“But I don’t think it was your fault.”
That throws me. “Whose, then?”
She glances back toward the café, weighing something silently, then lowers herself onto the bench beside me. Crossingone leg over the other, she smooths her skirt and rests her hands in her lap.
“You didn’t ask me, but I’d like to give you some advice. If you’ll take it.”
I study her face. The exhaustion beneath the polish. The trace of wine on her breath. She seems honest, tired but honest. And I know Giovanna trusts her.
I nod once. “I’m listening.”
44
Giovanna
The line of positive pregnancy tests stares up at me from the counter like a jury handing down a life sentence.
My throat burns as I choke back another sob, but it’s useless. Siena already has her arms around me, holding me together while I fall apart. She starts crying too, tears sliding down her cheeks and dripping onto my shoulder. Hugging my knees to my chest, I lean my head against hers.
My voice breaks. “I don’t even know who the father is,” I whisper. “God, I wish it were Tommy’s. If it were Tommy’s….”
I can’t even finish the thought; the idea is too overwhelming, too amazing, too heartbreakingly untrue.
Siena sniffles beside me. “Do you want to know?”
“Know what?” I ask, dragging my gaze up to hers.
“Who the father is.”
I blink at her, confused. “That’s not even possible. We don’t even know who test—”
She lifts her hand to stop me. “Maybe not. But if it’s one of Aurelio’s men or someone the guys brought back from the island, it may not be as impossible as you think.”
My mind is spinning. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
Siena perches on the edge of the tub and hands me a tissue. “So you know Matti was shot recently, right?” I nod. “Well, I spent some very long days and nights at the Edge. I saw how they do things, how Dr. Rossi handled prisoners. I asked some questions, and though Dr. Rossi ignored most of them, he did mention something very interesting, for our purposes anyway.”
“And that is?” I sniffle and wipe my nose.
“He keeps a database of blood samples, not just on the guys who work for Aurelio but on the men they take captive. It’s a part of their intake process, apparently, when Dr. Rossi treats them. If we give him your DNA, he could cross-reference it and find out who—”
“Who Tommy needs to kill?” I cut her off with a bitter laugh.
Her lips twitch into a sad smile. “Maybe. We can also give you some answers, unless you’d rather not know.”
I glance at the tests again. My stomach clenches. “No, I need to know.”
Siena nods and pulls out her phone. “Okay, I’ll text Dr. Rossi. We’ll start with everyone involved in the kidnapping.”
But when she sees the panic on my face, she hesitates. “Or we don’t have to do this at all. There are…other options.”
The word ‘abortion’ doesn’t have to be spoken for me to hear it. I’ve thought about it. But I don’t want to make any decisions until I talk to Tommy. He said no secrets, and this secret would destroy him if he ever found out. And he always finds out.
There’s also the chance, however distant, that everything he said to Antonio at the Edge about raising the baby as his own was true. If he can’t have children, he may want this baby.
But I still need to know who did this to me.
I wipe my face and shake my head. “No. I’ll call him myself.”
