Page 32

32

ADELINA

“ W hat do you mean, I can’t leave ? I want to go home.”

“Addie, this is your home.” My father once again tries to take my hand, but something about the oppressive wall of guards between me and the door makes my anxiety spike higher and sharper than it has since that night in that shitty motel.

“Papà, I’m going home. To my actual home.”

“Addie—”

“Let me pass!” Jerking my hand out of his grip, I step up to one of the guards but he mirrors my movements and sidesteps with me. “Move!” Trying to shove past him proves useless within seconds and my pulse begins to race. “Caterina! Caterina!!”

“Caterina has been taken care of,” says my father, his voice soft as he returns to the table.

The prickling nerves down my spine flare worse. A chill steals across my shoulders and an unexpected sickness twists in my gut as I slowly turn to face him.

“Papà… what have you done?”

“I thought you would be grateful.” He sits with a relaxed sigh and returns to his meal.

“Grateful?”

“Having someone stalk you twenty-four, seven is hardly comfortable, is it?”

“She wasn’t stalking me, she was protecting me. She’s my friend, Papà. What have you done to her?” The cold chill seeps deeper into my body, spreading through my chest like I’ve just swallowed a chunk of ice. “Tell me you didn’t hurt her.”

“I had her taken care of. That’s all you need to know,” he replies. “Now sit. Eat.”

“I’m not fucking hungry.”

His eyes snap to me. “Don’t you bring that foul language into my house.”

“You’re acting like this and the only thing that gets any kind of reaction out of you is my swearing ?” I can barely contain my shock. The walls feel closer, and an itch develops in my hands. An urge to run. To get out of here before I find myself as trapped as I was in that motel.

“I raised you better,” he replies.

“Papà, how you raised me accounts to nothing when I’m a grown woman.”

“A grown woman who, if I may say, makes the most stupid decisions I’ve ever witnessed. Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps how I raised you is irrelevant because it clearly wasn’t well enough.”

I approach the table, trying to find a comfortable space between the guards and my own father. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about that .” He points aggressively at my stomach with his fork.

I immediately cover my abdomen with one hand. “The baby?”

“I know you had to let that terrible man touch you, but to let him impregnate you? It’s disgusting to think about. The only good thing that will come out of that is what we can do with it.”

My heart races so fast that it’s a blur of sensation in my chest, with odd, powerful beats slamming occasionally into my ribs. The floor sways, and I grab the back of the nearest chair for support. “I don’t understand. I thought you were happy for me?”

“You did misunderstand.” He shovels food into his mouth as if we’re having normal dinner conversation. “I will help you get rid of it, don’t worry, but having you carry it for a little longer works in our favor.”

“ What ?”

“Look around you, Adelina. Did you forget everything I taught you about Raffaele before the two of you got hitched? His rampages through every Italian family that ever looked at him funny. The businesses he stole. The women and children he slaughtered to ensure there’d be no one left to challenge him? Our city was becoming his bloodied playground and I was tired of waiting to see if we were next.”

I think of the children at the vineyard, snuck to safety under Raffaele’s watch. I think of the people he’s quietly helped and how every person he’s killed was a terrible, terrible person. On the outside, it does look like a mindless rampage, but I know better now. I see how deeply he cares for his people. I see the pain he carries and the responsibility to protect and aid those who can’t fight for themselves.

“You’re wrong,” I say bitterly. “You see what you want to see.”

“I see things how they are, Adelina. And your husband was one step away from tearing down what I’ve been working toward for decades .”

“Then explain, Papà,” I snap, finding myself a seat to try and stop the floor from wobbling. “Explain to me what the fuck is going on.”

“Have you ever looked around at our great city?” He casts his arm across the dinner table as if it’s a representation of the city he claims to love so much. Then he picks up the bottle of wine and tips it on his head. The red liquid immediately sloshes and soaks into the tablecloth, spreading in a wave. “Look at how disease spreads. Raffaele is that disease. And I have been working hard to clean this place up so that those with real vision, real ideals can lead us better.”

“You’re making no sense, Papà.”

“Adelina, the Irish have been funding me for decades. Did you not notice? My businesses were failing. Other families were passing me in leaps and bounds, mocking my business directions and trampling all over me when it suited them. I was tired of being looked down on, tired of my effort being overshadowed by some cocky little rat with more bullets than sense.”

“That’s why you hate him so much,” I say in a low whisper as the realization settles heavily in my heart. “Because Raffaele was struggling below you and he managed to scrape together an empire. He’s done everything you couldn’t.”

My father’s face twists in anger and he furiously throws down his fork. “That cockroach is nothing compared to me.”

