Page 161

Another six hourslater

De Lucci mansion

Cesar

If I had gotten hold of Sandro before they found Bianca, I might have shot him on the spot. He promised to protect my daughter and failed. He let a man on the inside betray him. He didn’t know that his ex-fiancée was making moves to hurt him. My mind calculated how to capture this overgrown ape and get rid of him. It was easier said than done, but I would expend all my resources to make that happen.

But when I pulled up to the Albanians’ house and received the news that Bianca was safe and it was all over, all my rage leaked out and transformed into crippling relief. The fucker actually did it. Saved my daughter from the psychopath who was torturing her with a slow drowning.

Nico refused to send me the link to the video footage even when I threatened to cut him out of my will.

Sandro emerged from that hellhole, carrying my daughter, and it was a sight I would never forget. Because it was at that moment when I finally saw him as a man who deserved my daughter. It might have been an amalgamation of everything he’d done since the morning he sat at my breakfast table. The morning after he had the audacity to sneak into my house, and when I bitched about it to Ava, she reminded me I did the same once upon a time.

When Sandro stubbornly refused to relinquish my daughter to anyone until he got her to the safety of the SUV, my first caustic thought was he was dumb as fuck. I mean, he could have dropped her. He had two gunshot wounds, and one of them was a bleeder.

But in his dogged determination, I saw my hypocrisy, because I would have done the same if our situations were reversed.

I saw a man who would bleed to death just so my daughter could live. I saw a man who would always put my daughter first.

And that was what Sandro did.

The Rossi crime family was a mess, but he made sure Bianca went to the hospital and had every test done to ensure she was okay. He didn’t leave her side or have anyone look at his injuries until Bianca was given a clean bill of health. At that point, Sandro was in more danger of complications than she was.

He asked us to look after Bianca while he took care of the other problem.

We all wanted to take our shot at Miller, but in the end, Sandro didn’t allow it.

He said there wasn’t enough of Miller to go around and satisfy his bloodlust.

So here I was in the kitchen, trying to calm my daughter down. She kept checking her phone for a message from her husband.

I was making frittata, and I asked Bianca to help me. She was annoyed, but I didn’t give her a choice.

“What if he’s passed out somewhere?” she argued. I assigned her chopping duties because that was the most soothing to absorb her anxiety.

“He’s fine.”

“I should be with Divina,” she muttered. “She has so many funerals to prepare for and I should help her.”

I sighed. At that point, I put my hand on her arm to stop her chopping motion, and then put my hands on her shoulders to turn her to face me. “Divina insisted you should rest. She said it was time for her to show some spine.” At Bianca’s furrowed brows, I continued, “Her words, not mine. The Scavo brothers are helping her, and so is Sloane. But the Rossis are banding together to show support for their boss…”

“But Griselda…”

“She betrayed the family,carina,” I said softly. “She would have been exiled. Her death is a blessing…”

“Dad…!”

“Listen to me.” I gave her shoulders a light squeeze. My daughter needed to lose some of her empathy to survive being in her new position. I gnashed my teeth because ever since she was old enough to understand right and wrong, Ava and I had taught her to be sympathetic to the plight of others in less fortunate situations. But all that had changed. She needed a touch of ruthlessness inside her. When she returned after her forced marriage, I already noted a difference in her. I was just too stubborn to acknowledge it. “She would have caused friction between Sandro and Tommy. The Rossis are at a critical point in rebuilding the crime family. Those opposed to Sandro are gone. Your husband needs Tommy’s unwavering support. Sandro has a lot of rage in him. He might’ve killed Griselda after whathappened to you, and he’d be justified. She betrayed the crime family. Her death is the cleanest break for everyone.”

Bianca dropped her gaze to the chopped vegetables. “I know that. I’m still worried about Sandro.” She glanced up. “Won’t the police be all over this? He’s not in jail, right? You’re not shielding me from this?”

“No,carina.” My voice softened. “That’s all taken care of.” Matteo and Dom had a meeting to clean this up as part of Archer business. They were going to recover the money Miller and Griselda embezzled and keep things quiet. Law enforcement didn’t want this headache either, because we could counter-sue at the negligence in transporting Griselda to the hospital. This was going in the books as gang violence and retaliation. The carnage at the Albanian house never happened.

Bianca’s eyes hardened before she dropped her gaze again to the chopping board and continued prepping the vegetables. I grieved the remaining remnants of my daughter’s innocence, but with it came a conviction that she was going to be okay. That I had to let her go and be the woman she was meant to be.

Footsteps outside the kitchen drew our attention. I narrowed my eyes when Ava appeared beside the simmering mountain that was Bianca’s husband. My wife had always believed in Sandro, which had historically irked the fuck out of me.

But this fucker was growing on me.