I hadn’t even thought about how I was going to introduce Matteo to Lev. What was I supposed to say? We were currently sharing a bed, meals, and everything else. It looked bad. Pulling into the complex, Matteo’s face was wide as he took everything in.

“It’s so different from what our house looks like!”

“Yes. It’s wildly different from our house. All of Maddox’s underbosses live here, along with plenty of the henchmen.”

“Interesting!”

“Yeah, I’ll give you the full walk through tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

I pulled into the spot where my car had been parked before and turned it off. Matteo had his seatbelt off and was already opening the door when I took mine off. I had to jog to keep up with him. He was busy looking over all the vehicles parked outside. It shocked me to see Maddox had one sports car parked out front. Chances were, it was Emerson that left it there, as he often did when he was going to leave again shortly. 

“Nice car eh Matteo?”

“Why don’t you have one?”

“I don’t see any need—”

“You can afford it, many times over, so why don’t you?”

“I don’t want to waste my money on it. I work hard for—-”

“Your inheritances, you idiot, the money from grandpa.”

“I don’t want the money, I told mom. Seems wrong for me to take it when I will not be the one to take over the family.”

“Stupid. We all got the same amount of money, regardless.”

“How the hell do you know all that, Matteo?”

“Let’s just say mom doesn’t always pick up all of her paperwork or even lock the office at home and I’ve done some looking, even while you were still living with us.”

“Matteo!”

“I know, I know. It’s bad.”

“Moms going to murder you.”

“Probably.”

I took his brag from him and headed inside. 

“Come on, brat.”

Emerson nearly plowed right into Matteo, who was too busy looking around to see him coming. 

“Sorry Alessio!”

“No worries.”

“Sio, That man almost killed me.”

“That man is Maddox’s husband, Emerson. If I can give you any tips for while you are here, make friends with that man. His cookies are amazing. He puts mom to shame.”

“Oh Sio, I’m going to tell mom.” Matteo laughed.

“Do it and I’ll tell mom about you snooping in the office.”

‘You’re holding me hostage!”

“Blackmail, it’s different from being held hostage.”

“You would know.”

“You should too. You need to study these things.”

He sighed, loudly. 

“Come on, I left Lev and everyone. We were having dinner.”

“Sorry Alessio.” He said lowly. 

“Eh, no worries. I’m glad you’re here. Although next time, call before you make plans.”

He nodded and followed behind me. When we reached the door of my dad and Lukas’, Matteo had asked me about twenty questions about things. It was fine, though; I didn’t mind answering him. He was just curious about how things worked around here. I opened the door and shoved him inside first before coming inside and closing the door. 

He looked at me with a minor touch of panic on his face, but still took his shoes off and waited for me. I was sure he was worried about who he was walking in on. These were all new people to him. 

“Come on, Lukas and my dad won’t eat you, Lev might, though he likes the crunchy bones of brats.”

I deserved the finger that Matteo gave me. I almost tripped over him because he was walking too slowly. He looked at everyone and spent more time looking at my dad than anyone else. He looked at me and then my dad, and he did this several times before he spoke.

“No wonder mom said she never needed a DNA test to know who your dad was. Christ.”

“Matteo.”

“Your DNA is scary strong.”

Lukas was snorting with laughter. My dad didn’t look as amused as you might have thought he would have been. 

“Lukas, Dad and Lev. This is one of my little brothers, Matteo.”

“Welcome to our home. Any family of Alessio is family of ours.” Lukas said softly before asking if he was allergic to anything and if he wanted dinner and dessert. No surprise, Matteo took him up on the offer. 

“I have to step out to see Maddox for a few minutes, but I’ll be back. Behave Matteo.”

“Yeah, got it.”

He switched to Italian to call me names. But he stopped pretty quickly when my dad asked him how the meal was in Italian. I knew he would be okay. My dad and Lukas were more than capable of looking after a teenager for a few minutes and Lev was there, too. 

Maddox was still in his office when I knocked on the door and he welcomed me in. 

“How is your brother?”

“Alive and well, thank the gods.”

