The photograph.
All night, I tossed and turned with restless dreams about Antonio and his silver streak and my mother smiling beside him. The photo that Leo is having restored…is it mine?
I have to tell Smoke. Or Trinity. Someone who will believe that I don’t want the fame or fortune associated with the D’Angelo name. I just want to tell them…what?
I suck in a breath. That I think I’m family?
Not the best conversation starter, but it is a start.
After spending the better part of the day chasing them down, I quickly realize today is not the day. With five times the security and staff, bodies huddle around every D’Angelo like ants around a Christmas feast. It’s like a kingdom before a coronation day. I’ve got better odds finding a real live leprechaun with a pot of gold than stealing a D’Angelo away for a second.
Smoke distinctly said it would be a small ceremony with family and friends. Maybe in their world, a hundred people is small.
I finally catch a break. Trinity is alone, taking a walk around the small pond. I walk up to her. It’s the perfect time to set five little words free. I might be your sister.
“Ivy.” Trinity wraps me in a big hug. “You’re back.” Her smile is bigger than usual, reaching all the way to her inquisitive eyes.
“Yes, I wanted to talk to you. Tell you something important.”
“Is it about you and Leo?”
Heat rises up my neck and cheeks. I shrug, suddenly embarrassed that I must be basking in the afterglow of Leo. “Is it obvious?”
“You were both gone. I was hoping, I guess.”
“Hoping?”
Trinity links arms with me as we amble around the lake. Fluff the swan has become quite domestic, hugging the pebble coast as she swims alongside beside us. “It’s so rare that anyone around here finds love.”
“Love,” I say, letting the romantic word swirl around and sink in. “Can you keep a secret?”
“I’m a vault,” she assures me.
I let out a long, slow breath. “Leo asked me to move in with him.”
“And?”
“And I’m nervous. My relationship with Leo feels like a game of Red Light, Green Light, where I’m never in control. I’m head over heels in love with the man, and with my track record, I’m terrified he’s going to break my heart.”
Her mouth twists in a tender smile. She plucks two pale gardenias from a shrub. She fixes one behind my ear, or as close as she can get with the unruly bed of curls that’s gone extra haywire with the humidity. “It’s okay to be cautious. Look at my brothers.
All of them are rich, powerful, attractive men. Yet none of them are involved. Early on, our family learned the hard way to guard our hearts, our name, and our money because, to some degree, our power draws the worst sorts of attention. Being a D’Angelo and having trust issues goes hand in hand.”
I squeeze her arm. “I didn’t realize that.”
“When you’re born into it, you have no choice. I love my heritage and who I am. But more often than not, being a D’Angelo feels like a curse.”
We slowly start to stroll, quietly along the path as I take in the consequences of what it would be like to carry the name D’Angelo. I never considered how my being a D’Angelo could become a double-edged sword.
Why am I only now considering that?
Antonio has been missing and presumed dead. Trinity was brutally attacked—raped, beaten, and left for dead. All I have to do is look around. At any given time, a dozen guards are on constant patrol, canvassing the estate. There’s a reason they’ve gone to extremes to protect their well-being.
God, what about Aunt Grace? What about Leo? What would it mean for us? For him? If Leo had an inkling I was a D’Angelo, there’s no way he’d ask me to move in. Knowing him, he’d bypass the bubble wrap and roll me in six layers of Kevlar.
“Trust yourself,” Trinity says as she wraps me in one of her super tight hugs. “Trust your heart.”
Mateo hollers across the lawn. “Trinity. Five minutes.”
“Okay,” she shouts back with a wave and returns her attention to me. “Was that what you wanted to talk about?”
Is it? If I say even one word, it changes everything. Transforms the world for all the people I love.
I swallow hard and nod.
Trinity sighs, dreamy-eyed. “I never imagined Leo would ever let himself fall in love again.”
Again. Emotions overwhelm me. I could almost forget that Leo had a wife. “I can’t imagine how hard it was for Leo…to lose the woman he loved.”
Trinity studies me, her bright blue eyes steady on mine. “He hasn’t told you, has he?”
“Told me what?”
“Any day now!” Mateo shouts playfully.
“You should go,” I say, nudging her away.
“Do I look okay?” she asks, combing her fingers through her long, blonde hair. “The photographer is here.”
