Hey, loves!
We’re back for another outtake—this was one I had a chuckle about wanting to do just because. Sometimes, it’s a little fun to humble these characters, bad asses or not. Just because I can.
Okay, do enjoy.
*
What.
Lucia POV
“Why are you knocking?” Renzo asked.
Lucia laughed, shrugging. “You’ll see.”
Reaching up, she knocked on the large double doors of the Marcello mansion again. Renzo was right, though. Rarely did she knock when she visited this place. For another Marcello, it was an open door policy at this home. They came, and they walked right in, just like that. But things had changed since the last time they came here and had dinner with the entire, very large, Marcello family, and she had seen this scene play out one too many times with her other cousins.
A tradition was a tradition.
Renzo didn’t have to understand.
He would soon enough.
Beside her, Renzo shook his head with a little laugh. They’d only moved back to New York a couple of weeks ago, and as they’d still been settling into their new place—a penthouse in the city that allowed Lucia to be close to the gallery she would be working at for her aunt, Kim, until she decided to move onto her own thing.
Renzo still traveled back and forth to Vegas a lot. Every couple of weeks, or so. Next week, he would be heading back for … something. A job, probably, with The League, but she didn’t ask for details. It was easier that way, although she knew that if she asked, he would say.
She chose not to ask.
Soon, she could hear muffled movement behind the large, thick doors keeping her and Renzo separated from the rest of her family inside the home. They hadn’t been able to make it to Sunday services because moving was fucking exhausting. Usually, there were no excuses, short of illness, that would allow a Marcello to miss Mass on Sundays, but moving across country and still trying to unpack a lot of shit allowed them a little leg room.
And of course, her family missed her.
They wanted her back in New York with them where she belonged, and this was where Lucia wanted to be here, too, because this had always been and would always be her home. Even when she was mad at the world, her father, brother, and anyone that remotely reminded her of them, she still missed New York like nothing else.
She belonged here.
So, they said nothing about a missed service or two.
When the mansion doors were pulled open, Lucia was already smiling. Renzo reached out to sling an arm around her neck, and drag her closer to his side. His lips pressed down to the top of her head as the cheers from within the house started.
Her mother was the first.
Quickly followed by her cousins, aunts, and literally everyone else.
It took no time at all for them to be pulled inside the mansion, and for the doors to be shut. With the rest of the world out of view, they were able to focus on their family and showing off the engagement ring on Lucia’s finger.
“Let me get a good look at that ring!”
“Congratulations!”
“Oh, wow, it looks great,” her mother said when Lucia held out her hand for her mother to admire the engagement ring that she had already laid eyes on before. Not that it mattered, because now it was on a new hand, and the family tradition of passing down the engagement rings still held strong in their generation. “Did you suspect a thing?”
“She did not,” Renzo said, grinning beside her.
“Not at all?” Catherine asked.
“Did you?” her husband asked.
She gave Cross a look. ‘Well—”
“You didn’t either.”
“And it was perfect,” Catherine assured.
Cross simply chuckled, shaking his head.
Lucia shrugged, still taking compliments from the rest of her family. Her brother’s wife, Siena, smiled wide as she offered her congratulations, and leaned in to give Lucia a kiss on her cheek. John wasn’t very far behind.
After everything, all Lucia could do was smile at her brother. They’d been through hell and back, but God knew she loved her brother more than she could ever explain. Despite it all, he was still her very best friend and she wouldn’t give him up for the world. Yes, it took a little bit of time to get back to that good place with him, but she didn’t mind putting in the effort. It was worth it.
“You look happy,” he murmured, leaning in for a hug.
She took it, and squeezed back tightly. “I am.”
“Glad to see you back.”
“Me, too, John.”
“So …” All eyes turned on Catrina who looked Renzo’s way. “How did it happen?”
Instantly, Lucia felt the heat rise in her cheeks as her gaze landed on her father who had just come to stand right beside her mother. Lucian’s arm hugged her mother’s waist as he looked their way expectantly.
“Well …”
She looked to Renzo for help.
He just smirked.
“What is that about?” Lucian asked.
“I mean, there was nothing big or planned about it, I don’t think. We were just … he just asked,” Lucia rambled, saying it fast to get them away from that subject. “So yeah, and I loved it, that’s what counts.”
“Why is your face red?” Catherine asked.
“Shut up, Catty.”
“Oh.” Cross nodded, looking Renzo’s way. “You asked like that, huh?”
Renzo chuckled. “Well—”
“Like what?”
“In bed,” someone else said.
Just like that, Lucia’s father’s face suddenly matched her own. Red as could be, and he did his best to avoid everyone’s stare.
“What.”
Lucian’s statement wasn’t even a question.
Just a what.
“Well, you see,” Lucia tried to say, but didn’t even get the chance to finish.
“I have told all my kids not to do that in bed, because that is not the story I want to be told. Please tell me you didn’t—”
“Technically, we weren’t in a bed,” Renzo interrupted. “And I got her dressed first, so all is good.”
“All is not good!”
Yep.
Lucia could have died right where she stood.
And still, it was great.
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