Chapter Twenty-Seven

Bianca

You know those moments in life when you feel like you’re walking the plank, but it’s inevitable, so you hold your head high and put one foot in front of the other anyway?

This was one of those times.

I’d promised myself that if Knox and I became more than friends, I would tell my dad. That as soon as it happened, I would be honest with him.

Knowing that didn’t make it any easier.

But I had to do it. He deserved to know the truth. We were family, and family was always honest with each other. Plus, I didn’t want to sneak around with Knox, hiding him from my dad. We’d kept things under wraps in Paris and by my way of thinking, that was long enough. But what choice did I have really? Was I supposed to just pick up the phone and call him? How would that conversation have gone? Oh, hey, Daddy, yeah, Knox and I are going to give this thing a go, and I figured all of this out while we were in Paris for fashion week.

That conversation would have gone over like a lead balloon.

Which was why I’d decided to wait to tell him until I got home and things got back to normal.

Taking the veal parmesan that Maria brought over out of the oven, I thought about what I wanted to say. I wasn’t looking to start a war, so I knew the meal would help. Food and wine made everything better in this family.

Before taking our wine glasses to the table, I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. I have to do this. It’s going to be okay.

It so wasn’t going to be okay.

I picked up my phone, needing my sisters.

Bianca: SOS

Perla: What’s up?

Bianca: I’m telling Daddy about Knox tonight.

Maria: Did you heat the veal?

Bianca: Yeah.

Allegra: What does that matter?

Maria: It’s a delicious distraction. He can’t be mad when eating my veal.

Perla: You’re insane and I mean that in the most loving way possible.

Bianca: Can we focus, please?

Maria: It’s going to be fine. Stick to your guns. Follow your heart.

Perla: Any other platitudes you can give her, Maria?

Maria: It’s good advice. She knows she has to do this, she’s just nervous that he’ll be mad. But, Bibi, if you remember what you want, it’ll be fine.

Bianca: From your mouth. . .

Allegra: We support you.

Bianca: Okay, I think I hear him coming.

Allegra: Then get it over with. We love you!

I could do this.

It’ll be fine. Stick to my guns. Follow my heart. Maria’s words played on loop in my mind. Whatever was going on with her these days was making her one bullheaded cookie and I was so glad for it. I’d have to find out what that was about, but right now, I needed to stay focused.

Okay, quick rundown of the facts for my own benefit:

Yes, Daddy had forbidden me from seeing Knox.

But Daddy loved me.

We were family, that counted for something.

He couldn’t stay mad at me forever.

What was the worse he could do anyway? Tell me to break things off with Knox before it got too serious? Well, I respected my father and loved him with every fiber of my being but I wasn’t going to just bend to his will on this one.

I was old enough to drive, drink, and everything in between, so I was old enough to make a decision about who I wanted to be with.

Heck, what made me any different from Perla? She’d been able to choose who she wanted to be with. Albeit Frankie was Italian and in my dad’s good graces long before he and Perla had entered into that ridiculous fake marriage. But then there was Maria. She may have acted like the good daughter, but look at her. She had a child already and. . . and. . . Dom. Even if Dom was amazingly sweet and like the big brother I’d always wanted but never had. None of that mattered, though. What mattered was that my sisters had been able to make their own decisions and now I wanted to do the same. And I’d decided I wanted to pursue things with Knox.

How was that for a speech? Now if only I could stand up to my dad like that and not do it on wobbly, noodle legs.

It was just that this was a lot different than causing trouble as a teenager or sneaking boys in and out of the house because now I had too much to lose. He was the only parent I had left and I hated to admit it, but I needed him.

Entering the dining room, I plastered a smile on my face and tried my best not to sound off alarm bells in his head. He was the father of four girls, he always could tell when trouble was brewing or there was something he wasn’t going to like. Like a hound dog, he could sniff these things out.

Lifting his head from his phone, he looked at the dinner table I’d set for us and said, “You didn’t have to do this, baby girl.” I pulled his chair out and moved to the hot dish I’d placed in the middle of the table to serve him. “Is that your sister’s veal I smell?” he asked, setting his phone down.

I nodded. “She brought it by earlier. I just heated it up, thought it’d be nice for us to eat together tonight.”

He smiled and waited for me to sit down after serving us. “I’m glad. I missed you these past few weeks. It’s always quiet when you’re not here.”

“I missed you, too. It was good I went, but after a while I get weary from all the travel and can’t wait to get back to normal.”

“Did you see the new sneakers Dom bought Isabella?” he asked. “He took her shopping for new ones since the others are an old style now.”

This is good. Nice, easy conversation. Then I can work my way up to what I have to say. I chuckled, thinking about how Dom spoiled her. “Of course, only the best for Peanut.”

“Of course,” he repeated and grinned, cutting into his veal.

