Page 4 of Bellini Born

We’d gone round and round when it came to choosing Bianca’s. It was my top choice, but Allegra had been stuck on Serafina. Eventually, my wife tired of the debate and conceded that if we had a girl, Bianca would be her name.

So it seemed only fitting that the daughter she’d never meet should be given the name she had wanted for a girl three years ago.

“Serafina Allegra Bellini,” I announced, voice gone gruff.

The nurse let out a wistful sigh, clasping both hands together and bringing them to her chest. “Beautiful.”

Dr. Finch expressed his condolences one more time before leaving. Then it was just me and the little life I’d helped to create and, now, would be forced to raise alone.

I wasn’t sure how long I stood there before I caught a figure in my periphery. I could sense my brother’s presence without even looking.

“Who has Bianca?”

“Gemma came over to keep an eye on her.” Our older cousin adored my daughter.

“What happened?” My eyes never left the heart rate monitor at my daughter’s bedside. Watching that steady rhythm was the only thing keeping my murderous rage in check.

Gio sighed. “Best we can tell, it was a hit on me.”

“Why the fuck was she inyourcar in the first place?“ I seethed.

“Antonio called in that hers got a flat, and they were close enough to my place that I sent Vic to pick her up and take her home. I didn’t want her stranded like a sitting duck while they changed the tire.”

I snorted. “Fat lot of good that precaution did.” Placing my hand on the incubator, I whispered, “I could have lost them both today.”

“I’m s—“

“Save it,” I cut him off. “Sorry won’t bring back Bianca’s mom. Sorry won’t change that Serafina’s birthday will forever be tainted by tragedy.”

“Serafina, hmm?” Gio hummed. “A pretty Italian name for a pretty Italian girl.”

He was saying that just to be nice because, in reality, it was mildly disturbing that her skin was translucent.

“Who did this?” Someone owed me a life to replace the one that had been taken from me.

“We don’t have any proof yet, but it makes the most sense that it was the Russians. Especially after we told the O’Malleys—“

“Don’t,” I spat. The last thing I needed was a reminder that we’d willingly entered into a war when Gio’s wife had run away a couple of years back. His decision to tell her Irish mobster father that the Russians had kidnapped Rory had been a calculated risk. We were going to war one way or another, but this way, we joined forces with our allies against a common enemy instead of fighting a battle on two fronts—a battle we were guaranteed to lose.

“We’re gonna find the men responsible for this, Matteo,” Gio vowed. “And we’ll make them pay.”

“I want them brought in alive, do you understand?”

There was no need to explain why. He already knew. I wanted to torture them until they begged for death. I wanted to make it as slow and painful as possible. And even then, it wouldn’t be enough to extinguish the rage burning hot in my veins. Not when I had to look at the faces of my daughters every day for the rest of my life and know that if it weren’t for their mother’s attachment to me, to my family, she would still be alive.

“They’re all yours, brother.”

I was going to send them to Hell before joining them there myself.

Chapter 1

Matteo

Six Months Later

Frombeneathheavyeyelids,I tried to make sense of the figures on my computer screen, but they kept blurring together. Heaving a frustrated groan, I sat back in my desk chair and pressed the heels of my palms into my eye sockets.

“You look like shit,” a familiar voice called out from the doorway to my office.