My brother hung his head. “We don’t talk about it. It’s too hard. For both of them.”
“Shit.” I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t begin to imagine their pain.
“From now on, if there’s an issue with Rory and the pregnancy, you call me. Understand?”
Swallowing on a nod, my voice came out thick. “Yeah. I got it.”
“Now, why don’t you tell me what happened?”
A scoff fell from my lips. “Let’s see. I texted Corsi that Rory was sick, unable to keep anything down and burning up. He replied that he was sending over one of his female associates, as requested.”
Matteo snickered. “Caveman.”
I fixed him with a glare. “Are you going to sit there and tell me your wife has a male gynecologist?”
“No.” He sobered, shaking his head. “But Rory had a stomach bug. It’s not like Corsi was going to do a pelvic exam if you let him be the one to treat her.”
A rumble vibrated through my chest at the thought. The doctor in Colorado was lucky I’d let him keep his hands after all the time they’d spent between my wife’s thighs.
When I remained silent for too long, Matteo prompted, “Okay, so he sent over a woman. Then what?”
Running a hand through my hair, I blew out a heavy breath. “She said the baby was fine, but there was a risk of preterm labor if Rory got too dehydrated, so she hooked her up to an IV. Joke was on us, though, because she’d laced her fluids with the medication used to induce labor.”
“Holy shit,” he breathed. “You don’t think . . .”
“Think what? That Dario got to Corsi and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse to turn on us? Yeah, I fucking do.”
“This is bad, Gio. Corsi’s been loyal to our family since Nonno put him through medical school. Hell, he even delivered us. If someone like that can be convinced to side with Dario, it’s only a matter of time before the dominoes start to fall around us.”
“Fuck!” I shouted as I surged to my feet and began pacing. “He tried to eliminate my kid, Matteo!”
“I know. He tried to take out my girls too.”
“Motherfucking coward,” I seethed.
“You’re right about that,” Matteo agreed. “But he knows he has no shot in hell of overthrowing you if he were to come at you head-on. He’s playing dirty because that’s the only chance he has of winning.”
“We need to find out what he’s using as leverage to get men loyal to us to flip sides. Pick up Corsi and meet me at the Midway warehouse in thirty.”
I was halfway to the elevator bank by the time Matteo caught up. “Wait, now? What about Rory?”
Grabbing my cell, I typed out a text. “I’ll have Enzo send over men to stand guard at her room.”
My brother huffed, incredulous. “She doesn’t need guards. She needs her husband after a scare like this.”
Barely sparing him a glance, I stepped onto the waiting elevator. “No, what sheneedsis for me to neutralize the threat to our family. The sooner, the better.”
“And for just one night, you can’t let me and Enzo handle it?”
“The same way the two of you have for the past four years, while I left you in charge?”
It was a low blow but not unwarranted. They’d known Dario was the actual threat—not the Russians—long before my return to Chicago, but hadn’t made inroads in tracking him down. They’d proven that if I wanted this done right, I would have to handle it myself.
Sufficiently put in his place, my brother ceased arguing. From beside me, he asked, “Would it be all right if I asked Summer to come sit with her so she isn’t alone?”
“You seem awfully concerned about my wife.”
“Someone has to be,” he muttered under his breath.
