the devil wears a suit and tie • billy russo

chapter 3

"They're going to love you," Iz smiled as she walked Billy towards the front door of her parents' townhouse, "I promise. They can't wait to meet you."

He shook his head and stopped in front of the door, "I'm warning you, I don't think they're going to like me."

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes, "You could charm the stripes off a tiger. Give me one reason why they wouldn't like you."

"I don't know..." he shrugged awkwardly, "I feel like they expect you to be with someone better, like a politician or something."

"And since when were you so insecure? Huh? Besides, a politician is the absolute last thing my parents want me to end up with," she got up on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly, "I love you, which means my family will too—"

"Get a room," she was interrupted by Eli pushing past then up get inside, leaving the door wide open for her parents to see them just standing there on the doorstep awkwardly.

"Well," she sighed, "looks like we're going in."

"This is more terrifying than any mission I've been on," he smirked.

"Relax," she took his hand and they stepped inside.

Please don't let Mom do anything to freak him out, she thought. "Welcome," Sloane purred, "I'm glad you could make it. Javi and I have been hearing about you for months."

"I'm glad to be here," he shook her hand, "I haven't been stateside for Christmas in a while."

"Well then," she raised her eyebrows, "I'm honored that you're spending it with us and not your family."

Did she really just say that? I can't believe she just said that I literally said he was an orphan and to not bring up family stuff. "Mom," Isabella hissed through gritted teeth, "no."

Her eyes widened as she realized her mistake, "I'm so sorry, I forgot. Disregard that."

"Don't worry about it," he said in his typical good humor, "Iz told me where to get your favorite New York bagels, so I brought some for you," he held out his bag of baked goods proudly.

The older woman took the bag with an impressed look on her face. "Thank you, they won't last long. Now come on in, Javi's working on dinner in the kitchen."

"Dad's cooking?" Considering the amount of time Isabella's dad had spent as a bachelor, his cooking was often questionable at best, so she wasn't quite sure what he was doing cooking Christmas dinner.

"He's been working hard on learning new things in the past few months, you should be proud."

Javier greeted Billy warmly. Considering his own scandalous adventures before he met Iz's mother, any man willing to commit to a relationship was good enough in his eyes. Shockingly, the casserole he was working on actually looked appetizing.

Iz looked back to her mom, "What's Pacho making?" Pacho was her beloved godfather, a former Colombian cartel kingpin and longtime friend of her mother—which was in part why he got off easy for his crimes. Pacho was the best cook, and his dishes were always anticipated around the holidays.

"Finn just texted me that the empanadas are done and he'll be driving Pacho over soon. Pacho told me he's also bringing a dessert, but he wouldn't say what dessert."

"Finn's spending time with Pacho? He never does that," it wasn't that her twin didn't like their godfather necessarily, Finn just generally didn't enjoy spending time with anyone besides his sister. He wasn't antisocial either, he could get along great with people if he had to, but he preferred to be alone.