“Men.” She shakes her head, biting the corner of her lip. “They’re all so dumb.”

  “I’m not dumb, Ma.”

  “I bet she’s beautiful too, and you weren’t thinking with your brain when you brought her back here.”

  “That’s not true,” I argue.

  “Did she come willingly?”

  I furrow my brows. “Of course.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, Ma. I’m sure. Geez.”

  “You’re kidnapped and held captive by the Kellys, and then you mosey on home with the daughter of the Miami crime lord?”

  I wince. When she puts it like that, I sound fucking stupid. Forget just plain dumb. “It wasn’t like that.”

  She lifts her chin, staring down her nose at me from across the room. “How was it, then?”

  My bedroom door opens, and I want to yell out, give Ana a warning and tell her to turn back. Time seems to move slower than normal. It’s as if I’m watching a car accident as it’s happening, but instead of two vehicles, it’s two women. But I’m the one who’s going to come out the most damaged from the collision.

  Ana strolls out of the hallway, rubbing one eye, nipples hard as rocks underneath my tank top and still in an old pair of my underwear. She’s not looking in the direction of the kitchen, totally missing the fact that my mother is here. How she didn’t hear us talking is beyond me.

  “Morning,” Ana says softly, followed by a yawn.

  I shake my head, wishing I could teleport myself somewhere else.

  “Morning,” my mother replies, staring at Ana with a look I can’t quite place.

  Ana jumps, placing her hand on her chest like she’s trying to keep her soul inside her body. “Oh my God.”

  “No, just Trace’s mom.”

  Ana looks at me with big eyes.

  I shrug with a heavy exhale.

  Shit’s done. It’s hit the fan, and there’s no stopping the splatter that’s about to follow.

  My mother turns off the burner, killing any hope of caffeine for a while. “So,” Mom says as she steps out of the kitchen and toward Ana, who hasn’t moved an inch.

  It’s like her feet are glued to the floor, or maybe she’s paralyzed with fear.

  “You must be Ana.” Ma comes to a stop in front of Ana, looking small compared to Ana’s tall frame. My mother’s gaze wanders up and then down, taking all of her in. “I’m Izzy.”

  “Mrs. Cal…Caldo,” Ana replies, less sure of herself than she was last night. “I’m sorry. I meant to leave hours ago, but I overslept.”

  “You’re not the only one,” Ma says. “You two must’ve had a rough evening and exhausting night.”

  Ana lifts her hand to her neck, and my life flashes before my eyes when the glint off her gold ring catches my eye.

  Maybe my mother didn’t see it. Maybe the wedding band on Ana’s hand doesn’t register as anything except an ordinary piece of jewelry.

  My mother turns, but she doesn’t look me in the eyes. Her gaze moves to my hand, and there’s no doubt she sees the same gold band on my finger.

  Fuck. If I could crawl inside the couch and disappear, I would in a heartbeat.

  Standing a little stiffer than before, my mother asks, “Would you care to explain?”

  Ana grimaces, and the color drains from her face. “I’m sorry,” she mouths to me, knowing my mother has figured out what happened.

  I rub the band with my thumb, noticing that the metal no longer feels foreign to me. “We… It…”

  “Your son helped me out of a jam, Mrs. Caldo. It was a mistake and one I plan to rectify today.”

  My mother’s gaze leaves me and goes back to my wife. “A mistake?”

  Ana nods with her shoulders hunched forward. “I thought I was saving both our lives,” she says softly.

  Ma lifts her hands to her temples before rubbing them gently. “This is too much.”

  “Tell me about it,” I mumble, still coming to terms with everything that has happened in the last twenty-four hours.

  “Wait,” Ma says to Ana. “I know my son’s temper got him into trouble, but what or who are you running from?”

  Ana’s hands move to her stomach and flatten against the tank top. “I’m pregnant.”

  Ma’s eyes slice to me. “Didn’t I teach you about birth control? What the hell is wrong with you? I mean, I love babies and there’s nothing better than being a nonna, but…man, this is a lot to take in at once.”