“I’m glad to hear that. As a parent, I couldn’t imagine the fear your mother felt.”

“She was much better when I told her I found him, and he is now having dinner with Lukas and my dad.”

“Good, he is probably starving. Plane food is trash most of the time.”

“Oh god, yes.”

“You’re welcome to bring him here if he wants to see how things work. I’m sure with the way your mother is training him, he would like a break and see how things actually function.”

“I’m positive he will take you up on that offer, but I’ll let him know and let him choose. He isn’t allowed many choices these days.”

“I understand. Just let me know.”

“Of course.”

“One more thing before you go. I don’t want to hold you up too much. But I have to know, When your dad finally retires from his position, are you interested in it, Alessio?”

“Yeah, Of course I am, But those are large shoes to fill.”

“You’re definitely qualified for it.”

“Is my dad retiring?”

“No, god no. I just wondered, with the fact you’re not taking the position from your mother, if you were interested in the position your father holds.”

“Oh, makes sense. But yeah, I would take my dad’s position over the one that my mother has. Matteo is far better suited for that one. Even if he doesn’t think so.”

“Anyway, I won’t hold you up any longer tonight.”

“Have a good night, Maddox.”

“You too Alessio.”

Heading back to my dad and Lukas’ wing, I was hoping he was good. If he wasn’t, I will hear about it from one of them. Stepping inside, they were whispering at the table, and my little brother was missing. 

“Oh, you’re back. Matteo is sleeping in the spare room. We offered it up to him when he looked like he was going to fall asleep.”

“Thank you. I hope he was good.”

“He was even more well behaved than you are most times.” My dad said, chuckling. 

“Good. I’m glad.”

“He is welcome to stay here for the time he is here.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose on you both, and I need a reason to clean out the junk room back at Caleb’s–my wing.”

“If you need a hand, let us know. Your dad and I will help.” Lukas said.

“I will let you know. I have a perfectly good Russian to help me though, too.”

“Oh! That’s right, you do.” My dad said. 

Said Russian, sighed. 

“You know I’m not deaf, right?”

“Yes, Lev. We know.” I smiled. 

“I don’t mind helping you, though.” He said.

“I appreciate that.” I murmured before looking‌ at my watch. It was almost ten p.m. Lukas checked his watch after seeing me do it. 

“Oh, shit, it’s already ten p.m.”

“We should head back and wind down before bed. I have a few hours of shit in the medic wing to do in the late morning, and then I’m just on call.”

“Run along, you two. I’ll look after the kid.” My dad said as he stood up and took all the dishes to the sink. 

“Thank you. I really appreciate you, and I swear I’ll make this up to you.”

Lev and I both made our way back to the wing slowly. The cold air inside was amazing. It was much colder than my dads. Lev sighed as he relaxed back on the couch. 

“I feel that to the deepest parts of my soul.”

“Bed soon?”

“Oh, you know it. It’s been a day.”

I sat on the other side of the couch and relaxed into the cold leather. Lev reached out and grabbed my hand. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow/

“Did you need something?”

“Did you get upset with your little brother for his behavior? Even I would have.”

“No. I was mad, yes, but I didn’t show it to him. There was no reason to take out my anger on him when I would have done the same thing, and he knew it was wrong.”

“Your mother must have been relieved to know you found him.”

“She really was, and she enforced the fact she was mad at him, but she still loved him, regardless. But I was the once who insisted they be apart for a few weeks. I didn’t want her to come all the way here to scream at him. He wouldn’t go home with her then.”

“I see.”

“Matteo is being trained heavily and isn’t allowed many things. He finally reached his breaking point and I understand it. I fought to have that position of Don and now I don’t want it, and my brother is being trained for it, because there are no other options for a new head. She didn’t want me to have it, and now that I’ve been away, I don’t want it. I don’t care to have that position. She is training him to be as strong as he can be. And I feel bad that he has to be the one to step into those shoes because I’ve refused, but he is better suited for it.”

“I believe you’re right, Alessio. Matteo is better suited for the position. Even from what I’ve seen of him today.”