Should I do it now? I mean, he was in a good mood. Especially after talking about his granddaughter. Not much else made his face light up quite the same. Yeah, maybe this was my window.

“Daddy,” I began, treading lightly.

He shifted in his seat and put his guard up, that much was immediately obvious to me. It was all in the way he laid his fork and knife down and leaned his wrists against the table, his expression serious and his brows coming together to form a V. “What is it, Bianca?”

Okay, so the hound dog is alive and well tonight.

I cleared my throat and decided to just say it. “I’m with Knox.”

If it was possible, his brows were now so furrowed, so pulled together that they had formed one giant caterpillar. Just below, a fire burned in his eyes. I let my eyes scan the rest of him. His back was rigid, his hands coming together to play with the ring on his finger. Then came the upward gaze as he cursed under his breath in Italian. Finally, he said to me, “What exactly does that mean, Bianca?” his voice deep and booming in the otherwise quiet house.

I tried again, explaining, “Knox and I have decided to see where things can go between us, so, I guess you could say we’re seeing each other.”

“Even after I forbade it?”

I nodded slowly, biting the inside of my lip as his anger grew more obvious with his nostrils flaring. “Yes,” I answered honestly.

Unfurling his hands that were white knuckling it over there, he opened one all the way and slammed it down on the table with enough force to shake the plates. “No!” he yelled in a volume he saved for when he was not only angry, but disappointed in the person. That hurt more than he could ever know.

I stood my ground, though, and gritted back, “Yes.”

“No,” he deadpanned, daring me to disobey him.

* * *

Angelo

There was hardheaded and then there was my daughter, Bianca Morelli.

I would have done anything for her, she was my little girl, and nothing would ever change that, but this, this was inexcusable.

I said no. Two years ago I said no. Before this started up again in London I said no. In Milan I said no. What didn’t she understand about the two-letter word? It was one syllable. No. N-O.

I could be understanding about a lot of things. Heck, I was. Regina had always seen to it. Not that it took much convincing where Bianca was concerned, because I’d always had a soft spot for her. And even though you weren’t supposed to pick favorites as a parent, I supposed Bianca was mine.

So I knew that I’d always let her get away with just about anything, but I always trusted her judgment, so it wasn’t hard. Except when it came to boys. On that front, she’d always been a little. . . how do I put it? Trusting. Foolish. Boy crazy.

Sure, I trusted in the fact that Regina and I had raised our girls right, equipping them with everything they’d need to go out into the world and make good decisions. But again, this was Bianca. Bianca and a boy.

I couldn’t stand by and let her make a mistake that could easily change the course of her life forever. So no. No to her being with Knox. No to me sitting back and watching her make a mess of her life. No to it all.

If Regina were still here, I knew she’d have choice words for me, but she wasn’t and I had to do everything in my power to protect my little girl from the trouble that I was sure Knox Rhodes would bring her.

He was going to break her heart, and shatter it into a million pieces all the while mooching off us for his own benefit, continuing to get ahead. People like him saw us as steppingstones, a way to further themselves. I wouldn’t have that type of person in my daughter’s life. I couldn’t.

So when Bianca returned, “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t matter what you say. I’m going to do what I want and you’re just going to have to accept that,” I had no other choice.

She left me no other choice.

Refusing to concede on this, I spat back, “Then you’re fired.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew the weight of them and what they meant, what they would mean for us. But I had to show her the seriousness of this. There had to be a consequence. Maybe then she would see reason.

* * *

Bianca

Fired?

That one word felt like a knife to my chest, like I was being stabbed, and all I could do was stare back at the person driving the knife through me with bewilderment in my eyes.

How could he?

What makes him think this is a good idea?

A flood of emotions overwhelmed me and I wanted to simultaneously cry my eyes out and punch a wall.

He was being so unreasonable.

This must’ve been some sort of mistake, I decided. Yeah, I’d heard him wrong.

The blood must have rushed to my head or something from standing my ground. Yeah, that was it. There was no way to explain it if that wasn’t the case.

I had to be strong, though, because if I showed any sign of weakness, he’d think I was having doubts about being with Knox. And I wasn’t.

I mean, if that were the case, then I wouldn’t have said anything to begin with. But I did say something, because I was sure about him. The more time we spent together, the more I wanted to be with him, listen to his comforting words, feel his little touches and relish in his glances.

Remaining calm yet firm in my resolve, I swallowed the lump that was quickly forming in my throat and kept my eyes trained on his steely gaze, trying my best to keep my emotions in check. “You’re firing me?” I asked point-blank.

He shut his eyes for a brief moment, then answered with just as much control, “Yes, you heard me correctly.” Then as though I would ever want to hear those words come from his mouth again (it was bad enough the first time), he repeated, “You’re fired.”

“Daddy,” I pleaded, deciding to appeal to his pathos. “I’m your daughter, you can’t just kick me out of the family business like this.”

