Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
“I’m of age. And I’ve been taking good care of Battista.”
“Nobody doubts that,” Nino said. “But it shouldn’t have fallen upon you to take care of Nevio’s child.”
“Exactly,” Fabiano said, then his eyes met mine. “Did you know that Aurora and Nevio had sex?”
“Dad!” Aurora cried, her cheeks blushing furiously. “I never said that.”
“Do you think I was born yesterday? One look at your face and I know it’s true,” Fabiano growled. “I’ve interrogated too many people not to be able to read expressions.”
“I would prefer torture to this mortification,” she muttered, avoiding everyone’s eyes. Leona patted her knee.
Fabiano crossed the room and stopped in front of me. “Did you know?”
“Yes,” I admitted, even if it would hurt Fabiano’s trust in me. But if I kept lying, it would only make things worse.
“What about the promise we made after our death battle? I took it seriously. You obviously didn’t.”
“Our children’s sex life is a private matter, so I guess Remo didn’t want to break Nevio’s trust,” Leona said.
Fabiano scoffed. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what happened. How many more of you knew?” He looked around.
“Great! So everyone knew except for me?”
“I didn’t know!” Giulio said quickly.
“Did you know as well?” Fabiano turned to Leona, who gave him a stern look. “I didn’t. But if Aurora had confided in me about something like that, I wouldn’t have broken her trust by telling you. She didn’t, though.” She gave Aurora a look, which made the latter sink even lower into the cushions.
“The only sex I care about is the one that created that baby!” I muttered, but one look at Fabiano’s face told me he definitely wouldn’t drop it easily.
“I don’t know anything about the mother, except that she’s not from the States and probably already fled the country,” Aurora said quickly, obviously glad for the topic change.
“Figures,” I muttered.
Alessio and Massimo returned. “Some of his clothes are gone, but none of his weapons,” Massimo said.
“What does that mean?” Fina asked, a hint of panic in her voice. She rose to her feet and came over to me.
“That he’s taking a flight,” I said.
Fina gripped my arms. “But where could he go?”
“We’ll find him,” I said firmly, kissing her mouth, then gently prying her off.
“We should give Adamo a call in case Nevio shows up there despite the evidence hinting to another scenario,” Nino said.
I doubted that would be the case, but Nino was right, and Adamo needed to know anyway. “Do that.” Nino took out his phone and went over to a corner of the room to have quiet.
“Maybe he’s with Greta,” Fina said. “I’ll give her a call.”
“Don’t say anything about the kid yet.”
She nodded slowly. Greta couldn’t carry children because of her injuries, and Nevio had a kid that he obviously didn’t want.
I fixed Aurora with my eyes. The baby had fallen asleep in her arms, one of his hands clutching her right thumb. “Battista has lost too much in the last few weeks. If you take him from me now, it’ll be too much for him. You’re all strangers to him.”
I nodded. I could tell that Battista and Aurora had formed a bond, and the boy needed someone he trusted for now.
“You can’t return to the apartment. While I hunt Nevio down and make sure he gets a fucking grip, I want you to keep watching the baby like you have done so far.”
Aurora hesitated. “But if I move out, Diego will insist that Carlotta moves back to his house, too.”
That wasn’t my problem. “I won’t have my grandson anywhere but inside this mansion.”
She nodded. And I tried to wrap my head around the fact that I was a fucking grandpa. What a mess. I didn’t feel old, and I could still kick anyone’s ass, but now I had a grandchild. Greta and Amo had discussed having children, and Fina had even agreed to help them once they felt ready, but I hadn’t thought I’d become a grandfather this soon.
“She won’t move into the Falcone mansion. Her home is our house,” Fabiano said firmly. His stance was aggressive, and I could tell he wouldn’t budge on this. Usually, this would have made me absolutely raging mad, but I had something to make up to him. Not to mention that our two mansions were very close together.
“I’ll let her live with you,” I said. “But she needs to come over with Battista daily.”
“He’s not with Greta either,” Fina said once she returned from her call with Greta.
I hadn’t expected him to be. Nevio felt volatile, and even he knew that going into Luca’s territory when he felt unstable wasn’t the best idea.
My phone rang. It was the head of the Italian Camorra. My first impulse was to ignore his call. He probably needed help and money again, but then I had a suspicion. “Alvize, what do you need?”