1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Mia

It’s nothing. It was probably just a breeze that knocked a branch against the house. There is nobody outside.

I take a shaky step towards my bed, willing myself to be strong. Then I hear another noise coming from downstairs. My heart is pounding out of my chest. It can’t be him. There’s no way he is in my house.

I tiptoe out of my bedroom and lean forward over the banister to look downstairs at the front door. The doorknob shakes. It hits me that he really may be more dangerous than I could have ever thought. We broke up over a month ago, and he is just getting more persistent.

It started with some threatening texts that I thought were him just trying to get me to text him back. I showed them to my sister-in-law Alexis. She freaked out and forced me to tell my brothers about them.

My brothers threatened to end his life. What can I say, they’re Italian. They don’t mess around with the safety of their loved ones.

Do I think they would actually do that? No.

Well…I don’t think so. Honestly, they might. They are crazy protective of the women in their lives.

Another jiggle of the handle, more aggressively this time, and my stomach drops. What if this is an actual killer or burglar? Is that more or less scary than having Don at the front door? At this point, I’m not sure.

I remember my other sister-in-law Savannah had given me a blow horn after Don started sending threatening messages and showing up wherever I was. She told me if I ever think someone is in my house, don’t go downstairs, just sound the horn, and I’ll scare the crap out of them.

Shit, I’m sure I’m going to scare the crap out of my neighbors, but at this point, I think I want to wake people up.

I run into my room and open my nightstand drawer. Just as I grab it, I hear the door open downstairs. I don’t give it a second thought; I push the button and fall back on my ass. The piercing noise blares in my ears, causing them to ring instantly. I keep it in my hands and continue to hold the button while the effect on my ears leaves me feeling disoriented.

When I stop, I look around. I don’t know what I’m looking for. Maybe to see if it worked or if he’s standing in the doorway, ready to hurt me. I crawl on my hands and knees out of my room and back over to the banister. I peer downstairs at the door. It’s open, but I hear the sound of screeching tires as a car pulls away from the curb by my house.

Motherfucker. It’s Don’s car. I watch his taillights get smaller as breathing becomes more difficult. Tears begin to fall down my cheeks as I realize this has officially hit a level that I can’t handle on my own anymore.

“Mia!” Mrs. Mayberry shouts from my front porch. “Are you okay? I heard a loud noise. When I came out to look, some man was running off your porch.”

I look down at my hands, which are trembling, then back at her. “No, I don’t think I’m okay.”

“I don’t think I want you leaving Cleveland. How are we supposed to protect you if you’re twelve hours away from us?” my oldest brother Gabe says as he paces nervously back and forth about my parents’ kitchen.

His wife, Alexis, trails behind him as she tries to get him to stand still for a second. I don’t think there will be any calming him down right now.

Ma is anxiously cooking up a storm in the kitchen while we all are scattered around her. I know we’re Italian and can eat a lot, but the amount of food she’s made today can feed an entire homeless shelter. I’m not going to call her out, though, because I’d rather have her distracted right now.

I’ve never been as scared as I was last night. I called Savannah, who insisted I spend the rest of the night at their house. My second oldest brother, Lucas, is slightly less high-strung than Gabe. But even he is standing in the corner, intently biting his nails and quietly stewing with worry.

Pa is pouring a glass of whiskey. He looks up at me. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay with us?” he asks.

“I think getting away from it right now feels like the best thing for me to do. He knows where all of you guys live, and I don’t want to put anybody else in danger.”

“Don’t leave because of us,” Savannah speaks up. “That’s not what our concern is right now. It’s about your safety.”

Tears threaten to spill down my cheeks again. I do my best to blink them away. If I fall apart now, they won’t let me leave.

“I know. I’m leaving because it’s what I want right now. I feel safer taking a step back while we work with the police.”

“You know, there’s an easier way to fix this,” Gabe says through a clenched jaw.

I roll my eyes. “I don’t think going all mafia and killing him is the answer here. You have a wife and kids to worry about. You can’t take care of them from jail.”

“Geez, Mia,” he chuckles. “I was gonna say let me beat him up, maybe put some fear in him. I wasn’t talking about killing him.”

Pa slams down his whiskey and then looks up. “If anyone’s taking him out, it’s me. No one threatens my daughter’s safety like this and gets away with it.”

“You guys are insane,” I pause to let out a sigh. “That settles it. I’m going to go stay with Layla in Georgia.”

“Didn’t she just get engaged?” Ma speaks up for the first time.

“Yeah, she did. Her fiancé Josh is super nice—I’ve talked to him on the phone while chatting with her. I’ll actually be staying with Layla’s brother, Eric. I guess he has a lot of extra room at his place and I didn’t want to get in the way of the newlyweds. Even though they kept on insisting that I wouldn’t be.”

