Page 93 of Bellini Bound

Sitting up suddenly with wide eyes, I asked, “Who else would there be?”

“Rory.”

I had a vague recollection of Gabi mentioning that name once. “Who’s Rory?”

“Gio’s wife,” Enzo explained.

Okay,thatwas a name I definitely recalled hearing before. “Matteo’s older brother, right? What’s his deal, and where is he since Summer said he’s the rightful don?”

Blowing out a heavy breath, head dropped back, he said, “Long story.”

“Hit me with the abridged version.” My curiosity was currently off the charts.

Enzo groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s important for you to know that arranged marriages like ours aren’t an exception but more like the rule in powerful mafia families. Matteo had one with Allegra—the girls’ mother—and Gio had one with Rory.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, not quite understanding what that had to do with anything.

“While the two women came from organized crime families of their own, they were both teenagers when their fathers handed them over to forge an alliance with the Bellinis. One night, around the time Bianca was a baby, Rory went missing. Just poof. Vanished. Gio had taken over for his and Matteo’s father a couple of years prior to that, and Rory was a feisty redhead with deep Irish roots, who’d been pretty vocal about hating the man my cousin had become after his promotion. With no evidence of a security breach and crickets from our enemies—who would be the first to brag about holding the don’s wife captive—it didn’t take much to determine she’d run away.”

“Your cousin took that as a personal offense.” I made an educated guess based on what I knew of proud, possessive alpha men with the last name Bellini.

Enzo scoffed. “That’s putting it mildly. He tore this city apart searching for her, but she was nowhere to be found. Then, to keep her family from wiping ours off the map, he told her father that she’d been taken by the Russians.”

I sucked in a hissing breath through my teeth. “Yikes.”

“He fucking started a war over a woman who wanted nothing to do with him.” He shook his head. “We lost a lot of loyal men who had been trained to follow his orders blindly. Hell, Matteo and I didn’t dare question him, even when he became obsessed with tracking Rory down.”

“Where is he now?” I was almost afraid of the answer.

Swallowing roughly, Enzo said, “He’s got it into his head that Rory owes him an heir. And if you owe a Bellini a debt, it must be paid. No exceptions.”

That’s where he lost me. “I’m sorry, what? How does he expect to collect on that debt?”

“Baby, I can’t really tell you any more than that because, honestly, I don’t even know what he plans to do. And that scares the living shit out of me.”

A chill ran down my spine, thinking about some woman out there, hiding from a husband who was hell-bent on hunting her down for the purpose of, what sounded like, impregnating her against her will.

“What happens if he never gets his heir? Especially since Bianca and Serafina aren’t in contention to take over because they’re missing a Y chromosome.”

Enzo dragged a hand down his face. “I’ll be long gone from this earth by the time it gets to that point. But for those left behind after Matteo, Gio, and I have passed on, they’ll have to dig through the bloodline to determine who is eligible to become Don. There will likely be several candidates, and the capos will nominate their top choice.”

“Sounds messy.”

“Undoubtedly. There will likely be bloodshed. The promise of unilateral power drives men insane. They’ll do anything to get it. But like I said, that’s not my problem.”

My lips twisted to the side. “Do you think Gio will find Rory?”

A heavy sigh sounded. “He’s a man on a mission with unlimited resources. If she’s out there, it’s only a matter of time before he successfully tracks her down.”

No wonder Gemma couldn’t get out of here fast enough. This shit was beyond fucked up.

People might look at my husband and think he’s, for lack of a better word—thanks, Mom—a thug, but at least I knew on the inside he had a heart; he was capable of love and kindness. Whereas, from Enzo’s limited account, his cousin was outright vengeful, lacking remorse or a conscience.

If given my pick of Bellini men, I would choose Enzo over and over again.

I was cutting up fruit for Serafina’s morning snack when Enzo’s phone rang. My motions paused, knife held in midair, when I caught the frown on his face as he stared at the Caller ID.

He placed the cell to his ear. “Enzo Bellini.”