“Sure. But…” My brow tightens. “Why would the Irish Mob care? What business is it of theirs to care about a smaller Italian family struggling like we were?”

“The Irish had a problem.” His anger changes to smugness in an instant. “I discovered it accidentally, but rather than doing what most would do and use it to push myself forward for a short spurt, I invested in that problem for a long time. I gave them a solution to their unique problem and in return, they paid off my debts. Supported my business. Have kept us so far into the green for so many years that I almost have too much money. Imagine!” He laughs and picks up his glass to drink.

“But at my wedding… you told me you’d taken out another loan to tide you over until Raffaele’s money came through. That was a lie?”

“Of course! Listen, Adelina. That loan was simply payment from Hector O’Brien. I just twisted it a little because I needed you fragile enough that Raffaele was your best option. I needed you dedicated to being close to him.”

I was manipulated this severely by my own father? Tears of anger and frustration build behind my eyes. “But why?”

“Raffaele is a problem. His rampage through the smaller families would put us on his path sooner or later. And if I fell, the Irish would lose their solution to their problem. You see, I made myself invaluable to them and they recognized that Raffaele needed to be taken care of if I were to continue helping them. And you were the most perfect way to keep a constant eye on him.”

“You make me sound like I were some kind of spy.”

“You were, my dear. You just didn’t know it. Unfortunately, Raffaele’s proved to be a slippery little roach. We sent assassins after him at his clubs but their plan failed. I’m sorry you got caught up in that, by the way.”

My heart drops like a rock and the world blurs as I blink. “Wait… assassins?” Memories of that night come flooding back. “You knew about that?”

“I did.”

“So you…” I can barely speak as disbelief smothers me in waves. “You knew those men drugged me and Marie? That was all some setup to try and lure Raffaele and kill him?”

My father nods. “Shame it failed.”

“Shame it failed?” I repeat weakly. “Shame it failed?” Anger surges through me and I grab the nearest dish of vegetables and launch it directly at him. “I was attacked! I was assaulted and nearly raped, Marie fucking died, and all you can say is shame it failed?”

My father manages to avoid the dish and it shatters into a thousand pieces on the floor behind him. He looks surprised as he adjusts his shirt. “They were just playing with you, Adelina. There’s no need to be so dramatic.”

“Do you have any idea how fucking traumatizing that was for me?” I scream, grabbing the next nearest dish. Before I can throw it, one of the guards moves in and pulls it from my hands. “I was terrified for weeks. Weeks . I couldn’t sleep. I was jumping at shadows. And all this time it was because of you?”

“No, it was because of Raffaele.” My father slams one hand down onto the table, making the glasses jump. “Your little husband proved slipperier than anyone expected. You should know this, Adelina. Sometimes, we have to suck it up and move on. It’s the world we live in. And I knew if I killed Raffaele when the Irish had failed, I would get more money and power than I ever dreamed of.”

“All at the expense of your daughter.” Tears linger in my words, falling slowly down my cheeks.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t get you away from him after that, and then you left the country, so I was at a bit of an impasse.”

“You never were sick, were you?”

His eyes meet mine. “No. I wasn’t. I just needed him back in the States. And then the Irish made another move and lo and behold, Raffaele was smarter once again. He took you both to a hotel.”

“What?” I wipe my cheek. “What are you talking about?”

“The night you came back? I called Hector. The renovation Raffaele is doing on the manor? It’s repairs because the Irish attacked that night. And then he butchered one of their men as revenge. They were going to openly assassinate him until you told me you were pregnant and I realized we could kill him much easier, and exactly how we want.”

Somehow, I feel even sicker. Every beat of my heart feels sluggish. My gut churns and nausea pulses up my throat, threatening to bring what little dinner I had with it. Everything I knew has been a lie. My loving, protective father is nothing but a snake, and the truth is shattering my world.

By some stroke of irony, Raffaele, the man everyone sees as a threat, is the only person who has ever truly protected me.

“With that foul thing inside you and you here, we can direct Raffaele to go exactly where we want to. He won’t say no. The fool fell for you exactly as I hoped he would, and now that I’ve got you away from him, the Irish can do whatever they like. We’ll kill him and then we’ll get rid of that disgusting spawn inside you.”

Despair gives way to a sudden surge of anger, but this is different from the explosive fury that made me throw the dishes. This is quieter. Colder. With tears clinging to my lashes and a trembling lower lip, I glare at my father.

“No.”

“No? What do you mean, no?”

In just a few seconds, my uncertainty about this baby solidifies in a protective urge that is stronger than anything I have ever felt before in my life.

“I will kill you before you even get close enough to harm my baby. Do you understand? This is my baby. Mine . And I won’t let you take it from me.”