Chapter 8 DAN
DAN
I’d booked myself on Rose’s next flight home, which is today, but she needs to stay away from the hospital in case Magnus has people watching. The only way I know to get a message to her is through her mother.
In the back of the taxi, my phone pings with a new email.
I sip my morning coffee while I open the message from Magnus.
My lips curl into a snarl as I scroll through the photographs he’s sent.
Just knowing he has access to my flower’s pictures twists my insides.
I want to carve out his eyeballs for even looking at her.
All the torment I felt when she married is back at the forefront of my mind, torturing me with images of them together like flashes on a movie reel, moving way too quick and sending my head into a spin.
Scrolling to the next image, my breath halts.
Her smile is enough to stop any man in their tracks, but it’s the way her face is lit up as she plays with a small boy, not much older than four or five.
Her son’s grin matches hers. The same wide, open expression I haven’t seen in over a decade.
A flicker of pain stabs through my ribs.
A bunch of what-ifs settle in my gut along with the realisation that they will never be.
Staring at that moment between her and her son softens something brutal inside me.
I imagine a life with her and wonder if I could ever love a kid who’s not mine.
He’s gotta be a teenager now. Probably a little shit if me and my brother at that age are anything to go by.
I silently chuckle to myself, thinking of how Dom and I would always be in detention, for one thing or another.
The kid’s eyes are familiar, like looking at my little brother, and I realise it doesn’t matter who his father is, him and Rose are a package deal and I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they’re both safe and away from this motherfucker.
There’s a reason she’s hiding her true identity and I’m gonna do my best to keep it that way.
As I push open the door to the hospital room, my shoulders relax at seeing her mother in the bed with an oxygen mask over her face.
Her hand pats the bed as if feeling for something.
“It’s me, Lucia. It’s D’Angelo. I’m not here to finish you off.” I give her my warmest smile, hoping to reassure her. “Yet.”
She pulls the mask down under her chin. “Two visits in one week. I’m honoured.” Her head tilts as if trying to look behind me. “Is Rose with you?”
I scan my surroundings and check for bugs. “Not today. Do you have a number I can contact her on?”
“No.” Her lip twitches, telling me she’s lying. And I’m not confident that the room isn’t bugged. It’s the first thing I’d do if I was looking for a relative.
I pull out my phone and type in my notes.
Rose’s husband is in Rome and he’s looking for her. I need you to tell her to stay away.
Lucia squints her eyes and pats the bed again.
I reach over and lift her glasses from the trolly next to her. “Here, put these on.” Enlarging the text on my phone, I hold it in front of her face and place my other finger in front of my lips, signalling for her to be quiet.
Her hand trembles as she slides her glasses behind her ears and her eyes widen as she reads the message on my phone. “La mia bella rosa.”
The heart rate monitor picks up speed. Lucia lifts her mask over her face, gasping for air. The machine beeps and a nurse rushes in.
“Bianchi?” A man shouts behind me.
I turn, but Elio fists my collar, pushing me back against the wall.
He snarls, muttering something in Italian.
I really should brush up on my languages.
He continues to mutter in Italian, “…figlio di puttana.”
I know that one as its particular favourite of mine. “Vaffanculo.”
“Portalo fuori,” a nurse shouts, which I believe is take it outside.
Lucia calls out, “Elio.”
Elio lets go of my shirt and steps back, puffing through his nostrils. “I’m here, Mamma.” He points to me and then at the door. “Get the fuck out.”
I bristle my spine and straighten my tie. “We need to talk.”
Lucia bats the nurses away. “Lasciami. I’m all right.” She coughs, then inhales more oxygen through her mask. “Get me out of this room. I need some air.” Lucia shuffles on the bed.
Elio points his finger in my face. “You come into my mother’s room, hurt her, and then want to talk?” He gets in my face and whispers, “I’ve maimed people for less.”
I roll my eyes and bat his finger away. “Hurting women runs in your family, Elio, not mine.” I narrow my eyes at him.
“I know you were here before. You sniffing round my sister again?”
“Leave him, Elio.” Lucia holds the oxygen mask under her chin as she settles into the wheelchair. “Take me outside. I need to get out of this room.”
A nurse speaks to her in Italian and places a blanket over her legs.
“Yes, Mamma.” Elio pushes her through the door and Lucia turns to me. “You coming?”
