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“Oh, to me, it sounded like he was a coward and a moron who caused his own death.”
“I came onto him.”
Valerio’s eyes darkened, and his jaw tightened. “He was a thirty-year-old man fucking a fifteen-year-old child, Luce. There is no excuse for that. The best thing your father did might be killing him.”
With his words, hope actually blossomed at the bottom of my heart. “Do you mean that? You don’t blame me for what happened to me?”
“Of course not,” he said harshly. His body moved over the couch towards me, and he wrapped his strong arms around me and pressed a kiss on the top of my head. “You were a child, Luce. Whatever you did to make him agree to have sex with you doesn’t matter. He was the adult. Saying no was his responsibility, and the rest just proves how much of an asshole your father is. I don’t blame you. I just wish you told me this earlier.”
I looked up at him and again realized how much I loved him. Tears threatened my eyes, but I had one more important question. “What do you think about Elsie, though?”
“I think she is a sweet kid,” he said with a smile. “I also think he shouldn’t be with your asshole of a father but should be here with her family instead.”
To that, I couldn’t stop my tears and kissed my husband. Now that I really had him on my side, I was sure everything was going to be perfect.
Chapter 35
Valerio
“I cannot just attack L.A., and you know it, Valerio,” my brother said with a tense expression.
“Why no?” I shrugged. “You have the power.”
“I have the power because I don’t do stupid shit like that. I think through my actions.”
Antonio cleared his throat. “Actually, I do that for you.”
“Then you tell him.”
Antonio didn’t even bother. He knew I was aware of the situation. After my wedding, we decided to dethrone Gino, but we needed to be smart about that. We didn’t want to make powerful families in L.A. mad. We were simply going to wait for him to make a mistake and support someone else like Don. After my second visit, we decided that person was going to be Tommaso. I even made him aware of the situation. We had a silent agreement.
However, what Luce told me changed everything. I couldn’t let Gino use Elsie when worse came to worse. With Luce’s permission, I shared the knowledge with Sal, Antonio, and Alessio. Antonio said Tommaso could keep Elsie safe until it was time for our plan. Sal went ahead and said we could get her here right before we attacked.
Both ideas didn’t satisfy me. Elsie was Luce’s daughter. That made her my daughter, too, and I was not letting my daughter spend more time with that asshole Gino. I didn’t trust him. I didn’t even trust Tommaso enough when it came to Elsie.
Just like I told Luce, Elsie was supposed to be here with her family. We needed to attack now. Unfortunately, my brother had a hard time understanding that.
“This is a personal matter now. We cannot wait.”
Sal sighed, but Antonio actually answered me with his cold tone, “Wasn’t it personal when this guy wanted to kill your wife.”
Antonio had been my idol since I was a young kid, but sometimes I really hated him. He was getting on my nerve. “It was personal, but I got Luciana away from him, didn’t I? Now I need to do the same for Elsie.”
Alessio shook his head. “Val, you knew this little girl was under Gino’s roof for a long time. You always knew how much Luce valued her. You never mentioned wanting to rescue her before. It is all changed because now she is Luciana’s daughter instead of sister?”
“Yes,” I said without a breath, but my chest tightened at his words because I knew he was right. I was definitely doing the right thing now, but that didn’t change the fact that I didn’t in the past. Luce never hid how much she loved Elsie and how much it pained her to leave her in L.A. I should have acted like this when I thought she was Luce’s sister too. Elsie still deserved a better life.
I was really not a good man, but now that I realized what had to be done, I was not taking a step back.
Alessio gave me a bullshit look. The bad thing about arguing with these guys was that they had known me since I was a baby. They still didn’t know some of my secrets, but they knew me pretty well. All three of them were aware of how guilty I felt for coming to my senses so late.
But that was not a reason to let Elsie stay in L.A.
Antonio looked away in thought. “I am the last person to comment on how this should change your emotions, but I know facts well, and actually, this new information changed things. We are trying to keep people happy, and they do care about blood. If Gino was really Elsie’s father, that would make the girl his property, and taking her away would be impossible even if Gino went down. Now that we know she is Luce’s daughter, though, it means Luce has the responsibility, and as Luce’s husband, she should be yours. We can get her without making anyone angry – except Gino, of course – but we still need to be logical about the time.”
I tried so hard not to groan. Until that last part, he had me. His words made total sense in classic Antonio fashion, and I felt more sure than ever that I was going to get Elsie. Then he had to ruin it all with his time talk, though.
“I want this man ruined, and I am getting, Elsie,” I said with a harsh tone. I was usually the jokester of the group, but I wanted them to understand how serious I was about this.
