan exists. And Andi doesn't need a boss as a husband before she dies. She needs a friend."
Dumbstruck, I could only stare and hope my emotions weren't written all over my face. It was part rejection, part shock, part relief.
"I, um…" I stood, my chair scooting against the hardwood floor. "…I need a minute."
I walked toward the back door and didn't glance over my shoulder. Not even when Andi yelled my name.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Andi
SERGIO DIDN'T STOP WALKING. I STARED at the table and let out an exhausted and halfway guilty sigh. He didn't know the whole story.
Or his part in it.
Then again, it wasn't my story to tell. Not by a long shot.
Frank cleared his throat.
"So that's it?" Tex said in a chilling voice. "We just hand over one of the most powerful families to two kids who don't even know what the hell they're doing?"
Frank was silent for a minute, and then he shrugged. "They are nearly the same age as you."
Chase and Nixon shared a look.
The girls at the table were oddly quiet; every one of them eyeing their men like a fight was going to break out at any minute.
Amy gripped Ax's hand.
Trace was still leaning against Nixon, staring at her grandpa hard. Tears pooled in her eyes.
Mil was drumming her fingertips across the table, her gaze weary.
And Mo looked ready to leap across the table at any minute, in case she needed to physically restrain Tex — his hormonal sister looked ready to help.
Phoenix leaned back in his chair; it made a creaking noise, slicing through the tense silence. "It's not like we're going to hand the family over on a platter, Tex. We'll give it months — years. Besides, who's to know Dante will even say yes?"
"Why wouldn't he?" Tex roared, throwing his hands in the air. "The Alferos are worth close to four-hundred-million dollars."
I almost choked on my tongue.
"He'd be stupid to say no."
"Not everyone wants this life," Frank said in a quiet voice. "And I mean to give him something none of you were given."
"Oh yeah, old man?" Tex's frustration was evident in the way his face started turning red. "What's that?"
Frank met his stare head on. "A damn choice."
I quickly looked down at my empty plate. The food on the table was getting cold, and nobody seemed to care that Sergio was still outside, most likely cursing me into the night sky.
"And the girl?" Nixon asked. "What of her?"