  “It’s not his,” Ana tells my mother.

  “Darling,” my mother replies, and I know that tone. Know it all too well. Ma doesn’t believe her. “You don’t need to lie to me.”

  It’s my turn to step in. It doesn’t matter who’s the father of her child. The only thing that matters is that Ana’s dad is going to be upset, and we know things don’t go well when the man is unhappy. “Ana’s father is very traditional. If he finds out—”

  “When,” my mother adds. “Can’t hide a pregnancy forever.”

  “When he finds out, he’s going to be mad.”

  “I’m sure he’ll cool off once he understands the joys of welcoming a new baby into the house and be very accepting.”

  Ana lets out an uncomfortable laugh. “If accepting includes adoption and becoming a nun for my sins, then yes, he’ll be fine.”

  My mother’s eyebrows furrow. “You can’t be serious.”

  “She’s not lying, Ma. She’s early enough along we had hoped to hide the fact that we weren’t married when she conceived.”

  Ma stalks across the room, closing the gap between Ana and herself. When she’s in front of Ana, Ma lifts her arms, pulls Ana against her, and gives her a giant hug. “We’ll protect you and my grandbaby,” Ma says.

  I’m screwed. Royally screwed. The baby isn’t even mine, but my mother thinks it is. I need to set the record straight, or else the small fire that’s burning now will grow out of control.

  “Ma, the baby isn’t—”

  My mother lifts her hand, holding up a finger. “Zip it,” she tells me with a firm tone. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  She has to know what I was about to say. Maybe she doesn’t want to face the reality that she’s not about to be a grandmother again.

  Ana’s still in her arms, looking so comfortable and natural. Then I remember Ana lost her mother at a young age and probably hasn’t felt that type of tender love in a long time.

  “We’re going to get an annulment,” I explain.

  The look on my mother’s face is similar to if I’d just told her I was a serial killer and planned to do it again. “We’ll figure this out together,” Ma says to Ana, ignoring me. “We’ll do it together as a family.”

  And just like that, things become more complicated.

  7

  TRACE

  “Say that one more time.”

  Here we go. Oh, the drama. Mom does nothing to tamp down the tension coming off my father. She’s ratcheting him up, making things so much worse.

  “They’re married,” Ma tells my dad, waving her hand in our direction as we sit across from them at the dining room table. “They thought it was their only way out.”

  “Out of what?” he asks, his eyes wide and wild.

  “Ask your son.” She crosses her arms over her chest, staring at me like she’s not sure who I am anymore.

  “He’s my son now?”

  “Yep,” she snaps.

  I roll my eyes. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this conversation. One of them is always washing their hands of one of us when we’re being a moron, which is fairly often.

  Ana shifts in her seat, pulling a piece of lint off the outfit she wore at the hotel last night. “I—”

  My dad holds up his hand as soon as she utters the first syllable. “Trace can answer, Ana. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

  So, now this is all my fault. He’s acting like somehow I tricked her into this situation. Fucking great.

  “I talked to Ana’s father this morning. The conversation was very…” He pauses and rubs his hands together. “…enlightening. But I don’t think he has the entire story because he didn’t say a word about marriage.”

  “What did he tell you?” I ask him, wanting to know what he knows already.

  “He said Sean went rogue and he’s being dealt with, along with any of his men who helped him in the process. He reassured me for the second time that you’re safe and no harm will come to you.”

  “Worked out great the first time,” I mumble, earning myself a glare so hard that my muscles damn near seize out of instinct.

  “And now I’m trying to figure out how your kidnapping turned into you kids getting married.” My dad scrubs his hand across his face and sighs.

  “It’s my fault,” Ana tells him, throwing herself right in the line of fire. To her, my father probably seems like a harmless puppy dog compared to hers.

  My father holds up his hand again. The man doesn’t know how to deal with women besides my mom, and with raising three sons, he doesn’t give a shit about our feelings.

  “Dad, stop it. Be nice to Ana.”

