He came home, pushing open the front door of the Valente compound like it was any ordinary evening, except it wasn't. In his arms were two babies, a pair of brown-skinned, giggling twins, a boy and a girl, wrapped in bright, mismatched blankets that looked like they'd been hastily chosen. Their tiny hands reached out, their eyes wide and curious, and when they looked at me, they smiled as if I was the center of their world, as if I was already someone they could trust. They couldn't have been more than a few months old, fragile and warm and impossibly alive.
"I adopted them," Nico said casually, like he was announcing he'd picked up a case of wine. "From a children's shelter. They need a mother, Seraphina. Will you take care of them?"
I didn't hesitate. Not even for a second.