"Trouble in paradise?" My brother barely looks up from his paperwork.
"She's hiding something." I pace his office, tension coiling through my muscles. "I asked her point blank why the Bratva is hunting her, and she deflected. Again."
Alessandro sets down his pen, giving me his full attention for once. "Told you."
"Don't fucking start. I know you were suspicious from the beginning."
"And yet you brought her here anyway." He leans back in his chair, eyes assessing me. "Question is, what are we going to do about it?"
I stop pacing. "We? You’re the Don.”
“And yet you often forget that.” He gives a light shrug. "Two of us questioning her might loosen her tongue."
The thought of Eva trapped between us, cornered like prey, doesn’t sit quite right.
She's hiding things but she's still the mother of my child.
Still the woman I can’t seem to let go of.
"Someone needs to stay with Mirabella," I say. "Eva doesn't want her waking up alone in a strange house."
Alessandro nods, reaching for the phone. "Maria, go upstairs and tell Ms. Santoro she's needed in my office. Stay with her daughter until we're finished."
"She won't come," I mutter. "She's too damn stubborn."
But five minutes later, the door opens. Eva stands there, wary-eyed, maybe even a bit nervous.
Good.
Maybe she’ll finally tell us what the fuck is going on.
"You wanted to see me?"
Alessandro gestures to the chair across from his desk. "Sit."
She hesitates, glancing at me before crossing the room and sitting.
I stay where I am, leaning against the wall, watching her.
"My brother tells me you're reluctant to explain why the Bratva wants you," Alessandro says. "That ends now."
Eva's spine stiffens. "I've told Adriano what I can."
"Which is nothing," I cut in.
"You're under my roof," Alessandro continues. "Putting my family at risk. Either you tell us what we need to know, or you leave.”
“Without Mirabella,” I add.
Eva's face drains of color. The panic in them makes me feel like shit. “It’s safer for her to stay here. You can’t protect her?—”
“I’ve protected her all her life.”
“Until the other night.” I hate that it’s come to this. That she can’t see what I can offer her. That maybe we can get back what we lost. "Choose carefully, Eva. I want to protect you both. But I can't fight what I can't see."
Her gaze moves between us. A mixture of fear and anger and confusion fills her expression.
Alessandro leans forward, his dark eyes boring down on her. "Tell me, Eva, did you enjoy playing my brother for a fool? Letting him believe you were dead while you raised his child in secret? Or perhaps you've been working with the Russians all along, worming your way back into our lives."