  His eyebrows shoot up again. “Excuse me?”

  “You keep raising your hand when she speaks. It’s rude and uncalled for.”

  Dad looks at my mom, and she nods. “I would’ve broken your pinkie the second time you raised your hand,” she tells him. “Ana gets a voice too. And by the way, she’s pregnant.”

  My dad’s eyes slice to me like I’m the one who knocked her up. “When did that happen?”

  I shrug. “Hell if I know.”

  “It’s not his,” Ana admits, unable to look at my mother. “I messed up, and my father is going to ship me out of the country when he finds out. I’m going to spend my life locked away in a church somewhere in Europe, while someone else raises my baby.”

  My mother shakes her head. “Over my dead body.”

  “Jesus,” my father mutters. “What a clusterfuck.”

  “We got it handled,” I inform him. “Ana rescued me, and after a brief discussion, we decided that marriage was the only way for each of us to stay safe.”

  “I’m sure your father wouldn’t ship you overseas,” Dad tells Ana, but the man has no idea how some people are with their children.

  “Does he seem level-headed to you?” I ask him.

  “I don’t think I would use that word to describe Mr. Kelly. He’s smart when it comes to his business. He covers his tracks well enough that he doesn’t leave much of anything for my old friends at the DEA to follow. As for other parts of his life, I couldn’t tell you.”

  “My father is very traditional and religious. A baby born out of wedlock is a no-no, and I’ll forever leave a black mark on the family. By marrying Trace, I hoped my father would believe the baby was his. In a year or two, we’d get divorced, which would cause a different set of issues, but at least I wouldn’t be an unwed mother. I’d be divorced, but in my father’s eyes, the baby wouldn’t be a sin.”

  “Ana, it’s not the 1950s anymore,” Dad says like we’re clueless. But in reality, he’s the one without a grip on what Ana’s situation means for her future.

  “In my dad’s head, we’re not decades behind. We’re centuries. He’s not progressive in any way. He’s a chauvinist who believes women don’t have any rights, and he would one hundred percent ship me off to Ireland to have the baby and live the rest of my life in a convent.”

  I slide my gaze to my mother.

  The frown on her face is unmistakable. “What are you going to do now?” my mother asks her.

  “Head back to Miami and face the consequences of my own actions,” Ana whispers.

  My mother’s quick to shake her head. “That’s not acceptable.”

  Damn. It isn’t acceptable at all. Twenty-four hours ago, Ana wasn’t my problem. I didn’t even know she existed. But now, after she risked her life to save mine, I can’t send her back to an uncertain future.

  “She’s not leaving,” I tell everyone.

  By the look on my parents’ faces, I’d say they’re shocked, but no one is more surprised by my statement than me. I’m not a shitty person, but I rarely go out of my way to do things for strangers or even people who are loose acquaintances.

  Ana turns her head in my direction. “What?”

  I grab her hand and curl my fingers around hers. “You didn’t abandon me when I needed help, and I’m not going to abandon you when you need it. I owe it to you.”

  “You don’t owe me a marriage, Trace,” Ana says, glancing down to where our fingers are interconnected. “This isn’t a weekend together. It’s months. Possibly even years.”

  I smile at her, hating to see the fear in her eyes. She doesn’t deserve this. No one does. “Let’s take it one day at a time, okay?”

  “That’s a big commitment, son,” my father says, stating the obvious. “I’m sure we can find another way.”

  “That’s so sweet.” Mom’s eyes are a bit teary as she stares at me across the table. “Baby, you’ve never even had a long-term girlfriend. You think you’re ready for everything that marriage entails?”

  I squeeze Ana’s hand. “I’m going to do my best to make sure Ana and her baby are safe. Once we know they’ll be okay, we’ll figure out the rest.”

  “We only need to appear to be married to the outside world. I’m not asking him for his fidelity, Mrs. Caldo,” Ana states. “He’s a free man to do what he wants and needs.”

