Chapter 11
DANTE
Ireturned home at speed with Carlo and Luca following me. Both of them attempted to reassure me with words of comfort as they told me not to worry and that they were sure Anna was fine and just needed some space.
Well, that might be the case, but what the fuck did she need space from because she’d had no need for space when I’d left after breakfast, and yet here we were, barely at lunchtime and her missing having left Amina with Gina. That worried me more than anything, that she’d left the baby who meant the whole world to her.
“Papa,” I called as I entered the front door, only to find my father appearing in the hallway. “What happened?”
He shook his head as Gina appeared with a crying Amina.
“Hey, bella ragazza.” I was already taking her from my sister-in-law and following my father and brothers towards the office.
As the door slammed and Amina began to gently settle into sleep, my father looked between the three of us and then focused on me. “She was upset. She met Cara, well, Cara introduced herself with insults and cursing and Anna knocked her to the floor.” He smiled, pride spreading across his face. “She is still a force to be reckoned with.”
“Papa.”
“Okay, okay,” he waved me off and continued, “Look, she said things to Cara about what Aldo could have done, but didn’t, and suggested Cara look closer to home if she was unsure as to why things have happened the way they have.”
“Like you said?” Carlo asked, but the old man just shrugged, all of us knowing he had said this to us when Aldo had first hurt Gino. “Gino was one of us–”
My father cut him off. “Doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to eat through a straw, shit into a bag and have no feeling from the neck down.”
“Papa!” Luca was up on his feet, horror spreading across his face.
“Sit,” Carlo told him as our father continued.
“He is what made Anna run. She saw him and everything about her changed.”
“What do you mean? Perhaps she was shocked at his appearance . . . he was her friend too and she hasn’t seen him since he was hurt.” I couldn’t think of a reason why she’d run because of Gino.
My father shook his head. “He was never her friend. She remained with you boys as long as she did because of you, Dante. She told Cara she was here to stay, with you.”
I couldn’t fight the grin that split my face until Carlo spoke.
“Then why did she run?”
“Amina.”
“Amina?” My startled question to my father caused the baby to stir a little. “Ssh.” I rocked her.
“She looked shocked to see him, but when he looked at the baby, her shock turned to fear.”
“I don’t understand?” Although I was afraid that I might understand all too well.
“Dante,” Carlo interrupted. “Aldo set out to disable Gino, like a punishment, we know that, have discussed it at length but could never understand why. Now, it seems that Anna is afraid of Gino, and fears him most in relation to Amina.”
“You think he’s Amina’s father?” I didn’t give anyone a chance to answer. “No, she said he was dead.”
“Maybe she hoped or considered him to be.” Luca sat beside me. “You know her better than any of us, why would she feel that way, why would she claim he was dead, and why would Aldo do what he did?”
“Shit!”
“Yes.” My father confirmed my thoughts.
“He always liked her when we were kids, but she was never interested, and even if they had met and had some kind of affair and he’d gotten her pregnant, Aldo wouldn’t have gone this far.”
“No he wouldn’t,” Papa agreed. “He was an honourable man from an honourable family and whilst he may have fought Gino, given him a good beating for cheating on his wife with his sister, and getting her pregnant, he wouldn’t have gone this far.”
I felt weak and was thankful to be sitting.
“What? What is it?” Carlo asked, concern etched in his voice.
“Somebody hurt her. I know they did. It was Amina’s father. It was Gino. I have to find Anna and take care of her, as I promised Aldo.”
I handed the baby to my father and waved off my brothers’ attempts to follow me.
“I think I know where she will have gone, and I need to do this alone.”
“Dante,” my father called to me whilst I impatiently turned to face him. “You need to give Aldo back to her.”
I nodded before looking in Carlo’s direction who spoke without hesitation, “Consider it done.”
“Papa, thank you,” I told him, landing a kiss to each of his cheeks, and then with no further words or thoughts, I ran, needing to find mio ragazza. To bring her home once and for all and to make things right, especially the things I’d gotten wrong.
