Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
I push off the counter, my stomach tight with disgust, uncertainty, guilt. I think of Aemelia, of the way she looked at me with those dark eyes, trusting and defiant all at once. We’ve crossed a line we can’t uncross.
Enzo tilts his head, his smirk widening. “You look rattled, Venturi. That’s rare.”
I don’t respond. There’s nothing to say. He doesn’t know how far we’ve gone.
I turn on my heel and head for the door, my mind racing, flanked by Gabe and Matteo who heard everything. I need to get back to the house. I need to talk to my brothers and then approach the one person who might be able to clear this up.
Aemelia’s mother.
Because if what Enzo is saying is true, that Aemelia isn’t Carlo’s daughter, then our plan to bring him out of hiding is useless.
Regardless, the shame I feel at taking from her what I never should have wanted has left me shaking.
She can’t be Mario’s.
Can she?
14
LUCA
THE SICKNESS OF REVENGE
“What is it?” I hiss as Antonio storms into the penthouse, his steps uneven, his breathing ragged. He bends over the sink and spits, his body convulsing as though he’s about to throw up. “Are you sick? Did you eat something bad?”
He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, his chest rising and falling in erratic bursts. When he looks up at me, his gray eyes are wild, unfocused, and glazed.
“Tell me,” I order, losing patience.
“I spoke to Enzo,” he rasps, his voice stripped raw. “He says Carlo isn’t coming.”
My spine stiffens. “How does he know?”
Antonio swallows hard, his throat working, but he doesn’t look at me. “He says Aemelia isn’t Carlo’s child. That he doesn’t give a fuck about her. Never did.”
I run both hands through my hair and turn, pacing a few steps away from my brother, needing some space from the suffocating weight of his words. My gut twists, instincts screaming at me that there’s more. The stench of panic hangs around him like a deadly poisoned fog.
“And this made you want to throw up?” I turn to Antonio, narrowing my eyes.
“He said Mario had an affair with Carmella Lambretti.” Antonio’s voice cracks, his fingers digging into his temples as though he is trying to claw out the truth. “And Carlo killed him because of that. Mario was the one who betrayed Carlo, not the other way around.”
“No.” The word shoots from my mouth like a bullet, immediate and resolute. “That isn’t true.”
Alexis, who’s been watching everything from the couch, stands and approaches. “I’d have agreed with you, except Mama hinted something about it the last time I was there.”
“She did?” Antonio’s voice is as strangled as it would be if I had my hands around his throat.
Could it be true? Mario had a wandering eye and an insatiable appetite for the carnal, but Carlo’s wife? That would be another level of recklessness. Women come and go, but wives and family members, they’re not to be trifled with. And yet, the weight in his eyes hints at something even worse.
And then it clicks.
A cold wave of realization slams into me, knocking the air from my lungs. “Carlo didn’t believe Aemelia was his because...”
Antonio doesn’t speak. He just shakes his head, staring at the ground like he wishes it would open into a grave and swallow him. My heart thuds unnaturally hard as I draw together the courage to ask what he cannot bring himself to volunteer.
“Who’s child is she?”
“Carlos,” he says, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “She has to be. She looks like her mother, but she carries some of that cocksuckers traits. The eyes, her smile. But Enzo said that Carlo believed her to be Mario’s daughter.”
The silence stretches between us, thick and choking. The ground beneath me feels unsteady.”
“We need to find out for sure,” I say. “What Carlo believes and what is true could very different. She has nothing of Mario in her appearance. And there’s no way Mario would have kept something like that from me. He wouldn’t have left his child for Carlo to raise. He’d have claimed her while he was still alive.”
“Exactly,” Alexis says.
I straighten, forcing down the storm brewing in my chest. I’m the boss. It’s my job to act, to keep a clear head when everyone else is unraveling.
“Get your keys,” I tell him. “You and Antonio are going to Carmella Lambretti’s house. You’re going to get the truth from her, one way or another.”
Antonio’s expression hardens, a deadly edge creeping into his voice. “We’ll make her talk.”
“We need to know the truth.”
They both nod. My eyes drift to Aemelia’s room. “While you’re gone, I’m going to call Dr. Rothberg. He’ll be able to fast track a DNA test.”
“So we know for sure.”
“Exactly.”
15
ALEXIS
A MOTHER’S TRUTH
I don’t even have a chance to pull the belt across my body before Antonio accelerates from the parking garage, the dark Mercedes SUV leaving a cloud of dust and exhaust fumes in its wake.