the ones who had survived, the ones who had suffered most at their hands.
Their children.
Dante and Matteo stood front and center of the crowd with Genna between them, a human barrier separating the two of them, as she rocked baby Joey in her arms, trying to get him to stay calm. He whimpered and whined, letting out loud cries, but Dante didn't mind. He didn't blame the kid. Hell, he'd rather have not been there, either.
"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them," the priest said, making the sign of the cross over each casket. "May they rest in peace."
A chorus of "Amen" flowed through the crowd before people started to disperse, a hoard heading right for the three of them. Dante sensed it, felt it coming on like a suffocating storm, and maybe it was wrong, leaving them to fend for themselves, but he couldn't stand there another moment and pretend.
Ducking his head, Dante slipped away, passing familiar faces as he made his way through the crowd. He spotted Gabriella off to the back, surrounded by Brazzis, her parents by her side. She'd offered to be with him, to be there for him, but he hadn't wanted to draw that kind of attention to her, hadn't wanted to put that kind of pressure on her. Because as proud as he would've been to have her by his side, this was his burden to carry, a road he needed to cross. There were amends he needed to make for problems he had caused, and the last thing he wanted was the woman he loved having to pay for his mistakes.
Dante wandered away, past headstones and gravesites, through the vast cemetery, toward the road along the left side. He knew where he was going, although he'd never been there before… knew it, because he'd thought of going there a few times, but he'd never really had the courage.
He approached the area carefully, stopping short, but he stood close enough to read the headstone. Enzo Barsanti. He stared at it in silence for a moment before hearing noise behind him, someone's quiet approach, tiptoeing. His back stiffened before a hand ran up his spine, slipping beneath his suit coat. He closed his eyes as nails gently scratched his back.
"How do you fix something like this?" he asked.
Gabriella sighed, standing beside him, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I don't think you can. You fix what's broken, not what's lost. He's gone. You can't fix that. You can't bring him back. But you can fix yourself; you can put yourself back together and not be the person who did that anymore. And I think that's maybe the key, because you can say sorry until you're blue in the face, but it doesn't count until they see repentance."
Dante frowned. "You sure I can't just send a Hallmark card?"
Laughing, Gabriella jabbed him in the side. "Pretty friggin sure."
Dante took her hand, pulling her around in front of him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, gazing up at him with a twinkle in her soft brown eyes. Dante's hands settled on her hips as he leaned in to kiss her, barely getting a soft peck before a voice cut through the area, loud, disrupting the moment.
"Oh, come on! Really? You two are going to do that here?"
Dante cut his eyes to the right, glaring as Gavin approached.
"We weren't doing anything," Gabriella said, slipping around in front of Dante, pulling his arms around her and holding on to him.
"You were practically humping his leg on top of a grave."
"Was not."
"Was so."
A throat cleared, and Dante turned his head, tensing when he saw Matteo and Genna appear.
"It's actually 'were'," Matteo said. "Not 'was'."
"And gross," Genna said, making a face as she walked over to them. "Keep it in your pants, bro. We're at a funeral here."
"Just one minute," Dante grumbled. "One goddamn minute. That's all I wanted. One minute to catch my breath and be alone, and I can't even get that."
"Nope," Genna said. "And seriously, foul, by the way, leaving me to deal with all of those people alone."
"You weren't alone," Dante said. "You had Matteo."
As soon as he said that, every eye in the area settled on him, shocked expressions crossing faces. He looked around at all of them, brow furrowing. What the fuck?
"Did you just…?" Gabriella asked, looking back at him.
"Did I what?" he asked.
"Bequeath Genna with a G to Matty-B," Gavin chimed in.
Dante scoffed but didn't have a chance to respond before Genna groaned. "Bequeath, Gavin? What am I, an inheritance?"
"I like to think of you more like a debt, personally," Gavin said. "Like that hospital bill we all know we have somewhere but nobody ever wants to pay, because it's a lot of damn money for something that ought to be free."
Those two bickered back and forth for a moment as Matteo stood silently, gazing past Dante, his eyes fixed to the graves nearby, to where his mother and brother were buried, to where his father would, not long from then, come to rest. Guilt festered inside of Dante, nearly spilling from his lips, but he swallowed it back, knowing if the roles were reversed, Dante wouldn't want to hear it. Not then. Not there. Maybe someday, some other place, but not in that moment. A bullshit word like 'sorry' wouldn't be enough. Gabriella had been right about that.
Someday, he'd find a way to make amends, but until then…
"Well, this was fun and all, but this beautiful woman and I are going to take our leave now," Dante said, tugging Gabriella with him as he took a few steps away.
"What?" Gavin asked. "Where are you going?"
"Somewhere you're not," Dante answered, looking back at him. "Look, G… it's not you, it's me. I need some space. But don't give up hope, you know, because I'm sure there's somebody out there for you, but that somebody's not me. I need a break from these fucked up family reunions we keep having. "
Although he flipped him off, Gavin cracked a smile at that.
Dante turned, his arm around Gabriella, pulling her closer to him as they walked away, hearing Gavin's voice call out behind them: "Dear Diary, today I learned that Dante Galante wasn't just my friend, he was a part of my family, too. And I've gotta tell you… I think I might be better off for it."
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I need to thank everyone who emailed me, tracked me down on social media, or approached me at book signings to ask where the f*%k the sequel I promised you was. Honestly, this book wouldn’t exist without your persistence. I started and stopped this story probably a dozen times. I scrapped tens of thousands of words more than once to start over with a blank page. Something just didn’t feel ‘right’ to me, and I couldn’t put out a story that in my gut I knew was ‘wrong’ in some way. It took over a year, but here it finally is, and I owe that to you. Thank you for never giving up on Matty-B.
To Sarah Anderson, who never once doubted I’d finish this thing, even though I repeatedly said it just wasn’t happening. Thank you for letting me borrow Doris at the diner! To Nicki Bullard, my best friend, who (more than once) cleaned my house because I got lost in a writing haze and things went to hell all around me. Seriously, I don’t know what I’d do without you.
To my family (especially my dad, who reads all my books, even if he probably wishes he could *unread* some of those crazy things I’ve written). I love you.
Cynthia Rodriguez, my fellow Marvel-loving friend, thank you for being such a genuinely amazing person (and for texting me and reminding me when I was supposed to be writing). I really wish I could insert a bitmoji here, damnit.
Special thanks to Nikki Cook, who was kind enough to let me pick her brain with my nursing questions. I likely screwed it all up, but your explanations helped immensely!
So much love and gratitude to the super talented Shauna Kruse for the amazing cover photo, and to the stunning Michael Fagone for lending that gorgeous smile! I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect “Dante”.