She made herself walk downstairs. When she entered the family room, she saw everyone was already there. Katie and Zach, Francesca and Sam, Brenna and Nic, Joe and Darcy. The Grands were there, too, pressing food on everyone. Only her parents were missing. Since she hadn’t called to tell them about marrying Rafael, she saw no reason to upset their vacation by admitting she’d almost lost her son.
Katie saw her first. “Oh, Mia.” Katie held open her arms.
Mia moved into them and felt her other sisters closing ranks. They hugged her and whispered promises of revenge. The men stood a few feet back, looking angry and uncomfortable.
Mia absorbed their love and support. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t cry over Rafael ever again, and she managed to get through the group hug without breaking down.
When everyone took a seat, Grammy M pressed a mug of tea into Mia’s hands. She took the hot liquid but passed on food.
“I’m not very hungry,” she admitted.
Grammy M started to say she had to eat something, but Tessa pulled her away.
“Mia will eat tomorrow,” her paternal grandmother said quietly. “She’s strong. You’ll see.”
Mia didn’t feel very strong. She felt as if her heart had been run over by an eighteen-wheeler and left for road-kill.
“How’s Danny?” Darcy asked.
“Confused. Apparently he didn’t hear what I said to Rafael, but he knows we had a fight and his father has moved out. He kept asking for him tonight. He wanted Rafael to tuck him in.”
Katie looked at Joe. “You should have shot him when you had the chance.”
“It didn’t seem the time. Besides, I can always do it later.”
“We can arrest him,” Grandma Tessa said to Joe. “He broke the law, didn’t he?”
Joe stood by the fireplace. He shifted uncomfortably. “Technically, he didn’t do anything wrong.”
“All lying and cheating aside,” Mia said with a lightness she didn’t feel.
“Joe, there has to be something,” Katie said. “He can’t get away with this.”
“He won’t,” Mia told her. “Danny is staying right here, with us. If I don’t take him to Calandria, there’s nothing Rafael can do. Right, Joe?”
He nodded. “I suppose he could petition the international courts, but that could take years. Appealing to the president won’t help.”
Darcy leaned toward Mia. “I already called my dad. Should the Calandrian ambassador try to see him, he won’t be available. He also said to tell you that he would be happy to have Rafael thrown out of the country.”
“I’m not sure I want this going public,” Mia said. “Let’s just keep it between us for now. We need a plan. We need to keep Danny safe and keep Rafael away from him.”
“I don’t know how this happened,” Grammy M said with a sigh. “He seemed like such a nice man.”
“He fooled us all,” Grandma Tessa grumbled. “I thought I was too old and too crabby to be fooled.”
“It wasn’t exactly a fair fight,” Katie told them. “We’re basically honest people. We weren’t looking for deception. Plus there’s the whole prince angle. He had our attention there.”
Brenna patted Mia’s arm. “See? You’re not the only one.”
Mia appreciated the support, but it didn’t help. She’d been the one who’d been willing to blindly commit her life to someone she barely knew. That impulsive decision could have cost her Danny.
“You’re all forgetting something,” Joe said. “Rafael is Danny’s father. He might be an asshole, but he’s still the father, and Mia can’t keep him away forever.”
“I don’t want to hear that,” Mia said flatly. She didn’t want to be reminded of any connection to Rafael.
Francesca crossed to where Mia sat and crouched in front of her. “I understand you’re beyond anger. We all are. Rafael came in here and treated us all like idiots. He tried to steal away one of our babies. I would like to spend a couple of days thinking up very special tortures for him.”
Mia glanced at her sister and sighed. “You’re going to be rational, aren’t you?”
Francesca nodded. “You can’t keep Danny from his father. Being an asshole isn’t against the law.”
“It should be.”
“I agree, but it isn’t. However much we all hate Rafael, Danny doesn’t. He loves his father. He loves every minute they’re together. He doesn’t know what happened and none of us are going to tell him. In his world, nothing has changed. He’s going to be four and he has a new daddy.”
Mia understood the message. What her sister was trying to say in her calm, trained, psychologist way was that Mia didn’t get to throw a tantrum. That whatever had happened between her and Prince Jerk, there was still Danny to consider, and her little boy deserved to have a father.
“I don’t trust him for a minute,” Mia said.
“You shouldn’t,” Francesca told her. “Rafael has proved he can’t be trusted. Whatever you decide about custody or visitation or whatever, I’m here to remind you that you don’t want to break Danny’s heart.”
Mia hated all of it. “You’re saying I have to let him come to Danny’s birthday party? That I have to let them hang out and trust him not to simply disappear with Danny?”
“I’m saying you can’t refuse to let Rafael see his son. You can do things to keep Danny safe. You can make it difficult for Rafael and easy for us, but you can’t stand in the way of father and son being together. As for his birthday, that’s your call.”
Mia heard the words and knew their truth, but she didn’t want to listen. She didn’t want to think about how much Danny wanted Rafael there. She turned to her brother. “Joe?”
“I hate that she’s right, too,” he said quietly. “I want to tell him to go to hell and maybe even help him along, but he’s the kid’s father and we can’t undo that.” He paused for a second. “Sam and I will make some calls. We’ll talk to a few people and get more security here. I would like to think Rafael is smart enough not to try to take Danny, but I wouldn’t bet on it.”
“I can help, too,” Zach said.
Mia turned to Katie’s husband. “You mean legally?”
“Sure. There are laws in place to prevent a child from being taken out of the country. Danny being the heir to a throne might complicate things, but he’s only four. That should be in our favor. Plus Rafael tried to trick you instead of seeking a straightforward custody agreement. One of the lawyers in my office is an expert on child abduction. Let me get her working on this.”
“Thank you,” Mia told him. “That would be great.”
“I can get my sister to call the attorney general,” Darcy said. “Lauren’s dating her son.”
“Talk about friends in high places,” Mia said, feeling her insides shake as a dozen emotions washed through her. “I really appreciate all of you rallying around. I would hate to go through this alone.”
Katie joined Francesca, who pulled Mia to her feet. The sisters hugged.
“This is going to be fine,” Katie told her. “You’ll see. As you said, you’re not alone. You have us, and hey, we’re the Marcellis.”
Brenna joined them. “You have to stay strong. Don’t go beating yourself up about this. Whatever happens, it’s never wrong to fall in love.”
Mia appreciated the sentiment, even if she didn’t believe it. “Falling in love might not be wrong,” she said, “but sometimes it’s pretty damned stupid.”
The hotel was not to Rafael’s liking. Despite the fact that Oliver and Umberto had paid off enough guests to claim an entire wing, Rafael still hated to be in such a public place. He disliked the location, on the edge of a busy highway, the flowering plants that seemed to overrun the place, and most of all he hated that he was here at all.
He paced the length of his suite, ignoring the floral wallpaper and matching drapes and bedspread. The owner had been delighted to show him all the amenities of the suite, but Rafael had not so politely closed the door in her face. What did he care about blow-dryers and heated towel racks when everything of importance had gone terribly wrong?