I stride out of the room, staying a few steps behind as I follow Elio into the hospital gardens.
The afternoon sun shines on my face, but does nothing to lift my mood.
This trip was meant to be a simple business trip that coincided with a family wedding.
Enjoy a bit of downtime at Riccardo’s vineyard before catching up with my other cousin, Matteo.
But now it’s turned into a fucking nightmare.
Shoving my hand into my pocket, I pop a piece of gum from the packet, and bring it to my mouth. The strawberry flavour bursts on my tongue as I chew, though nothing can satiate this unease in my stomach.
If the impending flight wasn’t bad enough, I’ve now got to deal with Rosetta and her family and her fucking husband.
Elio stops at a bench in the middle of the healing gardens, surrounded by a variety of plants and shrubs. He rests against the stone wall of a large fountain. “What do you want, Bianchi? You have about five minutes before you’ll be needing a hospital bed of your own.”
A chuckle escapes. “You’re funny.”
He crosses his arms over his broad chest. “I never knew you had a sense of humour.”
“Oh, Elio. There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.” I match his stance and fold my arms across my chest.
“Have you boys done with the pissing contest?” Lucia coughs, sounding worse than she did a few days ago. She waves her hand between us. “Tell him what you told me, D’Angelo.”
I spin around, doing a full sweep of our surroundings before I speak. “I need to get in touch with Rose.”
“Yeah, you and everyone else. I checked the hospital footage. I know you were here the other day.” Elio stands up straight and pushes his hands into his trouser pockets. “You followed her here. Get in touch with her yourself.”
“I followed her here from the flight. I don’t have her number, but I know she’s coming here today and, as you know, I’m not the only one looking for her.”
“Is it true, Elio?” Lucia stares up at him, the oxygen mask in her hand. “Is Magnus in Rome?”
Elio drops his head. “He’s out for blood. He thinks she set him up and put him in prison.”
Lucia coughs and holds the oxygen mask over her face.
Elio rests his hand on his mother’s shoulder.
I scratch the bristles on my jaw. “You need to tell Rose to stay away and keep her distance.”
“What do you care?” Elio snarls.
I shouldn’t care. I don’t know why I’ve let myself get caught up in this. It’s been fucking years and yet that woman still haunts me. I shrug my shoulder. “I don’t care. Just can’t fucking stand Magnus.” The truth is, I never stopped being caught up in this. Caught up in her.
Lucia pulls her mask away from her face and croaks, “Liar.”
What does the old dear know about it? I lift my wrist and check the time on my watch. Her plane lands right about now. “We’re wasting fucking time here. If you won’t call her, I’ll go to the airport and tell her myself.”
“You think you can protect her?” Elio asks.
“I protect what’s mine.” I roll the gum around my tongue, thinking about Rose. She is mine even if I hate her. She may have married someone else, but she gave herself to me first. I have a piece of her I’ll never give up.
Elio huffs. “Your father couldn’t protect your mother.”
I stride over to him and grip his lapel, baring my teeth. “You leave my mother out of this.”
Lucia makes the sign of the cross. “God rest her soul.”
I tilt my head, my eyebrows pinch, wondering what Lucia knows about my mother. She never knew her. I don’t think my mother ever left England.
Lucia coughs up another lung. “If anyone can protect her, Elio…” She wheezes. “It’s him.”
“What makes you think you can protect my sister better than me?” Spittle flies from his mouth.
Because I love her. I loathe her. She’s under my skin. If anyone’s going to hunt her down, it’s me. “Because your home is the first place anyone will look.” I release his jacket and put some distance between us. As much as I hate the Conti family, Elio is nothing like his father or his uncle.
I check the time again. “You have about an hour before she gets here, damn it. The room could be bugged. There could be eyes located here.”
“If there are, they’ve seen you here.”
“Nobody knows me.” Though it seems I’m more popular than I thought.
“I recognised you,” Elio says.
“What do you want, a medal?” I rub my forehead. “Don’t worry about me. Just call her.”
He looks down at his mother. “You trust a Bianchi?”
Lucia nods, taking a deep inhale of her oxygen.
He pulls his phone from his pocket and hits the call button.
Rose’s faint voice comes through the handset. Water cascades from the fountain as if washing away all my anxiety at the sound of her voice.
“Hello.”