He didn’t flinch, though, didn’t even move a muscle.

For good measure, I added, “I’m an asset. You know that.”

Now his jaw ticked, and he studied me before agreeing. “That may be true, but it changes nothing. So long as you’re on this silly crusade to date Knox Rhodes, that’s my decision and it’s final.”

I wasn’t being swayed on this. “Deciding that I’m going to explore things with Knox is not a silly crusade. This isn’t about you, can’t you see that?”

He stood up and cracked his knuckles before crossing his arms. “You’re right about that. This isn’t about me. It’s about you. I’m doing this for you and one day I trust you’ll see that, so if you’re not changing your mind, then there’s nothing left to say. This discussion is over.”

It was odd. If anything, I thought he would have given in on this one, but instead he hurt me in the worst way possible—taking everything I knew and loved and ripping it right from me. Fuming, hurt and confused, he’d left me no choice. I, too, stood up from the table and made a declaration of my own—“All right. I’m moving out then. I won’t live under the same roof as a man who’s so determined to control me that he can’t see all he’s doing is putting a divide between us.” I walked to the doorway of our dining room, one final look over my shoulder.

Ever since my mom’s passing, I’d feared losing people, but I wasn’t losing my dad, not in the same way. I was pushing him away because I hated how he was trying to control my life.

His lips parted and it looked like he was going to say something, but I had no interest in sticking around for him to say whatever hurtful thing he had on the tip of his tongue. He’d done enough damage, if you asked me. So I turned back around.

Finally, he spoke. “Your mother,” he started, and I froze, not wanting to move at the mention of her. What could he possibly have to say about Mom? “She would be sad to see what you’re doing. You know, family was the most important thing to her, to both of us.”

I didn’t turn around again; the tears were coming too fast and hard by this point. Every word that spewed from his mouth felt like venom. He was killing me and it was like he had no idea. Or didn’t care.

Then the final nail in my coffin came when he ended with, “We raised you better than this, Bianca.”

* * *

Angelo

I had wanted her to turn around, to muster up that Italian fire she had in her—like her mother. Going a thousand rounds with Bianca would have been better than the silent treatment; it always was. But even when she had been a little girl, she’d never engaged like that with her mother or I, just everyone else. No, with us she much rather preferred to remain quiet. The problem was, the silence was more painful. I thought she knew that, too.

I took a step forward and was about to place a hand on her shoulder, but she stepped just beyond my reach and left the dining room.

With each step she took through our house, my stomach fell. I had a feeling that no matter how badly I wanted her words to be nothing more than a threat, that wasn’t going to be the case. Our house was truly about to become my house. She’d move out, I knew she would, and there would be no stopping her.

I closed my eyes and the vision I had just now of the back of my adult daughter walking away transformed into the little girl I remembered following me around. I saw all the years meld together, like flipping through a photo album. It didn’t matter her age. Bianca would always be my little girl.

Five years old. She was going to elementary school; it was her first day of Kindergarten and she didn’t want to leave us.

Then ten. Then twelve. She was finally going to middle school and smacking gum in her mouth with earphones on her head.

Fourteen and heading off to her first day of high school. I was warning her about boys and their ill intentions.

Sixteen. Seventeen. Dreadful years, but still my little girl. It didn’t matter that she was going to prom, leaving with that Peter boy I never did care for.

Then she was eighteen and graduating high school, walking away after she’d refused to wear the cap because it messed up her hair.

Even as an adult at twenty-one, wearing skirts that were too short and heels that were too high, I’d sworn that she’d be the death of me.

But it was this year that was really going to kill me.

Unless. . . . I let myself hope as Bianca finally stopped walking and turned on her heel, retreating to the dining room where I stood. Maybe she’d realized I was trying to do the right thing. This was the only way I knew to protect her. From the hurt and betrayal that boy was going to cause her.

Bianca whispered, “I don’t ever want to talk to you again.”

I went to talk, but refrained when she added, “Pretend I’m dead,” and promptly turned around and walked away again.

The worst part about all of this was, I feared I’d only driven her straight into that leech’s arms.

Knox Rhodes hadn’t even had to lift a finger.

He was single-handedly tearing our family apart without breaking a sweat.

I supposed I’d only helped him in his mission, making it easier to use Bianca for his own personal gain. Unfortunately, though, she was going to have to learn the hard way that in some situations there was no life preserver.

This would be one of those situations.

And trust me, I knew the feeling well. I was currently drowning in my own misery, my own guilt over everything that had just passed between us. But this was one of those times there was no saving it and my heart actually ached for my daughter.

I turned around and slipped back into the chair she had pulled out for me not long ago. I pushed the plate aside. I couldn’t be bothered eating now. Instead, I dropped my head and brought my hand to my heart. A lone tear rolled down my cheek.

“Oh, Regina,” I cried out, looking up as if she could help. “Watch over our girls. Especially Bianca.”