Alessio
I sat in the chair in Julian’s office, waiting for the man to arrive. He had called me yesterday, told me Isaac was fully recovered, and now it was time to figure out what came next.
Quite some time had passed, and I began getting impatient when the man decided to walk in at his own time, with two glasses in his hand.
“Ah, if it isn’t my favorite fed lover,” he greeted me, handing me the drink before making his way over to his chair.
A grin spread across his face, as if he was proud of his own joke. I scoffed, eyeing the drink in my hand.
“The drink isn’t poisoned if that’s what you’re thinking,” Julian spoke.
I released a chuckle, setting the glass down without taking a sip. “It’s not that,” I said. “I trusted you when I asked for your help, and I trusted you when I left Mena in your care-but now, I just want to discuss what needs to happen to Isaac.”
“And that’s why you won’t drink?”
“I don’t have time to drink,” I stated, my tone urgent.
Julian’s expression changed, and he leaned back with a sigh. “Very well then,” he became more serious.
There was no time to joke around as this conversation would not only decide Isaac’s future but ours as well.
If the truth would ever come out about my actions, the Fanuccis would be as good as done.
No one would take us seriously anymore, and our own people might even turn against us.
“Where is he now?”
“He’s upstairs. When we’re finished here-you can go and talk to him,” Julian responded.
The thought of talking to Isaac made me furious, yet it was something that needed to happen because the rules had to be made clear. Other than that, I had nothing to say to him.
Even though I had saved him, I didn’t feel the same as Mena. I wasn’t going to feed the man lies, tell him how much I appreciated him for not sharing anything with the MISA-no, fuck that.
He should’ve never gone undercover in the first place.
“Since he’s doing better now, what do you want me to do with him?” Julian questioned.
“I want the name Levi or Isaac to disappear,” I spoke loud and clear. “What are my options?”
“I can send him to a friend of mine, out of the country, but this friend is strict and he’s going to wish he had died.” Julian laid out the options.
This one seemed too much, even for Isaac. We all knew how Julian’s ‘friends’ could get, and if I wanted to cut off Isaac’s balls-I would’ve done so myself.
“Next option is to keep him here,” Julian continued. “Our door is always open.”
I hummed at his words. This option didn’t sit right with me either. Julian’s household seemed too cozy and bright for someone like Isaac, someone who had to pay for his mistakes.
“Or I could send him to my brother. He has just returned from Chile, owns a nice place with a big garden and will need some help around his house, perhaps with his flowers or stuff,” Julian suggested.
“Right, flowers,” I chuckled, thinking Julian’s brother might be worse than the man himself.
Julian’s smile widened. “My brother, my twin brother, isn’t like us, Alessio. He is colder than a Fanucci, got a stick up his ass, doesn’t like people-but I assure you, he can protect his identity, keep a close eye on him while making sure your guy doesn’t try to do anything crazy.”
I thought about my options. Julian’s brother’s place sounded like a middle ground-strict enough to keep Isaac out of trouble but not cruel. “Let’s go with your brother.”
“That’s the best choice in this case,” Julian agreed.
“What does your brother do?” I asked, trying to understand how he was even in the picture.
“He’s a lawyer, my lawyer,” Julian replied with a slight tilt of his head.
“Good for you,” I nodded. “I hope your lawyer brother knows that as far as everyone knows he’s dead, I need him to stay dead-do you get me?”
I didn’t need to explain much to Julian. Regardless of everything surrounding his mansion or his practices, he had helped others with stuff like this many times before.
The man was a professional.
“There’s one thing that has been on my mind,” Julian said.
“What is it?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear it.
“Why would you spare the fed’s life?” he asked bluntly.
I shifted uncomfortably until I realized there was no answer good enough to explain why I decided to keep Isaac alive. “Please don’t ask me about something I don’t have an answer to,”
Julian nodded, “You know, once a week-we have a group therapy session-”
“I will stop you right there. That’s not necessary,” I cut him off quickly, not wanting to hear any more about how this man ran his household.
“Anyway, when you told me you didn’t need a favor in return-did you mean it?” I asked, needing to be sure of his intentions.
If he was planning on making me poke out someone’s eyeballs, I’d rather he do it now.
“I sure did, and you can thank that nice woman of yours for that. We had a good talk,” Julian replied with a light smile.
“Why do you like her so much?”
“She reminds me of my favorite niece,” Julian shared. “I haven’t seen her in a while, but my niece? We just get along great, and I had the same feeling with Mena.”
He wasn’t mistaken. Mena did have a way of making everyone feel comfortable around her. Even in the beginning, when we didn’t interact much-I felt a sense of ease having her around.
“She’s easy to talk to, makes you feel special because she’s so curious about everything,” I said, acknowledging the truth in his words and, of course, not passing by an opportunity to throw in a compliment about Mena.
I needed everyone to know how amazing she was.
“That must be it,” Julian agreed with a nod. “Where is she anyway?”
“At home. She wasn’t even supposed to be there that day. I don’t want her to get involved with any of this stuff,” I explained, desperate to keep her away from the darker sides of my life.
I couldn’t let her get pulled into dangerous situations when her heart was that innocent.
“Mena seems way too intelligent not to involve her.” Julian chuckled softly. “My wife and I, we run everything together, which means I have fewer burdens, more time for my children,” he explained, making it sound like a partnership was the secret to balancing such a life.
“Well, that’s good for you and your wife,” I rolled my eyes. “But, when it comes to Mena-I only want to protect her, that’s it. This is not her world.”
“This became her world the second you decided to make her a part of your life,” Julian countered with a smirk, and his words struck a nerve mainly because I could see some truth in them.
“We’ve talked enough,” I said, standing up, eager to shift the topic away from Mena. “Now take me to him.”
Julian smiled at my abrupt change of topic and stood up as well. “Sure.”
We left the office, and Julian led me to the stairs where the nurse from last time, Madeleine, was already waiting.
“Mads, you know what to do,” he said.
The nurse nodded, shooting me a glance. “Please follow me, sir.”
I followed her up the stairs, and only then did it begin to kick in that I had to face Isaac, which meant facing the consequences of my decisions.
Madeleine stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall and looked at me. “He’s in there,” she said. I gave her a quick nod and watched as she walked off before my attention shifted back to the door again.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to manage every emotion that I was feeling-and then I opened the door.