Vera

Chapter 21

Santiago

"What do you want to know?" I don't want to tell her anything, but I need to. She deserves to know more about my family especially since I know about her family. Since I broke it.

"Tell me about your parents." She says in a soft tone. She's trying to ease me into it, but that's no better than everything else.

"My mom's amazing. She cooks and decorates and hosts parties. My dad is an asshole. Plain and simple." I have no excuse to be complaining about my dad. Compared to her's I was fortunate.

"What about Matteo?" I smile.

"Matteo is great. Best little brother anyone could ask for, honestly." She nods and smiles but it quickly fades.

"What about your other brother?" I go rigid. How does she know about Antonio. My eyes snap to hers and they're just full of worry. I swallow and try to power through.

"His name was Antonio. He died when I was 10. Routine trade deal, but he got shot by some junkie who got cut off." My voice is rough and scratchy. That isn't the voice of someone who is fine.

"That must have really hurt you. Losing him so suddenly." I shrug, trying to keep my composure.

"Yeah, got thrown into training to take his place before his funeral. Before I never had to worry about any of that, the mafia, but then all of these things were expected of me. These cruel awful things. I only do it so Matteo doesn't have to. That's the only reason I'm still here." And because of you.

Vera's lips part in shock. "How did you know about him?" I change the subject. A light pink crosses her cheeks.

"I accidentally went into his room instead of yours. Matteo told me a bit about it." I nod, knowing that was probably hard for Matteo.

"Matteo was born a year after he died. Our father treats him worse because of it. He's a hateful bastard. He'll do anything to make sure we're not happy." I feel shitty complaining about my dad when I know how awful Vera's was.

"You know you can tell me anything, right? Anytime." I smile and give her a small kiss. She means it but she wouldn't forgive me for what I did. I haven't even forgiven myself.

I get a message from Matteo telling me our parents have arrived. I let out a huff before getting to my feet and helping Vera up as well. We make our way back to the house and the first person I see in the living room is my mother. She's a 5'3 woman with brown hair and green eyes. She smiles and runs to engulf me in a hug.

"Mi amor, estoy tan feliz de verte. Feliz cumpleaños bebe." I smile and say thank you before she notices Vera standing behind me. "¿Quién es? ¿Cuál es tu nombre querida? Eres absolutamente hermosa. ¿Eres la novia de mi hijo?" (My love, I am so happy to see you. Happy Birthday baby.) (Who is this? What is your name dear? You are absolutely beautiful. Are you my son's girlfriend?)

"She doesn't speak Spanish, mama." I say and my mom goes to translate, but Vera beats her to it.

"Mi nombre es Vera. Eres igual de impresionante. Y yo soy la novia de tu hijo. Es increíble conocerla Sra. Desoto." My jaw nearly drops from my shock. Vera can speak Spanish. My mom simply laughs at me and gives Vera a kiss on the cheek. (My name is Vera. You are just as stunning yourself. And I am your son's girlfriend. It's amazing to meet you Mrs. Desoto.)

"Ya la amo. Y por favor llámame Estela." She walks away and Vera smirks at me. I walk over to her and whisper in her ear. (I already love her. And please call me Stella.)

"No wonder you squeeze me so tight when I talk to you in Spanish. You know every dirty thing I'm saying." She gasps and hits me on the chest making me laugh. We follow my mom into the kitchen.

On one side of the counter my dad stands and on the other side my brother does the same. I go to my brother's side nudging him to let him know I'm here. His exterior doesn't break though. It never does when our father's around.

"What do we owe this lovely visit?" I say in a calm tone trying to break the tension. My mother rolls with it because she feels it as well.

"We saw you were here and wanted to say hi. We also would love if you all could have dinner with us." I absolutely don't want to have dinner with my father. It always turns into a dumpster fire if someone poured gasoline on it, then crashed a plane into it, that had a bomb on it.

"Vera and I are only in town for 2 days. I was going to show her around for the duration of it. How about we'll have lunch tomorrow. You, Matteo, Vera, and I will go spend some time together, okay?" I made sure that my father understood he was not invited. Even if I did, he would be too busy to come. Although he was essentially retired, he still ran a couple things down here in Guatemala.

"Okay, darling that sounds great. We'll get out of your hair and let you settle in. Happy birthday, my love. Goodbye, babies." They both leave and I see the tension start to shake from Matteo's shoulders. It's like when our father is here, he turns to stone.

"What do you guys want to do?" I ask Matteo and Vera.

"We should have a movie night." Matteo suggests. Vera agrees but heads upstairs instead.

"Where are you going?" I question. She stops briefly to look at me.

"I'm having lunch with your mom. I need to find something to wear. I'll be back, don't wait on me." She starts up the stairs again. Matteo looks over at me and shrugs.

"Women, am I right?"

AN:
I have added two mature scenes to chapter 18 and 20. Also, thank you all so much for 11k reads. It means a huge deal to me, really.