Luca continued with a shake of his head. “I’m just trying to look out for you. You’ve always had a soft spot for her.”
One of the others muttered something about my spot being anything but soft where Anna was concerned and the others sniggered.
“Then I thank you, but there’s no need, really. We have shit to sort out, and I have a feeling our road may be rocky, but she’s here to stay, her and the baby.”
“I am more than happy with Jay,” Marco threw in, clearly thinking he needed to defend his relationship too as he was one of us who had found love.
Luca rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Your funerals, all of you.”
Carlo was up on his feet and essentially dismissing everyone with the exception of me who he guided away, towards a smaller office at the back of the interrogation space.
“I’ve been thinking about the baby’s father.”
I was surprised. It had taken longer than I’d expected for him to ask about Amina’s dad. “He’s dead.”
“What do you mean?” Carlo looked stunned.
“No longer alive. Dead.”
“I know what it means, but I received information this morning about Anna and the time since Gino . . .” he paused, “I’m never quite sure how to describe what happened. Was it an attack, an assault, because here’s the thing that doesn’t sit right with me, never did entirely, and we know Papa wasn’t happy . . . everyone assumed Aldo had meant to kill him, and yet he survived.”
I’d had similar thoughts myself, more so lately but was glad to hear that I wasn’t the only one it didn’t sit well with. “You think Aldo didn’t mean to kill him?”
“I don’t know what Aldo meant to do, but what I do know is that if he’d wanted Gino dead, he’d be dead, rather than living as he does.”
“Shit! You think he intended to maim rather than kill.”
Carlo’s brow quirked. “We may not have said it, but I think we both know that he did.”
“You said that you’d received information about Anna.” I’d heard him say that but hadn’t quite processed it.
“Yes, and there’s nothing. Amina’s birth certificate has no father listed and she went into hospital a few hours from here to have the baby and then left. The bill was paid by Aldo and the discharge address doesn’t exist, it certainly wasn’t the shithole she was living in when working in the club and the club work coincided with your meeting with Aldo.”
“So who the fuck was he, the father?”
The door behind us burst open and as we both drew weapons, Luca filled the doorway. “Dante, you need to come, it’s Anna, she was walking with Pa and something’s happened and she’s run off . . . the baby is with Gina . . .”
“She left Amina?” I had no clue what had happened but whatever it was, it must be serious for her to leave without her baby, so serious that I was already pushing through the doorway with Luca leading my path and Carlo following in it.
CHAPTERTEN
ANNA
Alessandro was still fit for an older man. The estate was huge and we had covered quite some distance. He had directed me away from the furthest part of the property where the compound and warehouse were. It was strange that this whole area contained families, homes filled with love and laughter, and yet, at its furthest point, there was pain, blood and death. I wondered if that was where my brother had died, and made a decision to ask Dante about Aldo, about giving him a suitable resting place. When Amina cried, Alessandro was happy to pick her up, cuddle and cajole her as we continued walking through the grounds, him looking every bit the image of a doting grandparent. I pushed the empty stroller and watched the exchanges between him and my daughter. She deserved this, the love, the family, and the secure future, and to think I would have potentially deprived her of this had Dante not discovered me dancing in the club.
“Do you believe Dante would have looked for me had he not found me when he did? He told me that Aldo, before he, well, you know, that he asked Dante to take care of me.”
He turned sharply but smiled. “Did I not tell you that he and you were destined to be together?” He didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “Why do you suppose Aldo would ask Dante of all people to take care of you?”
“Because he trusted him to do so, to take good care of me and Amina.”
“Exactly, and he knew that here was your home and we were your family and that his actions shouldn’t jeopardise that.”
“I love Dante.”
Alessandro laughed, which in turn caused Amina to laugh too. “You have always loved him, and he you, since you were children, and now you are back, there is nothing to stop you making your home here once more.”
I nodded and was powerless to fight the grin at the prospect of being home.
