AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Will you tell me about my parents?” The request is impulsive; I want to know more, of course, but I’ve avoided asking. Maybe because I’m afraid of the answers.
But I know so little, and now that I have Emilia, I want to find out more so I can help her understand her true heritage when she’s old enough.
Rossi hesitates, then moves across to a wrought-iron bench positioned at one side of the alcove. When he takes a seat and pats the bench beside him, I cross and perch on the edge.
“You know I was in love with your mother,” he begins, and I nod.
“Yes, that was obvious from the first time we met.”
He laughs lightly, but there is little humor in the sound. “I could never act on that love because Rina was besotted with your father. And Stefano, my dear, was very much like Rio is now. The Boss of the Carlotti family, and utterly ruthless if anyone dared to cross him.”
“But my mother…loved him anyway?”
“With all her heart and soul,” Rossi says softly. “She and Stefano were betrothed from a young age in a marriage arranged by their families.” There’s a faint hint of bitterness underlying his words when he adds, “You will not like to hear this, but it is fortunate they died together in that bomb blast. She would have been only half a person without her Stefano in this world. No one would ever have been able to fill her heart the way he did.”
Not even her daughter? I swallow down the sudden lump in my throat, wondering if I could ever be as heartless if it came to Emilia. Of course, my mother likely had no choice about whether she lived or died in that moment, but if shehadsurvived, would I ever have been enough for her?
My eyes smart, and I blink hard, refusing to cry over a woman I never knew. My parents were the loving couple who raised me. If I have to cry at some point, then let it be over the fact that my adoptive mother never had the chance to meet her granddaughter, and my adoptive father was so heartbroken over her death that he disappeared into the mountains somewhere in Thailand and doesn’t even know he has a grandchild.
“So, my birth father had plenty of enemies, then?”
Like Rio.
“Indeed, he did. There were even some within the Carlotti family itself.Yourfamily, Bianca. A jostling behind closed doors for control of the organization. It is not known to this day who ordered the hit, but the belief is that someone didn’t like the direction in which your father was trying to take the business.”
“What direction was that?” I feel strangely disconnected, as if we’re discussing characters from a book or movie.
But the reality is they were my family. Myparents. My own flesh and blood.
“I was not privy to the details, but there was talk around the time that he was considering selling off portions of the business to other families. He wanted to raise capital to invest in new ventures, but some saw the strategy as one that would weaken the Carlotti power base. Our host this evening, Gianni Martelli, was one of those purported to be an interested party.”
My fingers, already clenched in my lap, convulse slightly at that revelation. Martelli seems far less stable than the man sitting in front of me, and he would make a frightening enemy. Though I have to remember that Rossi’s grandfather-like persona is just a front. I’ve seen glimpses of the hardness beneath several times, and I’m sure he would be a formidable foe, too.
“And you, Carlos?” I ask. “Were you an interested party?”
“Perhaps, but it is all a long time ago now, my dear. And all moot. Your husband has control of the Carlotti empire, thanks to your marriage, and I am the last person he would ever consider conducting business with these days.”
“Is that because of me? Because you helped me?”
“Ah. It is for many reasons. And I am under no illusions. You and I both know I am likely on borrowed time when it comes to Rio’s plans for me. But I have provided information to Rio, and he believes I have more to offer. For that reason and that alone, I am not currently six feet under.”
I flinch at the directness of his statement, but he’s likely telling the truth. There have been too many transgressions involving Carlos Rossi, even though he never seems to be at fault. Rio is unlikely to allow Carlos to live unless he sees a benefit for the Agostis.
“I owe you an apology, too, Carlos,” I admit. “I took your money under false pretenses. I have to admit that I had no intention of stopping at the apartment you arranged for me in Augusta. And for that, I’m sorry.”
“You did not wish to swap one crime lord for another, hmm?”
“Well… I…”
Luckily, I manage to suppress my shudder because he laughs as if he can perceive my discomfort and enjoys it.
“As your benefactor, my dear. Nothing more.”
“Oh.” My cheeks heat, and I briefly drop my gaze to my feet. “That assessment is kind of accurate,” I admit after a moment. “I just needed to get as far away from this sometimes-violent world as I could. After what happened with Anders.”
“Ah. And because he was my man, you blamed me?”
“No. I believed you when you said you had no knowledge of that attack. And I made sure to get that information to Rio as you asked.”
