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Something about the look in his eyes makes me confident that he didn’t do any of it to be a creepy freak of nature. There’s more to the story and I need to figure out what’s happening. How could I feel so strongly about a stranger, especially when my heart already belongs to three other men?
“Who are you?” I whisper, afraid of what the answer might actually be. Confusion coloring my tone.
He allows me to keep tracing lines along his face, and down his neck as he answers.
“My name is Lorenzo DeLuca Junior.”
Chapter Nine
Alessandra
My name is Lorenzo DeLuca Junior…
Those arethe words that really just came out of his mouth. He’s watching me closely, gauging my reaction. I imagine he’s seeing a healthy amount of shock staring back at him while I try to piece together what little information I have.
“Wait… What?” My brain finally computes enough that I can almost form real words. I must look and sound like a moron.
“Legally I’m Lorenza DeLuca Junior, but I’m publicly known as Ren Gavino. I’m an underboss to the Gavino family, the Italian mafia of the East coast. I am the son of Arianna Gavino and Lorenzo DeLuca, also I am the eldest twin to Matteo DeLuca.” He says, calmly like he’s reciting the fucking alphabet and not dropping nuclear fact bombs on my brain.
“What the actual fuck is happening right now?” I ask myself quietly. My brain is trying to process the information, but everything seems to be bypassing my brain, refusing to take in all of the information at once, as I gradually digest his words. My body jerks back involuntarily in self-preservation, causing him to hold me tighter.
“I am not a good guy, Quinn. I know this. Admittedly, this is all a lot to take in, but there’s more to our story than you know. To be perfectly honest, I am un bastardo egoista - a selfish bastard, and I won’t ever let you go. I need you to understand that mia bella. I need you to understand before I tell you anything else.” His faint accent becomes a bit more pronounced when he’s passionate about something and it would be hot if I weren’t starting to feel pushed into a corner and left defenseless.
I try to push off of him, needing space to process all the shit he just dropped on me and wrap my brain around it, but he pulls me closer.
“Don’t push me away Quinn. I can answer all of your questions but don’t push me away, per favore.” he asks.
“You called me Quinn.” It isn’t a question but a statement - a realization. I move my face, to angle myself to properly look into his eyes as he speaks, looking for as much truth as possible.
“Si, I’m only six months older than you and when you were promised to me, we weren’t even born yet. We were still just toddlers when we met for the first time. I couldn’t pronounce Alessandra so I called you Quinn whenever we were allowed to see each other. You probably don’t remember me but we were best friends, completely inseparable, until we were about five years old and then I had to start working with private tutors and mio nonno, and you had to be placed with Lauren to keep you hidden from your famiglia. If Alessandro Salvatore had known you were with us at our estate, there would’ve been an all-out war.” His gaze tracks mine, like he knows I’m trying to peer into his dark soul.
Holy shit. This is more complicated than I could’ve ever imagined.
“Does Matteo know you exist?” I ask, suddenly feeling slightly betrayed that ‘Teo would keep something like this from me.
“No. We were separated at birth. I went with mia madre and he went with nostro padre - our father. The deal was that Lorenzo would be allowed to keep and raise my brother if he gave Raffaele Gavino something in return. Lorenzo gave you up to the Gavino family to ensure he’d have a son to pass on his legacy to. I was the oldest so it made sense that I would be the one to go to the Gavino family. It ensured that the original contracts between the Salvatore’s and the Bianchi/DeLuca families were fulfilled for Lorenzo but didn’t give him any real power.
“By birth you are a descendant of the Salvatore’s on your great grandfather’s side and Bianchi on your great grandmother’s side. The contract states that a female descendant must go forth to marry a DeLuca to create equal power within their business by creating one bloodline. Your great grandparents could only conceive your grandfather and things didn’t work out with your mother. When it was known that you were a female, Lorenzo worked out a plan. In doing so, I had to be named after my piece of shit father to keep the paperwork legitimate. Once our past is settled and all of the original deals have been concluded, I can legally change everything to the Gavino name.” He looks to me to see if I’m still listening.
There’s no doubt about it, I’m locked in for story time. So many pieces to the puzzle are finally coming together. He reaches out and pushes some stray hair from my face before continuing.
