Chapter 6 #2
“You don’t understand,” he insists. Alessio shakes his head and looks out into the dimly lit trees.
I watch the light above our heads cast shadows along his long hair and sharp face.
Something about him is equally feminine as it is masculine.
He’s tall, his shoulders broad, but his body is lithe and his lips plump. His cheeks look like they’d be soft.
I need to stop.
I look away from him and take a slow breath. “It’s time to go back inside.”
“I’ll go back inside when I want to,” he objects.
I roll my eyes and look back at Alessio with irritation, but the sadness in his eyes now causes me to pause.
I have no idea what time it is now. Nor what people are doing inside. If Rosalie is truly safe in there… and for some reason it doesn’t bother me as much as it normally would.
“Tell me,” I insist, “What I don’t understand.”
Alessio looks at the ground and tucks his hands into the pockets of his slacks.
“My life isn’t supposed to look like this,” he tells me. “Marrying a woman I barely know.”
I just listen. Watch the way his brow furrows and his shoulders slump down.
“Marrying a woman at all. I don’t know if you’ve caught onto it, but I’m not exactly interested in them. It has nothing to do with Rosalie. I’ve never been…attracted to women. My family suspects. Hell, Carmine knows. Yet, he agreed to this. Pushed me into it without a choice.”
My hands curl into fists, but I remain silent. Though my throat feels tight.
Alessio sighs. “How long will it last? How long will I have to pretend that I love Rosalie? My whole life? That’s not exactly a small thing to ask of someone. Oh, Alessio, just marry this woman and forget about any chance of being with someone you really love,” he scoffs as he speaks.
Despite his words being slower, I don’t get the feeling that they’re false in any way. They seem real. He’s venting to me right now, letting it all out, and it only makes me feel… angry. Angry for him.
I know I shouldn’t. This is how these things go for these families. When you’re part of a crime family, you shouldn’t expect anything to be normal. Any chance.
I should tell him this, remind him, but I don’t. I don’t hammer another nail into the coffin that is his life.
“You could get away from it all,” I say instead. It’s a bad idea. A very bad idea. Especially to say such a thing to a man who is high and struggling with the thought of living his life like this? Wrong. Very wrong.
It doesn’t stop me.
“I can’t,” Alessio says with a shake of his head. “I’d be running for the rest of my life. Carmine would never give up on finding me.”
“Would that be better or worse than being with Rosalie for the rest of your life?” I ask him quietly.
He sighs. “I don’t know. It’s already done though, Damian. I’m already married to her. I’ve already signed the contracts,” he reminds me this time.
I look away from him and ignore the ache in my chest. I ignore the urge to reach out to him. Touch him.
“This marriage is a cage,” Alessio tells me. “But… My life was already one. I knew this could happen. I knew what being a Dresvanni meant. Sacrificing for the good of the family. It’s my fault I didn’t expect it so soon.”
When I look at Alessio again, his eyes are glistening with tears. I swallow thickly and reach my hand to him slowly. I brush my fingers along his, feeling how cold his fingers are.
“You’re freezing,” I whisper.
He looks down at our hands and slowly brushes his fingers against mine. Closer. Firmer.
“You’re so warm. How is that?” he asks with a weak chuckle.
Just as I’m about to answer, the door opens nearby and a familiar voice interrupts us.
“Alessio, get your ass back inside, it’s time to eat,” Carmine says as he looks around the door. He has a surprised look on his face when he sees me with Alessio.
“Ah. I told you that you’d find him,” he says with a smile. Though his eyes shift down to our hands and then back up to his and he clears his throat.
“It’s time to eat,” he repeats himself, his eyes growing darker.
I nod wordlessly and motion Alessio in front of me.
“I was just getting a smoke, like I told him, you didn’t need to come get me,” he grumbles as he walks back inside. His voice is less soft and vulnerable than it had been a few moments before.
I can practically see the mask slip back on. The way Alessio’s shoulders straighten, his expression fixes itself, his sad eyes open a bit wider to appear happier. His lips pull up at the edges.
I wonder if his brothers will notice his state; if they do, they don’t seem to care.
When we get inside, Alessio is ushered to a table with Rosalie where they sit alongside Eivor, Patricia, Carmine, and Soren. The rest of the brothers are at a table to the side of them, and I am placed between Cassian and Tommaso.
Neither of which I’ve spoken to very much.
I don’t have much interest in doing so, but I remember what Eivor wants of me. Not just to eat at this function, but to discover more information about the family. About Alessio.
