I let Giuliano place a worried hand on my arm and guide me over to the couch, forcing me to look away from Rocco’s now terrified expression.
“What the hell is going on?”
I flinch at the bite in Rocco’s words, unable to look anywhere but my hands.
“Why don’t you take a seat, boy,” Giuliano instructs as he sits in the armchair next to me, close enough to give my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
“Leave her out of this.”
Giuliano sighs. “This is a family matter, Rocco. Come join us, please.”
Rocco stalks closer but refuses to sit. “She never gave an oath. She is not family. Let her go. This is between you and me.”
Giuliano tilts his head in my direction, offering me a sad smile. “Ah. You really haven’t told him?”
“Please don’t,” I implore him, a lump already building in my throat.
“Tell me what?”
Finally, I allow myself to look up at him, at the stubble already growing across his chin, at the dark circles beneath his eyes, and at his bloodied knuckles. I note the way his body is shaking. Is it with anger or fear?
Giuliano leans closer to me. “It is your choice. But he is my son. I think he deserves to know.”
“Cas.” Rocco seems to choke on my name.
I take a long breath to steady myself, allowing my hand to drift down to my stomach.
“Rocco.”
Like a switch, Rocco’s shaking subsides to an eerie stillness.
“I’m pregnant.”
I can’t bear to look at the emotions that cross his face as he suddenly stumbles forward, half crashing into the couch before him.
Everything inside me screams for me to go to him, but Giuliano’s gentle hold on my shoulder keeps me grounded.
Slowly, Rocco lowers himself into the couch, his expression emotionless as he addresses me directly. “What have you done?”
His words feel like a knife, burying itself deep between my ribs.
I didn’t know how he would react. I couldn’t bear to imagine it. Even when Mia and I waited those excruciating minutes for the result of the fifth pregnancy test. Even when we counted back the weeks to be absolutely positive, it washis.
Butthis? To respond as if somehow I was to blame? As if this was my fault?
My desire to leave Brooklyn suddenly reignites with a vengeance. I want to get away from the man who would so quickly turn on me. On us.
“Rocco, this is the mother of your child, my grandchild,” Giuliano’s voice is outraged on my behalf. “I taught you better than that.”
But Rocco ignores him. “You went to him? Instead of me?”
“She knew I could offer her something that you would be incapable of doing.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Rocco yells at his father. “Answer me, Cas.”
His rage ignites my own. It’s like a tinderbox, always ready to explode at this point.
“No one leaves the Guild, Rocco. You told me that!” I shout right back.