For a beat, my heart stops. The photographer. Of course. Family photos. The D’Angelo family.
I straighten the gardenia in her hair as I fight back an unruly tear. I’ve always wanted a family—my family—but I know that if I come out as a D’Angelo, I lose Leo. And all of a sudden, the choice is easy.
“You look beautiful,” I say to Trini, and send her off. She’s swept into a hug as Mateo ushers her away.
My cell rings, and Leo’s name lights up the screen. I swipe the tears from my cheeks and answer. “Hi.”
“I need you at our house. Now.” Our house grabs my attention over Leo barking now. My beautiful Alpha male wants me home.
“What’s in it for me?” I tease.
“My magical dick,” he replies with zero modesty.
“That is tempting. I’m thinking it over.”
“You should be sprinting. Do not make me track you down and fling you over my shoulder, caveman-style.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Now, woman!” he barks.
This man makes me laugh. “Yes, sir.”
I rush back to the North Cottage—our house—shedding any and every desire to ever admit who I am. Not that I ever knew for sure. It was all speculation. A wildly concocted dream that is no longer my confession to make. And the family I’ve always wanted, I have. Aunt Grace and the whole Everly tribe. And the D’Angelos will always be in my life, even if they never know the connection we share.
I skip up the steps and arrive at the door. Giddy and filled with a flutter of excitement, I knock. It opens. Leo is disheveled and too hot for words. In a white button-down shirt and jeans, his hair still has that just fucked look that raises his heat factor to volcanic. He bears down on me, unsettled. “What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“This is your home. Why are you knocking?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug, cluelessly holding up my hands. “It’s literally been hours, and I haven’t said I was moving in.”
“Oh, you’re moving in. It’s just a question of when.” He whisks me in, laying a smoldering kiss on me until my legs are about to give. I’m seconds from dry humping him when I hear a throat being cleared. My eyes pop open.
Oh, shit. My hand is on Leo’s massive length when I realize we have an audience. A small crew of people are standing behind him, along with Roberto.
My head sinks into Leo’s shoulder, mortified.
“Don’t worry, angel,” Leo whispers. “Everyone knows you’re swayed to its magnetic pull.”
Roberto locks his arms in mine, dragging me to another room. “We’ll let you know when she’s ready.”
“You have two hours,” Leo says firmly.
My jaw falls slack. “Two hours? I don’t need two hours to slip into a dress.”
Roberto stares me down like I’m simple. “Darling, you’ll be lucky if we’re done by then. Final fit on the dress. Makeup. Hair.” He fluffs my mop of humidity-wild curls. “How do you feel about a trim?”
Leo’s voice booms from out of sight. “Touch her hair and you die.”
Roberto shouts over his shoulder. “No one needs to die, Z.” He smiles down at me and leans closer to my ear. “So possessive.”
For the next two hours, I’m primped and prodded to within an inch of my life. I’m learning a lot about Roberto. He was born in Florence. He’s a Pisces. And he apparently has no idea that women have lungs to breathe with. The breathing-optional Spanx are out. If I want a breath, I have to fight for it.
As soon as Roberto and his staff make triple checks of everything from my hemline to my pulse, I’m rushed to the great room. Roberto insists that I wait for my cue. It feels a little silly, but he’s worked so hard. I’m far from a runway model, but the least I can do is oblige him with a show.
Roberto’s voice bellows from the other room. “May I present to you Ms. Ivy Palmer.”
I gather my nerves and step out. The gown is silk cream, and in it, I feel like I’m floating on a cloud. My hair was left down, and there was no way I was going anywhere without the gardenia from Trini.
I take three steps into the room, and my breath hitches. Leo is dressed to the nines in a drool-worthy blend of handsome and sexy. His black suit is fitted to perfection with the top two buttons left open because, for whatever reason, the man hates ties. His dark blue eyes lock onto mine as he steals my breath.
“Leave us,” he orders sharply. Everyone files out, and Roberto blows me a kiss as he exits the room. Leo moves closer until his tall body towers over mine. “You’re breathtaking,” he says, his voice dark.
Instead of looking at me sex-crazed or adoringly, his face is full of regret. Before I can ask, he presses an envelope into my hand. I open it and pull out the photograph. “You must get your beauty from your mother, Ivy. Or do you prefer Olivia?”