As I slowly eat, I listen to the brothers talk.
“Absolutely not! We can’t just let whoever dropped a bomb on the porch get away with it,” Tommaso insists, his voice louder than all the rest.
“We can’t assume who it was, Tommy,” Tiberi reminds him. “If we guess it was the Carvels and it wasn’t, we’ll only make the situation worse.” The second youngest brother’s voice is soft and low. He speaks as though he’s trying to keep a secret.
Cassian sighs. “Do we have to talk about this here?” he asks. He looks tired and annoyed with his brothers. He’s the youngest. Just barely eighteen. Despite having a different mother, he looks the most like Carmine—he almost looks more like the eldest brother than Alessio does.
“Yes!” Tommaso insists. “Now is the perfect time. We’re all together, why not? Just because it’s Alessio and Rosalie’s dinner rehearsal. Pft. You think whoever threatened them are just gonna stop out of respect for tradition?”
I can’t help but smile slightly as I listen. He’s so heated over this conversation that it’s almost amusing, but at the same time, I understand him. Weirdly enough, he’s the one I agree with the most.
If the Carvels did do this, we should get to the bottom of it. Whether they did or didn’t… Well, whoever did sure isn’t going to stop just because Alessio and Rosalie are getting married.
“What do you think, Damian, was it?” Tiberi asks as he sips at a glass of wine.
I blink and set my fork down. I tilt my head to the side.
“We need to find out who did this, why, and how to stop them,” I say. “They could be in danger right now. After all, if their marriage is the catalyst, the closer we get to the wedding, the more danger they could be in, right?”
“Ha! Told you!” Tommaso reached a hand over and shakes my shoulder before grabbing his fork again.
Tiberi shakes his head. “I’m not saying that’s incorrect. I believe that too, but if we’re not allowed to actively talk to the Carvels and ask them, how are we going to figure it out?” he asks with a curious look on his face.
“You’re not allowed to talk to them… Carmine said this?” I ask.
Cassian sighs and finally joins the conversation. “Yes. He doesn’t want any of us making the situation worse before the wedding,” he explains. His gaze shifts to Tommaso with a heated expression.
“I suppose the only way to know is to talk to your other enemies then,” I say as I pick up my own fork and begin eating once more.
Not particularly caring what I’m eating; the chicken is fine, the potatoes and vegetables and the sauce to pair it all…
It’s the last thing I’m paying attention to right now.
“Ah, yes,” Tiberi nods. “We can rule them out that way.”
“Unless they’re lying, then how are we gonna rule them out?” Tommaso says with a crinkled brow. “Besides, how are we gonna talk to all our enemies in just a few days?”
“Don’t talk to all of them, just the ones in the area,” I suggest. “The ones who have the resources to do this. They’d likely be closer rather than farther.”
“Which puts the Carvels right in front,” Cassian taps on the table. “Again, we aren’t allowed to talk to them.”
“He knows that, you little—” Tommaso starts, but I cut him off.
“No, I get what he’s saying,” I say slowly. “You aren’t allowed to. No one said anything about me.” I lower my voice.
The brothers all look at each other, then look at me. “Ah. Yes. Are you certain you want to put yourself in the way of danger?” Tiberi asks.
I chuckle. “I’m already in the way of danger.” I glance toward Rosalie and Alessio, who are talking to everyone at their table and don’t seem to be hearing our conversation.
“Who else could it be?” I ask the brothers curiously. “I only know of the Fiorelli’s enemies and being that until a couple weeks ago you were their number one, there’s not much to go on.”
“Well, the Tulo family have been looking in on us the last year; we know that much. They’ve been in the background, never making any moves, but we have word that they are following us more frequently,” Tommaso explains.
“Why wasn’t I told this to begin with?” I ask.
“Carmine wants it on the down-low,” Tiberi explains in a softer tone. “We don’t want them to know that we know. It’s dangerous to even be talking about it here.” He shoots Tommaso a glance.
“They could have this place bugged,” I agree. “I’ll need to do more research into them. Any other names I should be familiar with?”
“What about the Wolfgangs?” Cassian brings up.
“They’re in Germany. I doubt they would go through the trouble,” Tiberi waves his hand.
I hum softly in thought. “If they have a big enough grudge against you, this would be the perfect time to make moves,” I tell them. “No matter how far they are.”
The brothers look in thought for a moment before Carmine’s presence to the side of us is made known.
“I hope we’re talking only good things over here,” he says with a small smile. His eyes say something else though. They’re hard and suspicious.