Kiss de La Notte - Book III (Mafia Romance)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Misbehaving

"What are you doing here?" Mia asked snootily to Lucius, thankfully saving me any more words.

"I had business with your father and needed to drop something off," Lucius explained to her. "I'm also your sister's fiancé. What are you doing here?"

"It's my kitchen," Mia answered.

"It's your father's kitchen."

"No, the whole family owns it," Mia argued.

"Who bought the kitchen?" Lucius asked.

"Papà. Duh."

Lucius scratched his beard, like he was concluding something. "So, your father owns the kitchen?"

Mia wiped her nose. "Yeah."

"By that logic, he also bought your I-Pad, so he owns the I-Pad. If you're not nice to Korinna, he might take that away forever." He slid his hands into his pockets. "Or maybe I will..."

"You can't do that. It belongs to my dad!"

"I can if I steal it," Lucius said.

Mia grabbed my sleeve. "Your husband is annoying me."

I fought the childish urge to correct her that he was not my husband. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Lucius. "Is there something you wanted?"

His hazel eyes slid to mine and lingered. "I was just heading out. Wanted to say goodbye..."

Seeing he clearly wanted to talk, I sighed and bent down to Mia's level. "If I hear you curse again, I'm telling Papà."

When she went to take the I-Pad, I gripped it harder. "What do we say?"

Her tone was unenthusiastic. "Sorry for cursing, Korinna."

I still didn't like her attitude, but I didn't have time to do this right now in front of Lucius.

"I forgive you." I turned my head to the side and tapped my cheek. "Baciami."

Mia looked over at Lucius like she was embarrassed, before quickly kissing my cheek.

"And go wash up for bed, Gemma said no electronics for you after seven," I added, before giving her the I-Pad. She scurried away like a bandit.

"Good night to you too" Lucius called jokingly after Mia, like she'd completely forgotten him.

"Buona Notte!" Mia replied smartly form the other room.

Lucius meandered closer to me, a small smirk playing on his lips. "My Mamma did the same thing to me when I misbehaved. The classic forced baciami."

"Yeah, except I'm not her mother," I said more bitterly than I intended to, taking out my favorite mug from the cabinet overhead and stared at the full pot of coffee on the counter. "If I was her mom, our mom, I'd be somewhere in Europe with my new husband and send postcards bragging about how much I travel."

Lucius leaned on the counter beside me. "When did she leave?"

Recognizing I'd totally overshared, I crossed the room to the fridge to get oat milk creamer and set it on the counter next to the mug, feeling my throat tighten. "Five years ago," I said dismissively.

Suddenly I remembered how Mia would wake up crying in the middle of the night for weeks and how Papà was so heartbroken he could barely function. And my grieving lingered somewhere in-between them both, as I had to be strong to keep everyone together.