Fractured Freedom(96)



The smile that whipped across his face held me up on a cloud next to heaven for the rest of the night.





We grilled up the shrimp and fish before sitting around the bonfire, my mom, Mrs. Reid, Izzy, and I going over updates on everyone while the guys argued over what was happening in the news.

“I’m sure they’ll be closing down the mall this year,” Mrs. Reid sighed as our conversations merged over the fire.

“Retail is dead.” My brother, Dex, shrugged before he took a sip of his beer.

“It is not!” My mother looked affronted. “I need to try on clothes before I buy them.”

“I’m sure there will be small boutiques that stay open, Mom.” Dom patted her shoulder. “Or I’ll bring in a shopper for you, okay? Don’t worry.”

Dimitri mumbled that Dom was a momma’s boy.

Dom stood up and chuckled. “I’m not just a momma’s boy. I’d do the same for any of the Hardy girls. Izzy and Mom and … well, Delilah, I guess Dante and I can fight over you some more with regard to your last name.”

Everyone around the fire groaned. Dom had been pissed that I had even contemplated taking the Armanelli last name.

“She took my name, bro. It’s done.”

“We can undo that shit in a minute,” Dom grumbled, glaring at my husband.

“Dom, are we really going to fight about this? It’s been over a year.” I rolled my eyes at the same time Izzy did.

Our gazes met, and she giggled. “Can you imagine? In twenty years, he’s still going to be whining about it. Stop being a freaking baby, Dom. So your best friend married your sister. If not Delilah, I would have begged him to marry me.”

I choked on my drink and laughed even harder as she fell on my shoulder and laughed with me. After a few late nights at a bar days after Dante proposed, where the bartenders poured us alcohol and we poured out our hearts to each other, our bond was stronger than that vibranium in Black Panther.

Izzy had shared that she needed me as much as I needed her. She’d been a constant, by my side nonstop the past two years, even moving into a condo down the street. She’d continued working for the government but had switched into data analysis and coding instead of undercover work.

“Just so we’re clear, I would never have let my husband marry you.” We kept laughing at our ongoing joke.

“You guys have had enough to drink,” Dom grumbled.

“Not possible,” Izzy sing-songed.

“Totally possible,” Dante agreed with Dom.

“Even so,” Izzy continued, “I think I’m right when I say you’ve always been a part of the family, Dante, and now we can officially say we’re a part of each other’s.”

My dad, who always seemed like he was half-listening, raised his beer bottle and said, “Here, here.”

Everyone raised their bottles and drank—except Dom, who glared at all of us. “Y’all are forgetting Dante omitted a lot of truths over the years.”

“Not forgetting that at all.” I pointed my bottle at him and spoke up before anyone else could. “I remember it daily, considering I went to jail and was basically kidnapped because of these two brats.”

“But it got us here, right?” Izzy’s hazel eyes sparkled just like mine when they were on the verge of happy tears. “And here is pretty damn close to perfection, Dom. So like I said before, stop being a baby. You already fought him more than once about it.”

“I only got two good punches in.”

“Can’t help it if you can’t fight, man,” Dante grumbled, and his hand squeezed my thigh.

“Exactly.” Izzy leaned forward in her Adirondack chair and narrowed her eyes at our brother. “You’re not mad about them being together or him lying. You’re mad about your pride being hurt by your best friend. Suck it up. At least you didn’t shoot your shot with him and kiss him only for him to let you down easy!”

We were all laughing at Izzy giving Dom hell because we knew she was over it, having moved on, back to dating again.

In the darkness behind us, I didn’t expect a cold and vicious question to come out of nowhere. “You kissed him?” Cade hissed from the side of the house.

Izzy, who’d had her head on my shoulder, jumped about a mile out of her chair and whipped her head around.

Cade stalked over and glared down at her, his features brilliant in the night.

“Jesus, where did you come from? Were you watching us?” my sister whispered, like she couldn’t believe he was there.

“I’m always watching, Izzy.”

The fire snapped, and I swear the tension between them burned and crackled just as bright.

Cade didn’t take his eyes off her as he murmured, “Dante, Delilah. Jet’s ready to go.”

“Tonight?” My gaze ping-ponged between Izzy and Cade before I lifted a brow at my husband. “I didn’t pack.”

“Maybe we should go pack, then.” Dante smirked like he didn’t care about anything else but crossing off the last thing on my list. I squealed and didn’t think twice about the fact that I was leaving my family. This was for me and my husband. And I’d learned my family wanted what was best for us anyway.

We helped bring in some food, and Izzy followed me to the kitchen with some empty glasses while Dante cleaned the grill with Dom.

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