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“If that was the case, then I think she simply wouldn’t tell him the truth about who the father is,” I say. “It’s a very complex situation and the whole thing is giving me a consistent headache.
“What were you doing messing around with the Morino girl anyway?” he asks.
“I didn’t know who she was,” I answer, rolling my eyes. “I met her at the club and I just thought she was beautiful. She gave me a false name. I only found out her identity the next morning.”
“Hang on a minute,” he says. “Do you think she knew who you were this whole time? Do you think this could be some elaborate plan to get to you?”
I hadn’t considered that possibility, not yet, but something about it doesn’t sit right with me. I wouldn’t put it past Gabriele to do something like this to scare me into leaving the city. My intuition, however, tells me that it isn’t the truth. The very idea doesn’t sit right with me.
“Nah,” I answer. “She was crying on the phone and everything. She sounded genuinely scared. And now I haven’t heard back from her since.”
Mattia and I walk silently for a little while longer while I think it all through. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a daughter of a man like that. Everything I’ve heard about Gabriele since my release has told me that he barely lets his family out of the house.
It bothers me that I haven’t heard from Aria and that Gabriele hasn’t sent men to deal with me yet. Something is nagging at me since her call; I’m worried that his anger will be taken out on his daughter. And none of this is any more her fault than it is mine. We were simply after a night of fun together.
“What are the stories about Gabriele’s daughter?” I ask.
Mattia has been keeping tabs on them over the years. I’d known that my enemy had a daughter, but not much else about the situation. She must have been born shortly after I was incarcerated. This entire time I assumed she’d be much younger, but here we are.
“How old would you say she is now?” I ask.
“Oh she must be about twenty-five or twenty-six now,” he answers. “Honestly, there isn’t much I can tell you about her. Nobody ever sees her. Gabriele keeps her locked away in that mansion of his.”
“You can’t be serious,” I say plainly.
“Word on the street is that he is super protective of her,” he explains. “The few times when he has let her out of the house, he has sent people to follow her and keep an eye on her. Needless to say, he feels that someone might harm her in order to get to him.”
“You don’t think he’d hurt her, do you?” I ask. “You know if he’s angry enough. I know what his temper can be like.”
“It’s tough to say,” he answers. “There have been rumors before that she’d been spotted with a bruise on the arm or something. Some folks speculated it was caused by one of his angry outbursts. Then again, others have said that he loves her too much to ever lay a hand on her, which is why he keeps her away from the outside world in the first place.”
My mind is racing with all the things he might do to Aria if he is angry enough. I’ve hated him since he got me thrown in jail, but the more I learn about him later in life, I hate him even more.
“I think I need to do the right thing,” I eventually say. “I played as big of a role in this whole scenario as she did. If that baby is mine, I need to step up.”
Mattia laughs. “And how exactly do you plan on getting that right? If you take even one step onto Gabriele’s property, you’re toast. Not even the biggest empire on the planet could protect you from that.”
“I have no idea,” I shrug. “I haven’t thought it through that far yet. I’ve mostly been pacing through my home wondering if it isn’t just all a bad dream. I keep hoping I’ll wake up.”
“What was she doing out at The Hit anyway?” he asks.
That’s a good question, one I don’t have the answer for. But there is one thing on my mind that makes me feel that she didn’t have a clue who I was when she came home with me. It’s the look of genuine shock that she had on her face when I kicked her out.
I suppose I could have given her some kind of explanation as to why I’d become so cold. As far as I know, my name hasn’t been mentioned in the Morino household since my arrest. If that’s the case, then even an explanation would have been pointless.
“Whatever you decide, boss. You know that I’ve got your back,” Mattia says as we approach the restaurant. “Even if the idea is absolutely mad and bound to get us both killed.”
“What did I ever do to deserve your loyalty?” I tease.
Mattia laughs. “I suspect it has something to do with the massive paycheck.”
“Well, in that case, do me a favor,” I say. “I want you to send some men to keep an eye on the Morino estate. Tell them to be careful. I need to know what Gabriele’s routine is like.”
“What have you got planned?” Mattia asks nervously.
“I don’t know yet, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
Chapter 5
