Page 61 of Bellini Born

Once he was gone, my curiosity got the better of me. “Who’s Dario?”

Matteo groaned. “My uncle. Enzo’s father.”

“And we don’t like him because . . .” It hadn’t been more than half an hour ago that he was saying he was willing to kill for his family, so his obvious disdain for an immediate member of that family didn’t make any sense.

“You’ll see.”

Well, that was ominous.

Serafina’s tiny cries filtered through the baby monitor app on my phone, and I hopped off the stool.

A pained yelp flew past my lips before I could stop it, and Matteo cursed low under his breath. “Goddammit, Summer.”

Hereallydidn’t like that I was in pain.

“I’m fine,” I croaked out, stepping gingerly toward the back stairs.

“Be a lot more convincing if you weren’t fucking limping,” he grumbled.

Not that I would ever admit it to him, but by the time I made it to Serafina’s room, I was almost in tears. Taking a quick detour into my suite, I popped a couple of painkillers and plastered on a bright smile as I walked into the nursery.

“Hello, little mouse,” I chirped, lifting the baby girl from her crib.

She snuggled into my chest, her cries instantly ceasing.

“Summer?” A sleepy voice called from the doorway.

Turning, I found Bianca rubbing her eyes.

“Did you have a nice nap?”

Nodding, she asked, “Where’s Cookie?”

“Downstairs. Wanna help me feed her after I change your sister?”

“Mm-hmm.”

I made quick work of getting a fresh diaper on Serafina, and then we were headed for the kitchen.

Halfway down the stairs, I heard a voice boom, “Not sure if I should be insulted that I’m not on the approved visitors’ list at my nephew’s home.”

Bianca wasted no time in clutching my leg and burying her face against it, halting my movements. Jeez, seemed no one liked this guy.

Matteo’s reply was strained. “Things are different now that I’m Don.”

An unimpressed grunt sounded. “Enzo seems to have no problems getting in.”

“Enzo’s my second. He’s the one in charge of my security team.”

“Your father would be disappointed.”

Matteo’s voice dropped an octave. “You and I both know he wouldn’t tolerate anyone speaking for him. So be grateful he’s not alive to hear you doing just that.”

It took some effort, but I finally coaxed Bianca to walk down the rest of the steps.

The older man, Matteo’s uncle, came into view, and his head turned in our direction. When his eyes did a slow perusal up my body, it gave me the ick so bad I immediately wanted to take a hot shower to scrub the sliminess of his gaze from my skin.

A sinister grin took up residence on his face. “You must be Summer. I’ve heard a lot about you.”