Chapter 72 RóISE

All the bay doors are open in the boathouse. Fitz is dangling his feet in the water and we're all hot. Even with the doors open, the breeze isn't enough to compensate for the hot summer temperatures.

I just finished telling my cousins that Gabriel had my dad killed. They're furious, but every time I mention Miceli's name, Kara gives me a concerned look.

"You're in love with your fiancé, aren't you?" she asks.

"If I am, don't you think he's the first person that should know that?"

"Why shouldn't she love him?" Fiona plops down next to Fitz and drops her feet into the water. "Loving your partner is a good thing isn't it?"

"When they love you back, it's the best thing. But when they don't, it's…" She looks at Fitz, gives a little shake to her head and finishes. "Not."

"Well, I think he loves her too. You saw the pictures from their engagement announcement. He's got moony eyes."

"What's moony eyes?" Fitz asks, suddenly tuning into our conversation.

"Like this." Fiona makes her eyes really wide and adoring.

"You look funny, Aunt Fi."

Fiona tickles Fitz and he tickles her back.

Under the sound of their feet splashing, Kara asks, "Are you planning to tell him?"

"I don't know." I might as well have just said I loved him to begin with.

Because how is that not an admission?

"Why not tell him?" Fiona asks. "Isn't it better to share your feelings with each other? "

"Are you and Zoey sharing feelings?" I ask because I don't have an answer and I don't think Kara wants to give one.

Fiona blushes, but the happiness on her face makes both Kara and I smile.

"We're taking things slowly, but I really like her." Fiona's eyes go a little dreamy.

Moony eyes .

"I'm glad you found each other." Kara bends down to hug her sister. "She seems just as into you as you are into her, but remember, you're both still very young."

"You were only eighteen when you married Mick."

"I know." Kara doesn't say anything else but there is a world of emotion in those two words.

What that emotion is, only Kara knows. As much as we share with each other, what she feels about her husband is one area we don't go.

And maybe that is as much of an admission as me saying I don't know if I'll tell Miceli about my feelings.

"He got me an appointment with an agent," I tell my cousins.

Bored with our talk, Fitz gets up and returns to his play cars. Doing a pretty good job of imitating the different street noises, he drives them over the obstacle course he and his mom created with pillows and other stuff on hand in the boathouse.

"I thought you couldn't get famous if you were going to be a mobster's wife?" Fiona looks at me with confusion. "Did dad change his mind?"

"It wouldn't matter either way." I'm not seeking recognition for the sake of my family, both old and new, not because my uncle says not to. "It's for voice acting though."

"Oh, wow, that's a great idea!" Fiona grins at me. "You'll make it big in animation and no one will ever know who you are."

"I don't really care if I make it big." I never have. "I just want to act."

Fiona nods, fanning herself. "I think we should go for a swim. Anyone with me?"

"Me! Me! Me!" Fitz yells.

"Okay, buddy. Go change into your swim trunks." Kara turns to me and hugs me tight. "You're really lucky that Miceli cares about your dreams."

Kara is doing her degree online and in secret from both Uncle Brogan and her husband, Mick. I'm pretty sure neither man cares if she finds a fulfilling career.

But I know Uncle Brogan loves her. And sometimes Mick looks at Kara with the kind of yearning that a lot of actors would offer up their first child to be able to emulate.

She never seems to notice though .

Everyone changes into their swimsuit, except me. Miceli is taking me to dinner after this and I don't want to get my hair wet. I sit on the dock and ask myself if I'm as oblivious as Kara.

Does Miceli have feelings for me?

I have one of the pictures from the interview announcing our engagement as the background on my phone. Not because I put it there. But because he did.

It's the one where Miceli is petting Pusheen while his other arm is tight around my shoulders. The look on both our faces is either Oscar worthy acting…or real.

And those two floors in the Oscuro building are being redesigned as apartments for Miceli's top enforcers. Some are dorm style apartments; others are set up for families.

So, we'll have neighbors. Because I want them .

Of course, Miceli is taking it one step further. So that I will feel like I'm living in a community, not an office building, one of the lower floors is also being renovated with a gym even though there's already a full facility one for employees.

This floor will only be accessible to residents and in addition to the gym, it will have a pool, a recreation room and a limited menu café.

It's a lot, but he's doing it because he doesn’t want me to miss my family. Because he wants me to be happy .

If Miceli De Luca doesn't love me, he definitely cares about me. A lot.

But it kind of feels like love.

Water splashes my legs and I look down, expecting to see Fitz or one of my cousins.

It's not them. Arms covered in black neoprene rise out of the water, reaching for me. I scream and kick out with one foot, aiming at the black apparition's head.

I make contact and his head goes back, but hands like manacles lock around my ankles. A bullet hits the dock, sending splinters flying.

I hear a rage filled roar as I'm yanked under the water.

Shutting my mouth, I expel air through my nose as I thrash, trying to get away from the man…no, men …attacking me.

One of them grabs my feet and then something hard and thin tightens around my ankles. I keep fighting, but the water makes it hard and it's three against one.

Assholes!

They get zip cuffs over my hands, scraping my knuckles in the process and then yank them tight. Now, I'm squirming like an eel. My chest hurts with the need to suck in air.

But there is no air. It's water .

Then an opaque diver's mask is shoved over my face, turning everything around me black. A mouthpiece jams into my mouth and unable to stop myself, I suck in.

But it's oxygen, not water that fills my mouth and lungs.

The next few minutes are a blur of water rushing by much faster than any human could swim. Are we being towed by a boat?