“How long do you plan on staying?” Lucas asks as he pushes off the wall and comes further into the kitchen.

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I guess that all depends on Don. The police said they would talk to him, but they couldn’t arrest him or anything. We’ll see if he follows the restraining order.”

“Well, you threatened a restraining order several times,” Gabe says with frustration. “I don’t think that means much to the guy.”

I’m afraid that he’s right. That’s why I want to get out of here. Last night shook me to my core. I barely slept a wink thinking about what he would have done if he got inside. Does he want to hurt me? The thought of it sends goosebumps down my spine. I never thought I’d be in a situation like this. It all feels like a terrible nightmare.—one that I’m desperate to wake up from. But this is reality, and I need to find a way to make this work. I need to leave for a while.

“That’s why I think I should go away for now. I can bring my laptop and work from the house.”

Lucas shakes his head back and forth. “I think you should take some time off. We could get Michelle to take over some of your urgent tasks. Right now, you just need to take a breather.”

“He’s right,” Savannah agrees. “And I’ll pitch in any way that I can. Lucas can train me on whatever he needs help with.”

“You’d do that for me?” I ask with a shaky breath.

Savannah’s head tilts to the side. “Of course, I would. You’re my sister. I’d do anything for you.”

Growing up with three brothers was great—I wouldn’t change a thing. But I always wanted a sister for as long as I can remember. I never dreamed that I would be gifted with three amazing sisters. My brothers may be idiots, but they sure picked amazing women to marry. Having the love and support from them means the world to me.

“Thank you,” I reply softly. “That’s so sweet.”

I might take the first week off to get settled in, but I’m not making Savannah learn my job so I can sit around a lone man’s house all day long doing nothing. I have no interest in fighting with them right now about how long I need to rest, so I don’t say anything more.

I don’t want to admit this to them, but I’m nervous about staying with Eric. I don’t know a thing about the guy. Just that he works long hours and generally keeps to himself. I wonder what kind of man would want a life like that. I keep picturing a tall, lanky guy with glasses and the inability to look me directly in the eyes.

Is it going to be awkward whenever we’re home together? At least he doesn’t sound like the type to habitually bring girls home. That eliminates having to explain why he has a random chick staying at his place.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Gabe looks at me with concern.

He’s always been the decider between me and my other brothers. Marcus is the youngest of the three boys but older than me. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Lexi. I just talked to him before I got to Ma and Pa’s house and promised to call him after I left to let him know how it goes.

With him being the youngest and craziest, he is able to worry about me in a normal way.

I look around the room at everyone’s unsettled faces. I know I’m going to miss them, but hopefully I won’t be gone for very long. Maybe a month away will be enough time for everything to calm down.

It doesn’t sound like a long time, but I’ve never been away from all of them for that long. We’re a close family and we run a large wine distribution company together.

It took a long time to recover when Marcus moved to Chicago for Lexi. Our Sunday dinners didn’t feel the same without him for a while.

“Yes,” I say with as much confidence as I can muster. “This is what I want. This is what I need .”

Gabe nods his head at Pa, as if it was somehow their decision to make and not mine. I want to tell them that I don’t actually need their approval, but it’s not worth it.

“When are you leaving?” Alexis asks sadly.

“Tomorrow morning.”

A silence falls upon the room. I would have never thought I’d be chased out of my own home, fleeing for safety. This is so surreal. It’s the kind of shit you see in the movies.

Ma wipes away a tear. She’s trying to be strong in front of me, but I know she’s going to break down as soon as we all leave. This is not the way I saw my life going. How could I have been so wrong about Don? What did I ever see in him in the first place?

I feel like such a failure.

My poor decisions have led to this moment where every member of the family is now affected. It’s not what I’m used to. I’m the fixer in the family. I’m the one my brothers come to when they need help with a problem. They all think they take care of the family, but underneath all their macho bravado is a sister who keeps them level-headed and fixes their mistakes. I’ve never been the reason for the chaos in the family.

I don’t like the feeling of it one bit.

I need to get home so I can pack. After I give everybody hugs, I hop into my car and do my best not to break down—that would be useless and a waste of energy. I need to be strong and resilient. Lucas insists on following me home and staying with me while I pack. I’ll be spending the night at his house again.

As I drive, I take in a deep breath, my body trembling on the intake as I hold in my desire to cry, then exhale it all away.

Hopefully, everyone is just overreacting to this, and it will all blow over in a couple of weeks. I’m sure Don will stop acting so crazy once he finds out how serious I am about him staying away.