Is that what he and I looked like? I doubted it. We were always at each other’s throats before fucking ourselves mindless. Maybe that’s why something about this dynamic made me envious.
I didn’t like that feeling.
At all.
“I agree with your Madre, my son can never visit enough,” Zacharias said. Then to my utter surprise, he too embraced his son with that one-armed hug men tended to do.
I expected this man to be a total hardass with the asinine belief that showing your son affection, and vice versa, would cause them to be weak.
“Now, enough of this mushy shit. Come, the others are waiting to meet the newest member of the famiglia.”
Did he just say others? Zacharias turned away with his wife and they began to head back towards the long hall.
“Judas,” I hissed with a mix of anger and panic.
“No need to fret, Miss Saldaña. Like the madam has said. Everyone has been waiting for this day,” Otto soothed.
He really reminded me of an elder grandfather without all the white hair. I would bet money he had an abundance of wisdom to share. As a man working for the Barrons, there was no doubt in my mind he had certainly seen some shit go down.
Me, seconds away from having a breakdown, wasn’t one of the memories I wanted him to add to his arsenal. Just because I refused to show these people my fear didn’t mean I was ready to go waltzing into their domain with Judas as my only means of protection.
He agreed with Otto and slipped his arm around my waist to propel me forward.
“I’ll make it up to you later,” he promised quietly.
I quickly disguised my scoff with a cough. It gained a backward glance from his father, but at least I hadn’t blurted out a rebuttal to fucking his son. He probably already thought we were banging like bunnies after their earlier phone call.
“That’s never going to happen again.”
“Never, huh?” He leaned down and practically purred in my ear. “I do enjoy a challenge.”
His deep voice sent tingles of awareness dancing up and down my spine. I fought against the urge to squirm away from him. Feeling my face start to flush, I rolled my lips together and decided to focus on the hall we were in. The walls were lined with various shots of butterflies and a few family photos placed strategically.
The closer we got to where we either had to turn a corner or enter a room of some kind, the tighter the knots in my stomach became. I could hear soft-spoken voices now, signifying whoever was in there didn’t want to be heard.
“I’m right beside you, principessa,” Judas reassured me again. There were no traces of the playful banter from seconds ago in his voice. I looked up at him and nodded.
His parents stepped through an arched doorway and with us being only a few steps behind them I barely had any time to steady myself for what could be waiting inside.
Much like their family crest, I felt like I was about to step into a lair filled with scorpions. At any second those lethal stingers could strike me with poison.
As I feared, a small group of people waited inside a great room. They were all lounging about on the fancy furniture.
When they saw Judas and me their conversations ceased, and all eyes came to rest on the two of us.
“Stop staring at her like she’s on display,” Zacharias ordered in a far colder tone than he’d used to greet me.
“Calm down before you have a stroke ya old bastardo. We’re curious about our new kin, that’s all.”
This came from a man sitting in a plush, deep blue armchair. Referring to Zacharias as old had to be a running joke between them. For starters, I got the impression he wasn’t a man you would freely jest with unless you knew you’d survive long enough to get away with it. Plus, he looked to be about the same age as him, and with that uncanny resemblance, he was for sure a relative.
“That’s my fratello, Ricciardo,” Zacharias introduced and then quickly translated. “My brother.”
“Famiglia calls me, Rico,” he shortened with a wide grin. “My wife and daughter thought it would be best to meet you when you’re more settled in, but my son and daughter-in-law have joined me.” He gestured to another Estee-Lauder commercial couple that was sitting together on the armchair’s matching loveseat.
The girl couldn’t have been much older than me. She had pin-straight brunette hair and insanely pretty eyes, one brown and the other a peculiar mix of green. The man with his arm around her had to be yet another Barron.
He had their signature dark hair and silver eyes, although from where I was standing it looked like his had flecks of blue in them. He was naturally tan like the other men in the room with more tattoos than Judas. The girl at his side was sporting a few herself.