“Try me.”
When I peeked down at her, I saw the determination written in her blue eyes. She wasn’t about to let this drop, even if it was for her own good to do so.
“Fine. We would have stayed in Colorado, and I would have done everything in my power to keep getting you pregnant until we finally had a boy.”
She shuddered in my arms. “For the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to pretend you didn’t sound exactly likemy father just now. Instead, I want to focus on the part where your plan could have resulted in a big family before you had the chance to reveal your true identity.”
“Okay . . .” I had no idea where she was going with this.
“You’re going to sit there and tell me that you wouldn’t have loved that gaggle of little girls? The ones who stared up at you like you’d hung the moon, their personal hero, their daddy?”
I dragged a hand down my face, groaning. “I don’t know, Rory. We’ll never know, because that’s not what happened. We got our boy and came home.”
She pulled in a deep breath before trying again. “Do you ever think about who you could have been if you hadn’t been born to lead? If you’d been some regular guy?”
“There’s no point in wondering because I can’t change who I am.”
“What if John and Gio are two sides of the same coin, and that part of your personality was more than just an act?”
“Rory.” Her name came out on a weary exhale. “You can’t live your life in ‘what-ifs’.”
She shifted on my lap, moving to straddle me so she could take my face in her hands, her forehead dropping to mine. “I catch glimpses of him sometimes, you know. Like the night you drew me a bath after the bombing.” Wetness hit my cheeks, and I realized she was crying. “I miss him. And I’m not giving up hope that he’ll come back to me.”
“That was a private moment, contained within these walls,” I conceded, stroking her cheeks with my thumbs, wiping the moisture away. “It would be suicide to give in to those impulses in public.”
“Show the world whoever you want, but I’m begging you to channel that softer side when you come home to me and our son. Your brother manages the different parts of his life; why can’t you?”
“I can’t make any promises,” I began.
Rory pressed her lips to mine. “All I ask is that you try.”
It was asking a lot—almost too much—but she was right. Our son deserved better than the militant upbringing I’d received. My father had been strict, unyielding in demanding obedience, even when Matteo and I were barely old enough to tie our own shoes. We were raised to be soldiers, to not flinch in the face of danger. Hell, I’d barely balked when it came time for my first kill. I met every expectation required of a future don without fail. I went out of my way to never give him a reason to doubt me as his heir and successor.
But love . . . it was outright terrifying. And I didn’t mean the part that required you to surrender your heart to someone else, giving them the power to keep it safe or crush it beneath their heel. No, what scared the living shit out of me was that my enemies would use it as a tool to bring me to my knees.
Were Rory and Luca worth the risk?
“This is unacceptable!” I screamed, the crack of my palm meeting wood deafening in the silence as I glared at the eight capos seated around the table. “We’ve got Dario outmanned ten to one, yet he continues to get the jump on us. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think those of you whose fathers have teamed up with the enemy are hedging their bets, playing both sides, ensuring their safety and survival no matter who ends up winning.”
My gaze honed in on Al, Vince, Ricky, and Stefano, who were conveniently seated side by side.
All four men uttered various sentiments that they were loyal to me and only me, but I had my doubts. Especially when my uncleand his cronies were systematically exploiting our weak spots, dismantling the empire my father and grandfather had built here in America.
At this point, the only people I could trust were Matteo and Enzo.
“You know what? It’s not worth the risk.”
Lightning-quick, I whipped out the gun tucked into the back of my waistband and fired off four rounds. A bullet pierced through the foreheads of each man I suspected as moles, and they slumped in their chairs, eyes gone lifeless.
Given my current position, I would rather kill one hundred innocent men rather than let one traitor walk free.
To their credit, the remaining four capos hadn’t moved a muscle, sitting silently while their counterparts were brutally executed.
I turned to address them. “One of you better have a lead on Dario.”
Gennaro Maggio spoke up. “The security tapes show he’s got people sniffing around the casino, but we haven’t been successful in capturing any of them. It’s almost as if there’s a delay in our feed.”
“Fucking Nico,” I cursed under my breath.
