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I winced. “Seven months.”
“Seven months?” he shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. “How did I not know this? How hadn’t I noticed?”
He started to pace along the side of my car, but I didn’t make a move to get out. There was nothing I could do, nothing else I could say to make it any better. I listened as he mumbled under his breath, periodically looking back at me like he didn’t recognize me, then back at the car behind me that still had the lights flashing.
“Dad,” I called, but I didn’t get a response. He was trapped in his own thoughts, much like I had been earlier. “Dad!”
He stopped pacing, standing to his full height with his shoulders pushed back. He was all business now. Gone was the emotional man, and in its place the well-put-together FBI agent. “Who’s the father?”
I sank lower into my seat. If telling him that I was pregnant was bad, then this was even worse. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that I didn’t know. I could pretend I had no idea who it was, that I’d had a random night with someone. It was the truth, just…not the whole truth. But that wouldn’t explain why I was at the Beretta mansion. I’d have to make up another lie to cover the lie I’d tell him. And already I was losing track of the possible stories I could say.
You don’t have to remember what you said if you tell the truth. The truth is the truth.
“Tell me,” he demanded.
“Dante,” I blurted out, closing my eyes so that I couldn’t see his reaction. “Dante Beretta.”
“Does he know?” I shook my head, still not opening my eyes. He was quiet for so long, I’d thought he’d walked away, but still I didn’t open my eyes. Not until he gritted out, “You’re getting rid of it.”
I jerked forward, my eyes shooting open, but it was too late to say anything because he’d walked away, leaving me with his parting words.
Words that I’d never let come true.
Words that felt like I’d been pummeled in the chest.
Words that had the potential to break me.
* * *
DANTE
Leaning back on my chair, I held my phone loosely at my ear as I listened to my little sister, Sofia, on the other end of the line. I hadn’t seen her in months, and if I was honest, I probably missed her the most out of everyone. We had always been close. I was the big brother she could come to for anything and everything. Whereas Lorenzo was more closed off, I was an open book with her. There was no doubt she knew me the most out of everyone in the family, but still, she didn’t know the secret life I’d lived since I was a teenager.
I smirked as I listened to her tell me all about the talk that she had with Ma. The more her voice rang over the line, the more I missed being home. I should have been there to protect her. I should have been the one person she could come to. But instead I was across the state, trying to prove my worth. But it was times like this that I realized it didn’t matter what anyone thought or how bad I’d messed up, I’d paid my dues. I’d done everything I could to get back into Lorenzo’s good books.
Now…
Now it was time to go home. Not just for Sofia, but for me too.
She was trying to heal—trying to get over the trauma she’d suffered thanks to yet another one of our enemies. She wasn’t safe, no one in the family was. Which was all the more reason why I should be there—with my family—and not here.
My teeth ground together as I thought about everything she’d gone through. And there was nothing I could do about it…not yet anyway.
“I couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth! I can’t believe she said the b-word,” Sofia said, a lilt to her tone that hadn’t been there for a while. She was slowly mending, becoming more like the little sister I’d grown up with. The one who would play hide-and-go-seek and still be hidden an hour later after the game had finished and I’d given up.
“Ma said that?” I asked, my brows flying high on my forehead.
“Yep. She saidbastard.” She paused. “It was so cool.” Her laugh echoed over the line, causing my lips to lift into the first genuine smile I’d had since I left the mansion all of those months ago. “I’ve never heard her talk like that.”
“Damn.” I whistled, trying not to laugh. “I’m sad I missed it.” And I was. Hearing Ma curse was a rare occasion but one that we all relished.
Her breath came across the line in a puff, her sadness clear to be heard. “Well, if you’d come home, then maybe you won’t miss it if it happens again.” Guilt took ahold of me, balling up in my stomach and growing larger as the silence stretched between us.
I knew I was going home soon, but no one else did. I had a plan, one that they couldn’t know about, not until it was all in the works and I knew it would come to fruition. My gaze veered across the makeshift office and landed on Remy. He’d been searching like crazy at all hours of the day and night. He told me he was close, but I had no idea whether that meant hours or days.
Remy had been searching nonstop, trying to help me pull it all off, but as of yet, he hadn’t had any luck. We were throwing caution to the wind, opening ourselves up to outsiders, just so we could get everything together.
Cracking my neck to the side, I murmured, “I’m trying. I have some things to wrap up but…I’ll try.” It wasn’t a lie; I did have things to wrap up. I had control over this territory now, but I had to make sure it stayed that way before I left.
