‘It’s not fucking okay, Faye. You promised, Raf!’ She focuses her anger wholly on me, where it belongs, where I would gladly take it, if not for Faye still in the room.
‘Dani, you need to calm down,’ Faye says, still defending me.
‘Don’t tell me to calm down. You don’t understand.’
‘What don’t I understand?’ Faye steps between us. ‘You were all up for me having a little fun this week.’
‘With Dante, yes!’ she throws at Faye, as if it explains it all. ’But you know where you stand with him, not Raf.’ She flings a hand at me ‘He’s complicated, so deep and contradictory, so loving, so...so... Oh, God, Faye!’
She spins back to look at me and I’m motionless. My gut isn’t though; it twists and rolls.
‘He’ll make you think he can love you,’ she continues, ‘because how could he not? When he plays the perfect big brother, the fixer, how can he not be capable of falling in love himself?’
‘I know all this, Dani,’ Faye says quietly from behind her.
‘Do you?’ Dani flings back at her, desperate, panicked. ‘Because the look on your face tells me differently. The look on your face tells me you’ve fallen for him, Faye. It’s as obvious as your pain.’
Slowly Faye looks from Dani to me and inside my heart tears in two.
‘Tell me I’m wrong, fratello,’ Dani pleads softly. ‘Tell her I’m wrong. Tell me that you can love her, that you will do right by her?’
I can’t breathe. I can’t speak. The crushing force on my chest is crippling.
‘I don’t need him to say any of that, Dani.’
Faye’s desperate attempt to rescue me makes it worse. So much worse.
‘Don’t you?’ Her eyes spear Faye now and the door opens behind her. Tyler peers inside, hesitant, concerned.
‘Babe?’ He scans the room, his eyes settling on Dani. ‘The car is here to take us to the a
irport.’
Dani just stands there, her eyes shifting to me, torn, angry.
‘It’s okay.’ Faye reaches out for Dani. ‘You need to go. Everything is fine here, I promise.’
She pulls her into a hug and Dani looks at me over her shoulder. ‘How could you?’
‘I’m sorry,’ I try. ‘It wasn’t planned. I didn’t...’
I flounder because what can I say? There’s no excuse I can give her that’ll make this all right.
‘Go,’ Faye softly urges. ‘Have a fabulous honeymoon and we’ll catch up when you return and all this... It’ll be forgotten.’
My sister squeezes her eyes shut. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Stop it.’ Faye gently pushes her away and Dani hesitates before striding up to me. She pulls me into a tight hug, her whisper for my ears only.
‘Do the right thing, fratello, please.’
I don’t even know what the right thing is, not any more, but I nod and watch her leave.
‘I should go too,’ Faye says into the sudden silence and my eyes snap to her.
‘No! Please...reconsider?’
She looks at me as if I’m crazy. ‘You still want to ask that of me?’