Chapter 12 - A Quiet Dinner, A Loud Family
The new house in Westchester wasn’t a fortress; it was a sprawling, whitewashed colonial with a wrap-around porch, blue shutters, and an enormous apple tree heavy with fruit in the backyard.
Dinner on the first night was a disaster of domestic perfection.
Pasta sauce was smeared across Tommy’s cheek, Nico had managed to get a noodle stuck in his hair, and Alessandro was loudly debating the merits of broccoli versus dinosaur nuggets with Lucia, who had quickly become the unofficial queen of the household.
“Pass the parmesan, peasant,” Nico commanded playfully, pointing a fork at his stepbrother.
“Say please, or no cheese,” Lucia retorted with a sharp, fearless grin that made Victor burst out laughing.
Serena sat at the head of the table, looking around the bright, sunlit dining room. There were no armed guards standing outside the door. No ticking time bombs of psychological warfare. Just a table full of messy, loud, fiercely loyal kids, a daughter who finally slept without holding onto her sleeve, and a man who looked at her like she hung the stars in the sky.
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“To new beginnings,” Victor said, raising his glass of sparkling cider—wine had been temporarily banned by executive order from Serena.
“To surviving the Rinaldis,” Serena countered, clinking her glass against his with a triumphant smile.
