“No—” I sputtered.
“Not officially, but I’m wearing her down.” He gave me a blurry-eyed grin.
“And how did you two meet?” She dug for information.
“She was on the cover of a magazine, and I fell in love.”
I noticed she gave Oscar a side glance, and something passed between them.
“Actually,” I glared at him, “Mariano hired me to write his story. Sadly, that came to an end, but another article landed at my feet and has kept me here.” I wasn’t about to go into the details, but my version sounded better than Mariano’s.
“And now she’s staying here as a guest of the Capris and not down at my house.”
Elenora’s expression fell, and she blinked at me like this was all news to her.
“Mariano,” Wyatt peeled him off of me, “why don’t we go get you a rye and Coke?”
“Can we make it a double?”
“Double Coke, sure, coming right up.” He rolled his eyes at me, and I mouthed athank youas he drew Mariano toward the bar.
“Sienna, please tell me you’re not living under the same roof as these monsters.”
Where in the world had she thought I was staying?
“This might be hard for you to hear, but they’re my friends, my family.” She started to speak, but I shook my head, stepping closer. “You weren’t here. I had to do life on my own, and that brought me to the Capri family. Whether you can swallow it or not, they saved me when you didn’t come back.”
“You don’t understand—”
“You’re right, I don’t, and I’m right here standing in front of you waiting for anything you can offer me. Why are they monsters to you? Maybe if you give me something, I could understand your feelings better.”
“They…”
“Elenora, maybe not here,” Oscar warned.
“Are you my family, Oscar?” I was angry that he was stepping in the way of something.
“No, I’m not.”
“Then you don’t need to be here right now, do you?”
His jaw flexed when I didn’t show any sign of backing down. He stepped back a few steps at a glance from Elenora.
“The Capri family put a hit on your uncle years ago. They killed him.”
I took a moment to digest the information and tried to stay neutral on my gut reaction.
“What was his name, and when was this?”
“You don’t believe me?”
“I don’t know you well enough to believe or not believe you, but I will find out if what you say is true before I ever think of judging them.”
She softly said the name and the date, and I typed it into my phone so I wouldn’t forget.
“Sienna,” Vinni popped up looking like he was having a great time, “you promised me a dance, and it’s about that time.” He held out a hand and did a little jig as the song switched over.
“I’ll find you later,” I dismissed my mother.