“When Lorenzo first realized that he hadn’t won the heart of your mother, he had slept with my momma out of spite and resentment, only to try and gain Cecelia’s favor again and in doing so breaking the heart of my mom. It was stupid on his part to screw over one mafia princess to gain favor of another. In the end, neither wanted him and he royally pissed off mio nonno, Raffaele. Several months later when it came out that your mother had already conceived you, Lorenzo came up with the plans to keep what little power he had and to create peace with the Gavino family. No one knew he had been with mia madre so he told everyone that he’d impregnated a maid, who eventually became known as Matteo’s mom publicly.
“Once we were born, Matteo stayed in California and my momma brought me back to New York to raise me. Rumor has it that he blackmailed one of his maids into going along with the story. He wanted no one to know the truth. He wanted Matteo to grow up and rule the West coast under your grandfather and has been raising him as the only known DeLuca heir. Meanwhile, I’m known as a Gavino publicly and legally a DeLuca.” He finishes his story and I think I’m stuck in a state of shock because even at the worst of times, I’ve been all sass and backtalk but I’ve got nothing.
My heart is broken for these boys and their horrifying upbringings. I hate Lorenzo DeLuca in a way that I never thought possible. He’s such a despicable human being. No words will form in my mouth. I just stare at this guy, wrapped up in him intimately despite not knowing him, letting him tell me his truth. Our truth, I guess. It’s ugly and fucked up in the highest order but that’s the life we lead.
“Lorenzo told Matteo I was promised to him though. Even my nonno said that if I wanted him, it was the natural course of things in our world. They were all renegotiating the contracts so that I could technically marry into all of the surrounding families for Matteo, Noah and Cohen. It was ideal to make all of the surrounding territories to the West coast more cohesive. Cohen and Noah have incredibly powerful families in their own right.” I say quietly. More thinking out loud than anything else.
“He was probably saving face once everything went to shit in Chicago. Lauren died when we were all handling business overseas and somehow there was a miscommunication on who was supposed to be your caseworker. It was a mess and several people died because I lost you. I already told you, I am not one to fuck over or piss off. I am the youngest East coast underboss for a reason and it’s not because of who my grandfather is. I’m known best for my cruelty and efficiency in killing those who cross me or make an enemy of the Gavino famiglia. And sometimes those who haven’t yet.” He says, smirking. He’s clearly proud of that fact. My body lets out an involuntary shudder in response, both in fear and because it’s kind of a turn on.
“If you’re my age, how are you not in school. How are you already running things?” I ask, needing as much information as possible.
“I was privately tutored from a young age, I surpassed all of my high school courses by the time I was fifteen. I have mostly spent the last couple of years working under Raffaele Gavino, la Don of the Eastern territories. I was raised between the Gavino Estates in New York and a small coastal town in Italy, Portofino, under my bisnonno’s tutelage. Whenever I was in the states, I made sure to check in on you personally and when I couldn’t be here, I made sure la famiglia’s guys had eyes on you. I know your life wasn’t great growing up, but I wasn’t technically allowed to step in until you were eighteen. I swear I’ve been in your life protecting you when I could though. Honestly, my grandfather will be furious to know that I’ve already taken you back before it’s time. I’ll need you to prepare yourself for his cruelty. I know you’re strong, but he is vicious.
“I had to put much faith in nothing bad happening to you because no one wanted to go against my grandfather - and then later myself, if anything did happen to you during the times that I was away. I wasn’t joking when I said that I’ve loved you for years mia bella, I’ve loved you my whole life. You’ve always been mine.” He whispers the last part, as though he’s afraid he’ll lose me now that he finally has me within his grasp, literally.
Suddenly, I feel like I can’t breathe. Everything is hitting me at once and I’m starting to feel a rising panic within me. I need to work all of this out in my mind so I can calm down and come up with a resolution. I can’t give up my boys. I love them too much to let them go. I have power too, I am Alessandra fucking Salvatore for fucks’ sake, I can handle this. Looking up at the handsome stranger before me, I recognize the weird energy between us for what it is. I’ve been ignoring it all this time, it’s a knowingness, a closeness that can’t be denied. I’ve been feeling as though I’ve known him all my life, and I guess I have, in a way. It reminds me of the connection I feel to the guys and my heart feels like it’s crumbling to pieces.
