Chapter 33 The text from Raffaele was simple.In town. Have time for an old man to buy you a coffee? I expected a bodyguard-laden car, but he was alone, seated at a small table in the back of a quiet café. He looked more like a retired professor than a man who could order a city buried under concrete. He stood as I approached, a warm, genuine smile softening his sharp features."Maya. You look well. Radiant.""Thank you, Mr. Mercier.""Raffaele, please." He held my chair for me-an old-world gesture that felt natural coming from him. We made small talk about the weather, the city, Serena's roses. He was easy to talk to, his presence calibrated just enough to make you feel like the only person in the room. Then, after a sip of espresso, he set his cup down."I have a favor to ask. A small deception, for a good cause."I tilted my head. "Okay...""It's my son Caine's birthday. He lives here. I'm taking him to dinner. I'd like you to join us." My stomach flipped. Caine?Raziel had a brother?"He never... Raziel doesn't talk about him," I said carefully."I know." Raffaele's smile faltered. "That's exactly why I'm asking. Raziel's view of our family is... singular. Forged in pain. I want you to meet Caine before you inherit his version of us. Will you come? Don't tell him. Let an old man have this."He paused, then added with a sly smile, "Serena picked out dresses for you at the boutique down the street if you agree." It felt like walking a tightrope in heels... if I actually went, would I be betraying Raziel?I almost said no, but his eyes were pleading. And I was too curious to say no."Okay," I said. The dinner was at an upscale steakhouse. Caine was already there. He looked like Raziel-just less haunted, but with the same eyes. Sharp jaw. Same gaze, just... tired instead of cold. "So you're the girl who finally thawed him out," he said, shaking my hand. His tone wasn't unkind-just resigned. "Teach me."I laughed, thinking about the night of Miyori's wedding reception when I thought the same thing."It's not easy.""That I know," he replied. "So let's cut to the chase. What do I have to buy you to convince my little brother to be nice to me again?""Mmm... maybe a beach house. Maybe just a blood oath to die and kill for me and my sister," I joked. Caine chuckled, lips twitching like he hadn't expected that. "So your gifts should be expensive or dangerous. Good to know your love language, sister-in-law."I chuckled and took my seat. He was a lot more easygoing than Raziel. It was a shame they didn't have a better bond. Dinner was surprisingly normal. Raffaele carried the conversation-Italy, old stories, my designs. Caine barely touched his wine, didn't check his phone once. No friends dropped by the table. Just us. When dessert arrived, Raffaele grew quiet. He swirled the wine in his glass like it held answers."Raziel's mother," he said softly. "Bella. Her name was Bella."He said her name like a prayer."She was sick for a long time. Longer than Raziel knew. I watched the light leave her, day by day. For two years."He looked up-first at Caine, then at me."I was weak. Grief hollowed me. The helplessness... it was monstrous." A long pause."Serena wasn't an affair. She was my first love. Before Bella. We'd lost touch. Married other people. Then... one day in Naples, during Bella's final diagnosis, we found each other again. She was there with a boy I didn't know was mine."His eyes flickered to Caine."It was a reckoning. I loved my wife-God, I did-but I was lonely. And terrified of the silence coming."His gaze shifted back to me."Bella forgave me. In her infinite grace, she understood what it means to break in two directions. But Raziel-"His voice cracked."Raziel knows everything except the truth. He built a fortress of anger around it. To him, I betrayed her. For years. Until her last breath. And that's a sin he won't absolve." The air thickened with it. Caine looked at his plate, jaw rigid."She forgave me," Raffaele whispered again. "Before she passed. She understood. Raziel... doesn't." On the drive home, Raffaele was silent until we reached my house."I didn't tell you any of what I told you for my own sake," he said. "Raziel has every right to his anger. I failed him. I failed the memory of his mother. I just hope, one day, he sees that I'm just a man. A flawed man. Who misses his son."I nodded. "I understand," I said quietly, then stepped out. Raziel was on the couch, a half-empty glass of bourbon in his hand, staring at the blank TV screen. He looked up as I came in. His eyes softened immediately."Hey. Where'd you go? Looking like that?" His gaze dragged over the dress.I crossed the room, climbed into his lap, wrapped my arms around his neck. He didn't resist-just slid his hand around my waist like it was instinct."Don't be mad," I whispered into his neck. He stilled. "That's never a good start, Maya." I told him. Everything. The coffee. The dinner. Caine.And then his father's confession-the regret, the weariness, the truth he'd carried like rot in his bones. Raziel turned to stone beneath me. I felt the fury wake up in him, twitching under his skin. I kissed the pulse hammering in his throat."You don't have to say anything," I murmured. "Not tonight. Not ever, if you don't want to." He took a ragged breath."I just thought... if you could spend years honoring your mother's wish by staying with someone you didn't love... maybe you could find space to forgive the man she actually forgave." He didn't speak. Didn't flinch. Didn't move.He was silent for so long I thought he might just push me off and walk out. Then, his arm tightened around me, his hand splaying wide across my back, holding me to him like I was the only thing anchoring him to the earth. He buried his face in my hair and let out a long, shuddering sigh. I curled into his chest, my head on his shoulder. His heart was loud beneath my ear, a slow, angry drum. But it softened. It slowed.I stayed awake long enough to feel him relax, the tension ebb from his spine.When his grip loosened and his head tilted back, I closed my eyes.And let the warmth of him carry me into sleep. Five-year-old Annie, who can understand animals, saved Landon Hawthorne, a wealthy businessman, from suicide. Now she's his whole world and he's her legal cheat-code against every villain fate throws ...