As I got closer to where I hoped to find Anna, my head began to thump. What a fucking mess! Why hadn’t Aldo told me why he’d done what he had. Fuck! I would have supported him in whatever course of action he wanted to take against anyone hurting Anna. It was no wonder she’d been so reluctant to my touch and closeness. If it took the rest of my life, I would help her to recover and to know that nobody would ever hurt her again.
Once it had been confirmed that she hadn’t left the grounds, I knew where she would go, the place we had shared for so long. A place she felt safe, the place she had gone to when she needed to be alone and to think. I passed what had once been her family home and dashed behind it, into the wooded area just beyond and came to a stop at the old oak tree that had been here long before us and would be here after all of us were gone. It had been years since I’d come here, and looking at the rickety staircase, hoped it would hold my weight.
By the time I was halfway up, I could hear the sound of crying. Not wanting to startle her, I called to Anna as I made my way to the top, pausing in the doorway before making my way in.
“Hey.” That one word saw her fall apart completely, her former soft cries were replaced with loud, wracking sobs that shook her body.
Reaching forward, I silently pulled her to me, gathering her in my lap as my arms wrapped around her, rocking her, stroking her hair and just waiting. At one point, I wondered if she had fallen asleep as her breathing slowed, but the occasional sound of a hiccup combined with the tiniest of sobs catching in her throat told me she was still awake.
I had no clue how long we remained there, her in my hold, neither of us daring to speak. Fury ran through my veins as I conjured images of what Gino might have done to her, but I knew that the last thing she needed in this moment was anger. She needed peace, calm, understanding and love, but this simmering rage, well, who knew what that would lead to eventually.
“Amina!” Her startled call of her daughter’s name was the first word she uttered to me. “How terrible am I to abandon her this way?”
“She’s okay, she is with Papa and Gina, her family, so not abandoned.”
“She’ll need feeding.” She attempted to pull free of my hold, which I loosened but wasn’t ready to let her go yet.
“She’s okay. I told them to call me if she became fraught or hungry.” I felt her sag as she relaxed a little. Turning her slightly, I took in her tear stained face, her sad, frightened eyes and felt my heart break a little, but still I forced my temper not to rise further. “Papa said you met Cara and saw Gino.”
Tears immediately escaped her eyes, silently as her lips quivered and she attempted to look away.
“You don’t get to hide from me, Anna, you did nothing wrong.” I didn’t need to hear what she had to say to know that she was totally innocent in what happened . . . again, these thoughts weren’t helping the simmering rage that threatened to explode.
“How do you know?”
Her question rendered me speechless briefly. “Because I know you. Now, I need to know what happened, not details that you’re not comfortable sharing, but just tell me that Aldo did nothing wrong.”
She nodded as she struggled to brush the tears from her face. “Aldo, did what he did for me, to make Gino pay. I came back here over a year ago.”
This was news to me.
“Aldo and I met and he told me that I needed to decide what I wanted . . . if I wanted you. He said that if I wanted a life away from here then I needed to tell you because you didn’t look at other women whilst waiting for me.”
I frowned and she laughed, and if that wasn’t music to my ears.
“He meant look at them as anything beyond sex.”
“Oh.” Aldo hadn’t been wrong.
“So, I thought about it and decided the time was right. I had enjoyed my independence away from here, but this place and you were my home and my future, if you still wanted me. Both of my parents were gone and this world was Aldo’s world, and as mad as it might sound, I missed it. I missed you. I came back for Carlo and Gina’s wedding.”
My frown returned because she never attended their wedding . . . fuck!
“Yeah. I was staying with Aldo and wanted to surprise you and was on my way to see you when I ran into Gino. He was chatty and friendly and when he realised I was heading to you, he told me you wouldn’t be able to see me . . . that you were tied up with stuff, so I would need to wait until later. I told him that I thought you would be happy for me to interrupt and he acted as though he felt bad for being the one to tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“That your family had made a deal with another family and that your engagement was to be announced at the wedding reception, but that he was sure you’d accept me as a mistress.”