Rose lifts her chin. “This is my fight,” she cuts him off, steady. “It’s always been mine.” She turns back to Dan. “I trust my brother. If I can learn to trust you, Dan, maybe you can learn to trust him.” Her voice is quiet but strong. “You’d better not be lying to us, Elio. Because if you are…” She lifts her chin, regal and fierce like her mother’s, despite her frailty. “You’ll answer to me.”
A flicker of guilt flashes across Elio’s face. Maybe even respect. He dips his head once, solemn. "This is my way of earning back what little honour I have left," Elio says. "And maybe giving us all a clean start."
Dom scratches his jaw, unimpressed. "We’ll see about that."
But I watch Elio, study him the way I used to study men through a sniper scope. And this time? I see no deception. Just a man trying, maybe too late, to do one thing right.
Elio’s expression hardens, like steel tempered in fire. “Youthink I’d bring this to you if I wanted you dead? I’d have let Magnus finish the job. Believe it or not, D’Angelo, but since I found out how he treated my sister, I want that fucker dead just as much as you do. He disrespected my sister.”
My hand tightens around Rose’s. “Then let’s finish this, together.”
43
ROSE
Dan holds my hand in the back seat as Elio drives us to the docks at Civitavecchia
His fingers are warm against my cold palms. “We can turn around if you change your mind. Or Elio can drop Dom and me off and then take you home. There’s no need for you to be here.”
I clutch the brown envelope to my chest, a chill racing down my spine. “There’s every reason for me to be here. I want these papers signed.”
Dan’s jaw clenches and his eyes zero in on the back of Elio's head. I know what he’s thinking. He blames Elio for the deal I made fourteen years ago. If I close my eyes, it’s as if no time has passed at all. I can still smell the smoke from my uncle’s cigar curl around me like an invisible leash he held around all of us. Overpowering, just like my father…
With a positive pregnancy test in my pocket and fresh tears cascading down my face, I tiptoe down the hall searching for Mamma, but pause outside the office when I hear my uncle speak about Dan.
“D’Angelo Bianchi è l'angelodella morte.”
I cover my mouth with my hand. The angel of death is Dan, his real name isn’t Daniel. It’s D’Angelo.
More voices carry through the gap in the door. “We’ll find him and when we do, we’ll make sure he suffers in the worst way.”
I clutch my stomach. It’s been three weeks since Dan disappeared. Three weeks of hell. Three weeks of waiting for him to come back and explain. Three weeks of crying into my pillow. I wipe away my tears. I need to be strong. Our unborn child needs my protection. They can never know it’s Dan’s. My heart races, wondering how I can keep this a secret.
“The Bianchi boys are both back on tour in the British army. They think they’re untouchable, but I have a plan.”
I burst into the room. The word, “No,” escapes from my lips with a strangled sob. “Please don’t hurt him or his brother. I’m begging you.”
My uncle snarls. “Your loyalty to this assassino makes me sick.” The back of his hand hits me across the face and I’m knocked sideways, stumbling to the floor. “What about the loyalty to your father? To this family?”
I rub the sting in my cheek and my brother helps me up with a frown, disappointment written in every crease of his brow.
Looking around the room at our security staff, they all pity me. I’m the silly girl who got swept away on a romantic notion that maybe someone actually loved me.
My brother’s right. I’m pathetic. Nobody would ever look twice at me. But I have to stop this insanity. If I don’t, how can I look my child in the eye, knowing I didn’t try to save their father, even if he is a liar who’s abandoned me to the wolves. I shake my head, refusing to believe that. He’ll be back. I know it. I just need to bide some time for the both of us.
“Send me away if you want. Punish me instead. I’ll do anything.”
My uncle rubs at his jaw, an evil smirk on his face. “Elio,what was it you were saying about your friend in London? The Berlusconis who run the East End.”
Elio swipes a tear from my face, confusion pinching his brow. “Magnus?”
“Yes, that’s him. Call him… I have a business deal he might be interested in.”
Dan’s knuckles graze my cheek and I flinch, coming back to the present with a jolt. “Hey. You all right. You glazed over for a minute there.” He surveys me, full of concern. “Elio, turn the car around.”
“No. I’m fine. Elio, don’t you dare turn this car around.” A long shaky breath escapes my lips. “I was just thinking about the past, that’s all.” I place my hand on Dan’s leg, the cotton of his black trousers soft beneath my fingertips.
His features soften, and he leans over and kisses my temple. “What were you thinking about?”
