“FINALLY,” she seethed. “Are you going to go kill the asshole who did this?”
Adriano gave a half-smile of grim satisfaction – but he was the only one of the men who did.
“Babe,” Massimo warned.
“What?!” Lucia snapped. “If anybody did this tome,my grandmother would have their fuckingheadson a platter! Why the hell are we standing around and…”
She trailed off as she noticed Dario staring at her…
And she lowered her eyes to the floor in silence.
Dario spoke to Caterina. “I would like to speak with my wife.”
Caterina hurriedly stood up and moved several feet away.
The rest of the women withdrew slightly…
But we all stood there in the room, listening to what came next.
Dario knelt by the bed and took Alessandra’s hand.
She didn’t look at him.
Dario was silent for a long moment… and then he spoke.
“Amore mio…I have failed you. Both as a husband and a man.”
There was a quiet gasp from a couple of the women…
But Alessandra didn’t react.
She just kept staring into the distance.
“I thought I was doing the right thing,” he continued, “but I was gravely mistaken. I left you alone in your hour of greatest need. I beg for your forgiveness… and I will keep on begging you as long as I draw breath.
“Right now, every fiber of my being screams for revenge. I want to find Cesare Caproni and make him pay…painfully… for what he did to you and our daughter.
“But I swore an oath to you, my darling.
“I swore that our children would be safe from my past…
“That my family’s business would become legitimate…
“And that you, and Elena, and all her brothers and sisters would be free of the stain of what I, and my father, andhisfather before him have done.
“And though I want revenge, I will forego it…
“If that is what you ask of me.
“If you want me to turn the other cheek, I will… though I would gladly trade my own life to have Cesare Caproni die by my hand.
“Ihungerto kill him for what he’s done to you. I want it more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life – except for you and Elena.
“And that is why I beg you to release me from the promise I made you before we married.
“Release me from the oath I swore to you, so that I can punish the man who hurt you and our daughter.
“But if you release me, Alessandra, you must know this:
