“Don’t worry about her,” Luca clips as he rises to his feet. “I’m glad you’re awake at last. It’s been three days.”
Fuck me, three days? “Renato?” I ask, worriedly.
“He’ll be fine. Says a new scar will only make him more irresistible to the girls.”
“Sounds like something we would’ve said at his age.” Luca chuckles and nods. “Where am I?”
“Spare room at my apartment.”
Good. Not the hospital. “Take me up to my place.”
“You can’t be alone yet. Our docs were working on you for hours.” I slant my eyes at him, wanting the bottom line. “You’ll heal and be as good as new, but it was too fucking close there for a bit. Don’t dothat shit again, Carlo. You’re Don now. You’re not meant to take such risks.”
“It's not like I asked to get shot. If I had died, you’d be Don.”
“I don’t want to be Don, goddammit.” The fury in his tone over my suggestion tells me everything I already know.
“You’ll be my right hand until death, Luca.”
He covers my hand with his, murmuring, “Til death,mio fratello.Father’s home from the hospital. Major shit went down in Chicago while you were out of it, too, but that can wait. The family’s eager to see you. Are you up for it?”
My parents? The girls? No, I’m not yet. There’s only one person I want to see, but she’s not here.
“Did you see my wife before she left? No one is to go after her. I told her she could go.” Luca stares at me, worriedly, sending a sliver of fear knifing through me. I passed out before I could tell them my wishes. “Tell me she’s alright, Luca,” I say, roughly. “Tell me you let her go.”
“She wouldn’t leave your side when I arrived. I had to drag her away so the doc could treat you.”
I’m too overwhelmed to reply. She didn’t leave with her brother. Why not? Can it mean… I’m too afraid to hope. How pathetic. My injuries don’t scare me, but I’m terrified of finding out whether or not my feelings for my wife might be reciprocated.
“Of course, she studies acting at the school of hers, doesn’t she?” Luca adds. “Carlo, her brother and his men attacked us. He had called Francesca before the attack. Don’t pretend that’s a coincidence.”
“Don’t place any blame on Frankie. She wasn’t privy to their plans.” With every beat of my heart, I believe it. She told me rightbefore the shooting started about the call. It was obvious she was as shocked as I was by the gunfire. She screamed a warning. She didn’t leave. Ronan was there for her, but she didn’t go.
“They killed two of our soldiers and nearly killed you. They could’ve killed Renato. Are you going to forget that?”
“Of course not. Ronan shot me. They killed our men. I won’t forget or forgive that. If they’d killed our little brother, I’m not sure I could’ve ever forgiven myself. Any alliance we once had with the Irish is dead and done, butsheis not our enemy.”
He’s still fucking pissed. “Brian Donnelly was locked in the cage where Faro and I left him for you. A bullet to the head, a merciful death when our men expected justice. What the fuck happened?”
“A traitorous rat finally met his end. That’s justice enough. No member of the Trio under my protection is any worse off because that piece of shit is dead, and no amount of torture would’ve undone the harm he already caused.”
“You did it for her, didn’t you?” I meet my brother’s gaze and nod. “Carlo, the listening device and the FBI agent at the school… all the evidence that she might betray us and still you defend her?”
“Francesca confessed all she knew before I had to ask.”
“Maybe she confessed it because she felt cornered. How can you be so sure she wasn’t involved? Father raised us to be more cautious than this.”
He did. He wouldn’t understand my complete faith in Francesca, no more than my brother does. “Where is my wife, Luca? Answer your Don’s question,” I growl when he hesitates.
“She’s upstairs, being watched. Are you sure you-”
“Bring her to me.”
“I don’t know if-”
“Bring her to me!”I roar. I quickly regret my wrath as pain slices down my side, but I have to make him see. “She didn’t leave me when she had the chance. She didn’t betray me to the FBI when she could have. She’s loyal, and she belongs by my side. You won’t treat her like a prisoner ever again.”
“You're blinded by your fucking feelings,” Luca sneers.
