“I went to see Mother this morning,” Nick said slowly, watching his brother’s reaction. Of his three brothers, Gio was the most difficult to talk to about anything. Luke could always be relied on to provide a sympathetic ear. Max gave his unfettered opinion, when he cared enough to have one. Talking to Gio was more like trying to cross a field of land mines while blindfolded. It was impossible to guess which word would set Gio off, but an explosion was inevitable.
Gio took his self-appointed role as head of the family seriously—too seriously. It had been the root of many disagreements between them over the years, even if recently they’d called a truce.
A truce that had ended abruptly that morning when Nick had caught his mother crying and had asked her what was wrong. Her answer had infuriated him.
“How is she?” Gio asked smoothly, as if he were inquiring about the weather.
“Weak. The doctor has her on a monitor while they try a new medication.”
“I hope he finds what she needs.” Gio’s comment held just enough sarcasm to renew Nick’s earlier anger.
“It would be nice if you pretended to care.”
Gio walked over to his desk, sat on the edge of it, and crossed his arms in front of him. “I do, but I’m not convinced she’s as ill as she says she is.”
“I met with her doctor yesterday. His story matched hers. Is he lying? Am I? What the hell is your problem?”
Gio rubbed his chin with one hand. “She has no history of heart disease and the timing was . . . convenient.”
“Don’t you mean inconvenient for you? Afraid if it’s true it’ll cut down on the time you can spend with your fiancée?”
Gio stood up and dropped his hands to his side. “Leave Julia out of this.”
Shaking his head in disgust, Nick said, “I’d like to, but from what I hear she’s part of the problem. You may not care what she says to Mother, but I do.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t believe you, but that doesn’t matter. I came here because you and Julia are upsetting Mother and it’s affecting her health. You need to go see her and apologize.”
Between gritted teeth, Gio said, “I have nothing to apologize for.”
Nick crossed the room and stood nose to nose with his brother. “I could give you a list that goes back years, but right now I’m referring to how you told her she’s driving all of us away and will die alone.”
Gio’s face went white with anger. “I said that because she . . .” He groaned. “Taken out of context it sounds bad, but . . .”
“Gio, you said it to an elderly woman who just had a heart attack. There is no context in which that doesn’t make you look like a fucking asshole.”
Gio rubbed one of his temples. “You don’t know the whole story. I didn’t tell you what she said to Julia.”
“I don’t give a shit what she said. I don’t care about your little security girlfriend. I care that finally getting laid has you so turned around you can’t see how you’re hurting our mother.”
“The only reason you’re still standing is because I know what it’s like to be fed lies by her. I feel for you, but if you value your life you won’t mention Julia again. Mother doesn’t need your protection, trust me.”
“So you won’t go see her?”
“Not until I’m ready.”
Nick shook his head in disgust. “I knew you were a heartless bastard when you threatened to have father’s mistress thrown out of her home if she ever contacted us. As long as you get what you want, it doesn’t matter who you hurt, does it? Mother wanted to confront her, but you wouldn’t let her have that closure, would you? It all has to be on your terms, doesn’t it?”
“How long have you known about Leora?”
“I always suspected Father had someone on the side. No one in the oil business needs to spend that much time in Venice. It was why I offered to go with you to collect his body. I wasn’t surprised by what you found there. But I was disappointed you didn’t think the rest of us deserved the truth.”
“You were young . . .”
“I’m two years younger than you are, Gio. Not a child. You didn’t keep us in the dark to protect us—you took advantage of the situation. While Mother grieved, you took over the company. She was so distraught she didn’t realize she was handing over the reigns to someone who had no intention of giving them back”
“Is that what she’s telling you? You’re forgetting I made you a full partner from the beginning. You chose not be involved. You could’ve joined me at any time. I’ve kept a goddamned office staffed for you for almost a decade.”
“An empty gesture. I tried to work with you when Father first passed. You shut me down every chance you got. Do you know what it was like to speak at a meeting only to have you correct everything I said?”
“You had no idea what you were talking about. I had worked my way up in the company so I knew what needed to be done. You came in with no experience. I couldn’t let you—”
“Fuck it up? Or learn enough to be your competition? You don’t fool me, Gio. You wanted full control and you got it.”
The door of the office opened and Rena strode directly up to the men. “I can hear the two of you in my office. Is everything okay?”
“This is none of your concern, Rena,” Gio said without looking away from Nick.
Planting herself directly between them, Rena put her hands on her hips and said, “Yes, it is. I love both of you and that makes it my concern.”
Nick put a hand on Rena’s shoulder. “We’re fine, Rena.”
Gio put his hand on Rena’s other shoulder and snarled at Nick. “Get your hand off my secretary.”
Nick said, “She may work for you, but you don’t own her.”
“True, but I won’t let you use her as another way to piss me off. Rena, stay the hell away from him. Understand me?”
“If Rena and I ever get together it will have nothing to do with you.”
“Nick, don’t do something I’ll have to kill you for.”
“Stop it. Both of you.” Rena looked back and forth between the two of them and shrugged their hands off. “First of all, I don’t belong to anyone, and no one could ever tell me who I could or couldn’t see. Second of all, there is no risk of anything happening with Nick because he’s practically my brother. Now, what is really going on here?”
Nick met Gio’s eyes over Rena’s head. “Nothing new.”
Gio glared back at him. “I’m not doing this. I’m not getting sucked back into the lies.”
“I hoped I could talk you into doing the right thing, Gio, but if you can’t be kind to your mother when she’s fighting for her life then stay the hell away from her. She doesn’t need your version of love.”
“I told her what she needed to hear.”
“Don’t do it again, Gio. Your reign over this family is over. It ends now.”
Gio barked a humorless laugh. “Are you threatening me?”
Rena said, “I’m sure that’s not what Nick meant.”