  “You have my loyalty, protection, and fidelity, Ana. I can’t go out, party, and date other women when I’m supposed to be a faithful husband.”

  Ana’s shoulders slump forward. “No one in my father’s circle is a faithful husband, not even him when my mother was still alive.”

  My mother lets out a slew of curse words under her breath, followed by, “That’s not how we do things in this family.”

  I swallow, not knowing if I can follow through with everything, but I’m going to do my best to at least try. “We’ll work out the details later. For now, you’re staying with me.”

  “You’re sure about this?” Ana asks me.

  “One hundred percent.”

  “What about the rest of the family?” my mother asks. “Do we tell them or not?”

  “They can’t know about the baby. It’ll open us up to a bunch of questions that we’re not ready to answer,” I explain. “I don’t want everyone getting excited about a new baby if Ana’s going to be leaving.” I turn to Ana. “My family tends to make a big deal about these things. And once you’re in, it’s pretty darn hard to get out.”

  “When you’re in?” she asks, looking confused.

  I give her a soft smile, hoping to ease her anxiety. “In the family, Ana.”

  Ana frowns as she glances down at her hands. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell them we’re married either.”

  “We can tell them when we’re ready.”

  “It may be over before it starts,” she whispers.

  “You have a few days to decide,” my mother says. “And if you need to skip Sunday this week, it’s okay too.”

  “What’s Sunday?” Ana asks her.

  “Family dinner. We do it every Sunday.”

  Ana’s face softens. “That sounds so nice.”

  “It is,” Mom tells her with a single nod. “We’ve been doing it for years.”

  “My entire life,” I add.

  “We don’t have that in my family. We rarely see anyone anymore,” Ana tells us.

  “I can’t imagine life without my family,” my mother replies.

  “We can skip dinner on Sunday,” I tell Ana, not wanting to put more pressure on her than there already is.

  “We can go,” she says with a small smile. “It might be nice.”

  “You’re going to be the center of attention.”

  “It’s okay. I’m not breakable, Trace. I’ve dealt with questions my entire life. You don’t have a father like mine without people being nosy.”

  “I’ll leave it up to you two on what you want everyone to know. I won’t say a word. And if you end up not coming, that’s okay too,” Mom says.

  “We’ll discuss it when we get back to our place,” I say, not realizing how weird it is to call my place our place until the words are out of my mouth.

  “Trace, can I speak to you in private?” my father asks me, earning me a finger squeeze from Ana.

  “Sure, Dad.” I turn to Ana, giving her a small smile before sliding my hand out of hers. “I’ll be right back.” I look at my mother, saying what I know doesn’t really need to be said. “Behave, Mom.”

  My mother raises her hands, looking way more innocent than she actually is. “I always do, honey.”

  She’s lying. The woman is a viper in kitten clothing. I’m pretty sure she came out of the womb misbehaving. My grandmother claims she didn’t begin to go gray until my mother started speaking and whipping up her own brand of chaos in the family with her four older brothers.

  Ana doesn’t look like a deer in headlights when I turn around, taking in the sight of her at the table with my mother. My father smacks my shoulder when I don’t step out of the room fast enough for him.

  “What in the hell were you thinking?” he whispers, standing way too close to me in the living room.

  I drop my voice, not wanting my mom and Ana to hear. “I wasn’t.”

  “Clearly,” he grumbles, shaking his head.

  “But I knew I wasn’t ready to die. I figured if I got my ass killed, you’d bring me back to life and take me out for my sheer stupidity.”

  “Possibly.”

  “Ana came to me, untied me, and when she said she knew how to save my life, marriage seemed like the least scary option, and I rolled with it.”

  “Rolled yourself right into a legally binding arrangement.”

  “It’s not that big of a deal.”

  My father places his hand on my shoulder. “Son, it is a big deal, and when Mr. Kelly finds out…”

  “It’ll be fine, Dad. I promise,” I lie, having not a single clue if anything will be okay. If there is a way to make anything more complicated, I always seem to find it. “I got this. Ana and I will figure it out.”