“Your wife brings splendor and light to New York. In my almost seventy years I’ve never seen beauty like hers.

“We could spend the summer in the Hamptons. It’s too hot and stuffy in the city and we’re using the mansion not often enough anyway.” Aria touched Luca’s forearm and fixed him with one of her looks that always got him. “Please, Luca? I don’t want Lily to be stuck in the apartment. In the Hamptons we can lie at the pool and swim in the ocean and take trips with our boat.”
“Okay, okay,” Luca said with a resigned look.”

My face fell and Aria hurried to add, “But only because we’re leaving for the Hamptons early in the morning. We’ll be spending the summer at the beach.”

“Really?” I asked.

Aria smiled brightly, and suddenly the dark cloud over my head burst open.

We’d been rifling through a brochure that detailed events in the Hamptons for something to do in the next few days. Sunbathing and swimming were getting old.

The screaming and laughter of children filled the back yard of the mansion. We spent a few weeks in the summer together in the Hamptons every year. It was chaotic but also the best time of the year

I snorted, shaking my head. “I hope they hold back when we celebrate my birthday this month.” It would be a chilled affair in the Hamptons.

“I doubt it,” Matteo said. “We’ll have a nice barbecue and jump in the pool, and listen to exciting diaper stories.

I love that we’re doing this every year,” Lily said. We’d celebrated my birthday in the Hamptons every year in the last eight years because it was perfect out here in August

We always had the same room when we stayed in the Hamptons, so it felt like a second home away from home.

When I didn’t find anyone on the second floor, I headed downstairs. Aria, Liliana, and Marcella were singing some ridiculous kid song. When I entered the dining room, Aria was holding Isa on her hip and swaying back and forth, while Marcella sat in front of her, making silly gestures with her hands that seemed to match the song. Liliana had Flavio on her lap and was moving his tiny arms in rhythm to the music.

Luca, Amo, and Romero with Sara on his lap, sat at the table, having breakfast, which in Amo’s case was the cold pizza I’d forgotten all about, but Luca and Romero were throwing the occasional glance at the girls.

Mom had taken me, and my younger brothers, Amo and Valerio, to the Hamptons for a week of much needed relaxation. Of course, Valerio didn’t understand the meaning of relaxation. He was out on the waves, water-skiing while one of our bodyguards steered the boat in risky maneuvers to satisfy him

If you want you can invite her to the Hamptons too. She can spend time with you, Sara and Isabella when I go jetskiing with Maximus

“I’m always in awe when I come here. It’s just a beautiful place,” Sara said.

“I like to come here once or twice a year because it’s just a place where I spent many summer days as a child

I perched on the windowsill and took out my cell. Since the wedding, I had Isa’s number again so I texted her:

“What are you up to this summer?”

”Write a few essays in preparation for my courses. And hopefully escape New York’s heat and spend a few weeks in the Hamptons.”

”The Hamptons sound perfect. I wish I could spend the summer with you.”

”Do it.”

”I grinned. I need approval from my parents. Mom is having a chat with Aria tonight.

Will you be coming alone?”

”Just me.”

”Good. Keep me updated. If you want, I can chat with my mother.”

”That would be great. I need all the support I can get.”

”Done. We’ll have the summer of our lives.

After hearing Amo’s stories from his mother’s failed cooking attempts and my mother’s stories of Gianna’s experimental and hazardous cooking style, I wondered how she was so good. “How come you cook like a professional chef and your sisters don’t?”
“They don’t just cook badly, they pose a risk to humankind with their food,” Flavio said.”

I raised my eyes to Romero, who stood beside Matteo and listened to him, but Romero’s eyes were on me. Pity showed in his, not anger as I’d expected, and for some reason that made things worse

When I emerged afterward and Romero led me into the elevator, I missed Luca so much, I couldn’t hold back tears. He should have been there with me, should have shared this joyful moment with me. Romero touched my shoulder but I leaned against him, seeking comfort, and after a moment of hesitation, he wrapped his arms around me

Romero joined me a few minutes later. I was kneeling on the floor, arms propped up on the closed toilet lid and cheek resting on
them. Romero crouched beside me, voice soft.
“Tell him, Aria.”
“He will think I want to use the pregnancy as a way to guilt him back to me. I won’t do that. I want him to return to me out of love, Romero.” My voice broke and tears sprang into my eyes. Romero regarded me silently.
This time he didn’t tell me Luca would come around. He straightened and held out his hand. I let him pull me to my feet and washed my hands and rinsed my mouth.

“You can’t change the past, Gianna, but you can make the best of your future.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I missed your optimism.” I rested my head in her lap and closed my eyes. “I missed you so much.”
She stroked my hair. “I missed you too. I’m so happy that you’ll live in New York with me.

Gianna patted her lap and I lowered my head in it, then she began running her fingers through my hair like she’d done when we were younger. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to relax under her touch. I still had my sisters and the baby in me. Their love would have to carry me from now on. Would it be enough? I wasn’t sure, but it would have to be. Gianna began to hum a soothing melody, and tears squeezed past my lashes. I fell in, humming a lullaby our mother had occasionally sung to us.

What do you think about people who say that Cara should have slapped Liliana and that if Cara knew Liliana slapped Maximus she would have slapped Liliana?

Serafina or Kiara, who do you consider the Queen of the Camorra?

Which book are you looking forward to more - Valerio's or Isabella's?

I wanted to ask you😅 so do Outfit fans and Famiglia fans get along best? I've seen a comments where Dante fans say Luca and Aria are good parents and a lot of them love Aria and Marcella and I've never seen Luca fans humiliate him and Valentina as parents or about their relationship.. It seems like Camorra fans have a weird beef with fans of both syndicates considering they villainize the Mione family and constantly call Luca a cheater and call him a bad father😭