Page 51 of Daddies of the Underworld

He made a noise that almost sounded like a refusal, but at a nod from Matteo, he turned the phone so I could see. It took less than a second to recognize the footage of the old storage room, along with Marco and I facing each other.

Marco stood at the back door, his hand on the knob. There was no sound, but it didn’t matter.

The footage placed me in the room with him after I knew they were all searching for Marco.

It incriminated me with a bold timestamp in the corner as Marco slipped through the door and disappeared into the sun.

I watched myself stand there and let him go.

Matteo’s expression closed piece by piece, and Luca inhaled like something had struck him. Dante did not accuse me. None of them did.

Not yet.

But the room changed around us anyway.

My hand moved toward my stomach before I could stop it, protecting a secret none of them knew existed while the evidence of my betrayal played in Dante’s palm.

“I can explain.” God help me, the words sounded exactly like guilt.

15

NINA

Matteo took Dante’s phone and shut off the screen. “Then explain.”

I tried, through tears and a voice that would not stop shaking no matter how much I worked to control it, I tried to explain my brother.

I told them how he was scared and he thought he was framed. How he swore he hadn’t stolen the money, and he believed they would kill him if they found him.

With every word, the room grew quieter.

Dante pulled the sheet up beneath my chin, which felt almost like he’d already condemned me instead of trying to protect me as he sat on the edge of the bed and dragged both hands over his face.

Luca paced once to the window, then back, his jaw tight.

There were no more smiles, no more offers of hugs or forehead kisses to make it all better.

Matteo stood near the foot of the bed in nothing but trousers, every inch of him controlled.

Too controlled.

Dante was the first to speak, which I understood was not a good sign. “You let him go.”

“He’s my brother.” I licked my dry lips and tugged the sheet tighter around my body.

“That is not a good enough answer.” Matteo moved his hands to his pockets, his body tightening into that posture of perfect control.

It was the only answer I had.

Matteo closed his eyes for one long second.

When he opened them, the man who looked at me was a stranger.

He looked wounded in a way I had not known was possible, and my heart shattered because it realized my choice in that storage room had ruined this.

He held my gaze, the coldness in his chilling the room. “No one leaves these rooms tonight.” His attention moved to Dante. “Double the guard.”

I almost reached for my stomach.