Family Treed Read Free Page B

bracing for some kind of reaction. Was that the real reason he’d come? As a stand in for Uncle Charlie? Was that why his dad had given him the, “I hope you know what you’re doing” look?
    The old man’s mouth widened in what might have been a smile. Alex took the chilled bottle of water from Dimitri, glad the top was still sealed. Almost his lips twitched as he recalled meeting his ex’s family for the first time. Seemed it was always a risky business. Not that he was meeting this family for the same reason.
    Nell’s gaze started to track his way.
    â€œDo you like my house?”
    She blinked, then looked at the old man. A short pause, then said politely, “It’s very grand.”
    â€œI heard you grew up in a log cabin or something.” Mirabelle gave her a bright, fake smile.
    Nell took her time responding. She’d have been good in an interrogation room. Or running a crime empire?
    â€œOr something.”
    The old man snorted. Bitchy exchanges were probably his mother’s milk. A hint of color warmed the sharp, cold lines of Mirabelle’s cheekbones.
    Before the silence could turn even more uncomfortable, a burly guy in an ill-fitting white jacket and a loosened tie appeared at the other end of the room and cleared his throat. “It’s ready, boss.”
    Alex hoped the food tasted less fancy than it smelled. And that his siblings didn’t turn out to be right. He hated it when they were right.

    T he dining room was like something out of a bad comedy—without the funny part. Nell sensed there’d been some reshuffling in the seating. Even if Sarah had come, it wouldn’t have been boy-girl-boy-girl unless another guy had been expected. Nell didn’t feel bad at upsetting the seating. Sarah wouldn’t have liked the girl cousins and wouldn’t have been afraid to show it. The cousins probably had a hitman on speed dial.
    The two Afoniki’s, not unnaturally, sat at the head and foot. Nell expected to be seated next to the old man, or away from both of them, but that’s not where Dimitri steered her before taking his own seat. Instead she found herself sort of across from Cinzia and to the right of Dimitri. Alex got the seat next to the old man, but he didn’t feel close to her, even though he was on her side of the table. Was the distance physical or something more? The look in his eyes when he’d met the old man made her wonder why he’d really come here tonight. Was this more about Uncle Charlie than her? They hadn’t been dating long enough to know.
    Unbidden words from her dad bubbled up from the past, the most cynical words she’d ever heard him utter. “Everyone has an agenda, sweetie. Not a big deal, unless their agenda rolls over yours.”
    When she’d been separated from Alex, when they’d steered to the bar, she’d felt adrift in a cold sea and had had to resist mentally latching onto Guido. Didn’t seem smart to trust him without knowing his agenda. But—did she convict them all of being bad? Her dad and mom had been raised knee deep in crime and had managed to be honest citizens. Other than lying about who they were for thirty years. Sharp longing for what she’d had made her heart clench. Sarah was great, but she missed family, missed belonging, missed the innocence of not knowing her parents had been wise kids. Finding out all the crap had felt like she lost them again. Was it possible to find—not that because it was gone forever, but a sense of family again?
    She’d looked into Ellie’s family, hoping for normal there. Not a huge shock that her grandma’s parents had died about six months before she disappeared. Had the noxious Antonio held her family hostage to keep her from bolting?
    Probably.
    Was she here because she couldn’t figure out how to say no? Or because she’d hoped against hope that she’d find family again?
    Maybe.
    What was