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Lucian’s voice was hard. “I’m not letting him go. Not after he threatened you.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want him crawling back here. The boys can’t know!”

“Agreed.” Nonna viciously kicked the lump on the floor. “Let’s have one of the guys take him to the forest. Giuseppe said that he and Sam would like to go hunting again.”

My stomach flipped. Maybe the whiskey wasn’t such a good idea.

“I—I don’t think I like that,” I breathed, feeling the vomit threaten to come up. “I’m really not okay with this lifestyle yet.”

“Dolcezza mia,” Nonna sighed. “It’s the way things work here.”

Lucian’s gaze never wavered. A terrible emotion crossed his face. Fear—he was scared I would reject him by not accepting the bloodthirsty code of the Cove.

But I didn’t have to be a killer to exist in this quaint little town run by psychopaths.

I just had to grapple with the darkness on my own terms.

“He betrayed his boss?” I gulped. “Back in New York?”

“He did,” Lucian said carefully.

How he knew that…. Hell! How this man didn’t seem surprised by Andy’s sudden appearance were questions we were going to have to ask and answer.

But not tonight.

No, tonight was about setting the record straight so that tomorrow we could go forward, making our way through the Christmas season in one piece.

“Can you send him back?” I suggested. “They can deal with him as they see fit.”

“You know you’re signing his death warrant,” Nonna said flatly. “It might be more merciful to have Giuseppe and his crazy little wife chase Andy through the forest.”

I did not want to unpack that story. I’d officially met Giuseppe Ravello at the Christmas party, and I’d already met his wife at the café. Together? They were something otherworldly. Because while they seemed a happy couple, there was an energy about them that put me on guard.

“I can send him back,” Lucian murmured. “But your grandma is right. That won’t end well for Andy.”

“That was his mistake.” I drew myself up, balancing on shaking legs, but still managed to stand in face of this shitstorm. “He faked his death, put us through hell, so he might as well try to sort that out. Whatever happens in New York is his problem. We’re never going back, so that chapter is done as far as I’m concerned.”

Lucian had mirrored my movements, and now stood in front of me, looking down with a steady gaze. “I’ll make a call.”

“Rose, grab his foot.” Nonna bent, her frilly nighty fluttering like a ghost around her bare feet. “Let’s put him on the porch in case the twins wake up.”

Dio sopra, that was the last thing this night needed.

Lucian bent to help, but Nonna waved him away.

“Get one of the guys out here. Now, Lucian,” she snapped. “We’re perfectly capable of dragging this piece of filth onto the front porch.”

The next ten minutes were surreal.

Andy was heavier than I imagined. The muscle he’d bulked onto his bones coupled with the dead weight of unconsciousness. The icy blast of winter cut through the open door, but my grandmother seemed downright gleeful as she helped me tug his body outside. She only paused to mutter in Italian about the blood from the cut on his head that left a trail.

By the time she had the cleaning rag out and was spraying the floor, a van was in the driveway.

I took one last look at my undead husband. Andy hadn’t been the love of my life. I used to tell myself he was a good husband and a decent father. But those were just lies. I was done telling them to myself. Saying goodbye to him the first time had been hard, but now, as they bound his wrists and loaded him into the back of the van, I realized it was the parting with our life that had been the worst. I had a new one here. One that was slowly building on a rock-solid foundation.

One that would have killed me to lose.

Chapter 20 – Rosetta