Chapter 8 #2
Gesturing to where Rory sat unconscious, I said, “Sedation will wear off soon. I’d prefer not to force her into one of the vehicles, kicking and screaming, so if we could move this along.”
“Right.” Matteo nodded, reaching into his pocket to pull out something that looked vaguely like a pregnancy test, but more high-tech.
When I arched an eyebrow, he explained, “Nico developed this while you were gone. It’s a lancing device that’s programmed to read the DNA from your blood sample and cross-reference it with the one we have on file for Gio. ”
“Kid’s a fucking genius,” I remarked, impressed.
“You can say that again. I have half a mind to offer him a partnership so we can venture into the tech sector. We could make a mint.”
While we made a fortune in our illegal ventures, it was never a bad idea to branch into more legitimate enterprises.
We had local law enforcement in our pockets, but the feds were a whole different animal, and if they ever came sniffing around—or worse, found a way to nail us—we needed to ensure our family’s survival.
The more clean businesses we had, the better.
Jerking my chin in the direction of the device, I asked, “How long’s it take?”
“Half an hour.”
I extended my hand. “Let’s get on with it, then.”
The finger prick took less than a second, then all that was left to do was wait for the results.
Since we had time, I decided to catch up with my little brother.
Pouring myself a glass of scotch, I took a seat, propping one ankle on the opposite knee. “How are the girls?”
A smile formed on Matteo’s face at the mention of his daughters. “Precocious as hell and forces to be reckoned with.”
I chuckled. “I’d expect nothing less of pint-sized Bellini women.”
“God help us because there are three of them now.”
My eyebrows rose at that piece of information.
At the time of my departure, Matteo had been struggling as a single dad, so hearing he had a third child was beyond shocking.
Especially since I’d been the one to drive him to the procedure that would eliminate the possibility of future procreation if he ever chose to move on after Allegra’s passing.
“No kidding. Vasectomy didn’t take?”
“Oh, it was successful.” The corner of his lips twitched. “As was the reversal.”
I choked out a laugh. “Well, okay then. What’s my youngest niece’s name?”
He pulled out his phone to show me a picture of three raven-haired little girls—the older two I recognized as Bianca and Serafina, along with a toddler—wrapped in the arms of a blonde woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties.
Beaming with pride, my younger brother pointed to the youngest of his daughters. “That’s Aurora. She’ll be two in a few weeks.” Then his smile grew even wider as he shifted to the blonde. “And that’s Summer, my wife.”
“Wife, huh?”
Matteo pocketed his cell. “Going on three and a half years.”
That timeline gave me pause. “Wait. You got married six months after I left?”
“Five,” he corrected.
A stunned exhale slipped past my parted lips. “No offense, but you were a fucking wreck when I went after Rory. What the hell happened?”
“If you asked Enzo, he’d tell you that I became madly obsessed with the nanny and would stop at nothing to make her mine. But the truth is that I found my soulmate, who just so happened to naturally become a mother to my girls.”
For a minute, I surveyed him. There were fine lines at the corners of his eyes that would suggest he smiled or laughed often, and the tension that had been ever-present at the time of my departure was gone.
“You look happy.” I vocalized my observation.
“I am. Deliriously so. And the only thing that would make me happier would be to hand the reins back over to you so that I am free to focus more on my family and less on the bullshit that comes with being Don.”
I reared back. “You didn’t enjoy your time sitting on my throne?”
“Fuck no. Swear to God it aged me ten years.”
“Enzo said something about a security breach?”
Matteo snorted. “Wish that was the extent of the shit that’s gone down these past four years.”
Before I could open my mouth to ask exactly what had transpired during my unprecedented sabbatical, there was a beep from the device in my brother’s hand, and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as he stared down at it for what felt like an eternity.
Slowly, his gaze lifted to meet mine. “It’s a match.”
“Thank fuck,” I breathed out, relief slamming into my chest with the force of a sledgehammer.
“Should probably get you home before your sleeping beauty wakes up and turns into a feral cat.”
Matteo knew better than anyone how vicious Rory could be when provoked; she’d never bothered to hide her feisty side.
My spoiled mafia princess wife gave zero fucks what people thought of her, and she went out of her way to make sure everyone within earshot knew how much she hated me.
The only person she ever concealed her true feelings about me from was her father.
There would be no sympathy from the man who had all but sold her to my family to gain more power for himself, so she didn’t bother to waste her breath complaining.
He motioned to my wife. “Need help carting her out?”
I practically growled at the offer. Brother or not, the thought of another man putting his hands on Rory made me see red.
Being cut from the same cloth, Matteo understood my wordless possessive reaction. “Hands off. Got it. You two take the central SUV. I’ll follow behind in the rear.” He disappeared through the open door, his footsteps sounding on the metal staircase.
With a grunt, I scooped up Rory and carried her down the steps before placing her in the backseat of the car in the middle of the convoy as Matteo had instructed.
He must’ve relayed the results of the DNA testing because there was no hesitation from the soldiers, despite my change in appearance.
Each one ducked their head, muttering “boss” under their breath in acknowledgment as I passed.
Climbing into the SUV, I reached over to secure my wife’s seatbelt before latching my own.
Then I turned to the driver, surprised to find the man sitting up front wasn’t Marco, the head of my security detail.
If he wasn’t here, that could only mean one thing: that he’d lost his life in service to my family.
He’d been loyal, and I made a mental note to get the details from Enzo so I could properly pay my respects to those he left behind.
“Move out,” I commanded, and within seconds, the vehicles began to roll forward.
As we drove, I stared out the window, finding comfort in the familiar streets as we drove toward the estate where I’d lived for most of my life.
The sprawling mansion had served as the ancestral home of the Bellini family for generations, passed down from Don to Don.
I had been raised there, and it became mine after my father’s murder. Someday, it would belong to my son.
Matteo and Enzo had purchased homes in the same upscale neighborhood, but as we passed those addresses, the lots sat empty, which was strange as hell.
It was enough to have fear creeping in that I would wake up to find all of this had been a dream. How else did you explain two houses just vanishing unless this whole sequence of tracking down Rory and impregnating her with my heir was a figment of my subconscious?
The motorcade rolled through the front gates of the Bellini Estate, coming to a stop in the circular drive.
Pulling in a few deep breaths, I turned to my wife, who was still dead to the world. Softly, I brushed the strands of red hair away from her face, stroking the soft skin of her cheek with my thumb.
“Time to wake up, tigrotta. We’re home.”