Page 11 of Dario

Then another memory hit me. Papà had called me into his study and I had gone. One of thecapos—Miguel Castella—was standing in front of his desk. I could feel the threatening atmosphere as soon as I walked in, even though I didn’t know what was causing it. That was until I saw Miguel’s face. There wasn’t a scratch on him, but he was terrified. So terrified he trembled. It silenced me, and even though I wanted to go to my papà for comfort, in this room he was the Don, not my beloved papà, and I needed to remember that.

Even at nine years old I knew better.

Papà had drawn me to his side of the desk and looked me in the eye. “We have just found out that Castella is stealing fromla famiglia. There is no doubt, even though last year I paid forthe hip replacement his nonna needed and gave his younger brother a job with Guiseppe on the cars.” My father leaned back in his chair, ignoring Castella. “Figlio mio, what should his punishment be?”

I hadn’t dared look at Castella. I knew this was a test, and even as a child, I knew what it might involve. I also knew that loyalty was everything. “Did he have a reason other than greed?”

I remember one of the men raising their eyebrows either at my question or my choice of word as a child, but I simply waited for the answer. Another lesson my father had taught me was to never be ashamed of who I was.

He didn’t smile because of our audience but I knew he was pleased. “No. He has fallen into the trap of gambling himself. He is using our money to pay his debts.”

I knew what had to be said. I knew what my father had to do. He could never be seen to be weak. For a second in that room, I thought I might be sick, but I still knew what I had to say. “Then he dies.”

Both my father and I ignored Castella’s terrified pleas and while I had my father’s attention, I continued. “But not his brother. His brother has a nonna to care for.” I held my breath because I wasn’t sure if it had been the right thing to say, but my papà smiled and nodded.

“Because family is everything,” he agreed.

I had never been so relieved to get out of that room in my entire life, even if barely a year later it was my bullet that ended a similar traitor’s life. For the millionth time since then, I met Lucio’s gaze in the mirror, staring at the younger brother I had saved that day.

“He offers more than gambling,” Alessandro said reluctantly, dragging me back to the present.

A sick feeling swirled in my belly. It explained so much. Why the Irish were transporting underage girls through my territorywhen it had been easy to avoid it. But not if they were heading for the cruise ships. One of the reasons we had gone so far with Aiden was because according to my contacts the girls weren’t just underage teens, which was bad enough, but that most of them were young children.

Papà had never crossed that line and neither would I. Adults could fuck themselves over as much as they wanted though. I focused my attention on Alessandro. “You couldn’t have seriously considered he would let you go with that information?”

“I sent copies of the diary to three different lawyers.” I glanced at Lucio. Could he really be that naïve? Lawyers could be bought.

“How detailed is this information? Knowing and proving are two different things.” I couldn’t grasp that Rocco had taken the threat seriously, or could I? It was true I wouldn’t have taken it seriously myself, but I was forgetting Rocco was on shaky ground already. His only chance of staying on as Boss was through Sofia.

“While they were at the ceremony, I was going to collect Mom and leave.” I had to acknowledge his guts, especially knowing the second Sofia had a ring on her finger, both his and his mother’s life were forfeit.

“Leave where?” He had no money that I was aware of. But he pressed his lips together and I decided that didn’t matter right at that moment. “Call Alvize. Have him meet us,” I ordered. I had to trust someone, and while I didn’t trust Alvize, I trusted Lucio.

My head was buzzing with scenarios as we drove down through security and entered the parking garage. Only the cars I allowed got down here. My men and certain employees. Honored guests occasionally, although I preferred to send a car for them to take them to the entrance. “How sure are you?”

Alessandro turned as he reached out for the door handle when Lucio came to a stop. “Like you said, it’s the only thing that’s kept me alive for six years.”

Less than a second after that gunfire peppered the car.

6

Alessandro

Ihad one foot out of the car door when gunfire erupted, and a hand clamped around my wrist and yanked me inside against the same hard body that had pinned me this morning. Dario swore loudly just as tires screeched and the car lurched forward, Lucio spinning it so the shots weren’t hitting the still-open door, but striking uselessly against the trunk. Before I could even remember to breathe, Dario’s body was lying over mine, his hand out for the door just as the car twisted slightly, swinging the door to Dario so he could grab it. Once it was snicked; I was pinned backwards as Lucio accelerated. I couldn’t see, as Dario’s large body was sprawled over mine. In fact, I couldn’t breathe. I pushed against his shoulder and while it was like trying to shove a house, he lifted a little so I could gasp in air.

“Alessandro? Are you hurt?” he demanded.

“Get off me.” I couldn’t tell if anything hurt because of his weight. The car jerked, and I raised my head just in time to see the guards from the barrier running past us with their guns out firing at whoever had fired at us.

“Alessandro?” He shook my arm but eased up a little more.

“I can’t tell while you’re squashing me,” I snapped out, and he moved to my side. Lucio was driving like a madman, tires squealing, horns blaring as he took no notice of little irritations like lanes and red lights. Then I blinked again and realized Dario’s hands were all over me, and at the same time as my brain processed there was no pain, it also processed the pleasure of his touch.WTF?

“Stop.” I slapped his hand and took another breath, bending forward to see my feet. I’d lost a shoe as Dario had yanked me back, but not my foot. Then I processed some more. “I’m okay.” Well, I wasn’t. Someone had just tried to shoot me. Or Dario. In fact, I was sure that was more likely. Who would possibly want to shoot me?

Dario’s jaw hardened. “You’re not, but he missed you.” He pulled out his phone and started snapping out orders while I just sat and concentrated on pulling oxygen into my lungs.

“Boss?” Lucio almost growled out the word.

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