CHAPTER EIGHT
The plane touched down in Italy under heavy security.
It was around one p.m. that afternoon when they left Philadelphia, and it was an eight-hour flight to Rome.
But Rome was in the Central European time zone, which made it six hours ahead of Philly time.
That meant, when they arrived in Rome, it was three a.m.
Which had Bella jetlagged as hell. She still hadn’t gotten used to the time swings even though she spent half of her time in France.
But her real concern was Mick. She was a still pissed that he didn’t bother to come out of that bedroom and speak to her during the entire eight-hour flight, and now she was being escorted off of his plane and placed in one of three waiting SUVs as if she had no say in her movements whatsoever.
But that was Mick too. He always had to control her.
It would be another half hour before Mick got off the plane. Which was ridiculous to her. But he was supposedly making contacts. He was supposedly handling business. Besides, beggars couldn’t be choosey, she knew. She waited it out.
She knew something was about to go down when security suddenly tightened around the airstairs. She even saw sharpshooters appear on the rooftop. She knew it was bad in Rome, but she never dreamed it was that bad. Her heart was even more worried about Dory.
Because the driver and senior capo occupied the front seats of the SUV, Mick got in on the middle row next to Bella.
Then with one SUV in front filled with Mick’s men, and another SUV behind them filled with Mick’s men, the SUV carrying Mick and Bella made its way through the heart of Rome and then toward the outskirts.
Nothing was said for several more minutes as Mick was back on the phone again. He was confirming security details. By the time he ended the last call, Bella was texting.
When she finished and looked at Mick, she realized Mick was staring at her. “What?” she asked him.
“You were smiling while you were texting. Who is it? One of your boyfriends?”
“I don’t have any boyfriends. Do I have male friends? Yes. That was Datvey.”
“Who the fuck is Datvey?”
“A friend who happens to be male.”
Mick shook his head. That woman put every man she touched through the ringer. He was a living witness.
“I’m sure Deuce told you about Ron,” Bella said.
Mick was looking out of the window as they rode. He didn’t respond.
“Ron is suddenly telling everybody he’s not the father.”
Mick looked at her. She was still a strikingly beautiful woman. Still a pain in his ass. “What do you mean he claims he’s not? Is he or is he not Dory’s father, Bella?”
“He has DNA results that shows he’s not Dorian’s father. But they could be fake.”
Mick wanted to ring her neck. “Cut that shit out, Bella, and I mean for good! Now you tell me the truth.”
Bella exhaled. “He took a DNA test that shows he’s not Dorian’s father.”
The next question was the most obvious one, and even Mick’s driver glanced through the rearview at him. If he’s not the father, who is was the obvious next question. But Mick didn’t ask the obvious question.
But he did frown. “Why did you tell me Ron took a DNA test when Dory was first born?”
“Because Ron told me he took one,” said Bella.
“I was only going by what Ron said. He even showed me the results later on. How was I to know they were fake? You know how badly he wanted a relationship with me back then. And I was trying to be a good friend to him because he was really good to Dory. I should have questioned it, but I didn’t. Why would I?”
“Why would you? Because Tos has always been a slick sonofabitch, that’s why. Now Dory’s in his twenties and just finding out the man he thought was his father all these years wasn’t? You knew you were sleeping around, Bella. You knew Ron wasn’t the only possibility.”
“I wasn’t sleeping around. That’s a lie!
” Bella said as if her feelings were hurt.
“Ron was a the only piece on the side I had and you know it. You were the only man I was sleeping with on a regular. But when Dory was born, he didn’t look anything like you.
And Ron said he and the baby took a DNA test. I eventually saw the results with my own two eyes.
What was I supposed to do, Mick? I didn’t know you could rig that shit. ”
It was just a mess, and Mick knew it. And Roz? Mick shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. When Roz found out that he’d kept even the possibility of it from her all these years, it just might be the straw to break it for her. And rightly so.
Hell, he didn’t know how much more of this shit even he could take.
“Ah man,” he said out loud, verbalizing his anguish.
But that only made Bella all the more pissed.