16. Leonardo
Leonardo
Abel was incredibly sweet, but he was more talkative than I was used to.
I was honestly thinking he was just normal, and everyone in the pride was just rude and ignored me all the time, but I didn’t know how to answer him fast enough.
He wasn’t annoying or anything, but he had more questions than I had answers for.
“Do you need more tea?” Rio asked, saving me from answering another question.
“Uh, no. Thank you though,” I said to the warlock. “Do you think everything is all right with Sandro? He’s not in trouble, is he?”
Rio’s smile was nothing but warm. I’m sure it helped with his profession.
“I’m sure that Sandro is perfectly fine.
The family has been looking into both your pride as well as other things that pertain to Sandro’s time being held.
Would you mind if I ask how he’s doing? I have to assume his body is finally starting to heal in earnest now that he’s mated. ”
I nodded. “Most of the scars have healed. There are a few that he says won’t ever fully disappear.”
“Unfortunately, no. They can be removed with magic, but so far, he’s rejected that.”
I shrugged. “They don’t bother me. If he doesn’t want them erased, that’s his choice to make.
” I hesitated, but I knew that Rio already knew about the nightmares.
That was why Rio had come back to Banff after that first night.
“The nightmares continue though. They’re not nearly as bad as that first night,” I whispered.
“They might never completely leave him. Time will tell for certain, but it might also be useful for him to talk to someone about it to help him deal with the situation in a healthier way.”
“How do we do that? Do you know someone who can help him? And what if he doesn’t want to?
” It had taken a talk with Rio for him to talk to me about it, and I was his beloved.
He should have been eager to discuss all the things with me.
I understood why. I’d seen the memories before they basically went dark.
And by dark, I mean blacked out. It was probably a good thing that he didn’t remember everything that had happened to him.
“I can reach out and see if I can find anyone. There are psychologists that do that very thing. I’m not certain they are willing to help us though. I will have to see.”
I nodded. I wanted that for Sandro, but only if it was something that he, too, desired. If he was completely against it, then no. I was going to support him in all things, and this was certainly an important one.
Before more could be said, Sandro returned to the dining room. I was happy to see him, and I was excited to show him how much I’d eaten. I don’t know if it was because of the tea, or simply because I had eaten a proper amount of food again, but I was feeling so much better.
“Hi,” I said as Sandro smiled at me.
“Hello. Are you finished with your meal?”
I nodded before pointing to my plate. I’d not eaten everything, but I’d come close.
“Excellent. How would you like to go for a walk? I can show you around the villa and the gardens. They’re always beautiful, but they’re especially nice this time of the morning.”
My smile grew. “I’d really like that.” I started to stand but then remembered Abel and Mazzi. I looked back across the table but found them both gone. Rio answered before I could even ask the question.
“They left several minutes ago. They both went to take care of the babies, I’m certain.”
“Oh.” I felt terrible because they had been so kind to me, and they left without me even thanking them for being so welcoming.
“They’ll be around,” Rio told me. “The babies all started to get fussy. Abel will most likely be out in the gardens at some point this morning. Mazzi as well.”
“Thank you, Rio.”
“Of course,” he told me. I stood, and after I picked up my plate, I took it over to where I’d seen the others leaving theirs. There was a bin that was full of other dishes, and after adding mine to it, Sandro and I left the dining room.
“From there, this is the quickest way out to the gardens. There are several exterior doors that lead to them, and they’re all connected to one another, but certain fountains are easier to access from specific doors.”
I didn’t quite understand what Sandro meant until he opened a door that led out to a beautiful terrazza. There was a lovely area to take a meal, and this morning would have been a great opportunity to do so. The breeze was perfect, and immediately, I could see why Abel loved the gardens so much.
“This is beautiful,” I told Sandro. “We do not have anything such as this at the house in Rome. We have to go to one of the parks in the city, but there is nothing near the pride house.”
“Master Vincent enjoys the gardens. There are safety issues at times, and having a place such as this helps make the villa feel less like a confined place. There are secured fences on the other side of the hedges, and there are men that you will see randomly patrolling the area just to be extra cautious, but you are perfectly safe here and are welcome to enjoy the gardens whenever you’d like. ”
I nodded. I knew what talk like that meant. Sandro was about to give me some not-so-wonderful news, and he was hoping that dangling the gorgeous garden in front of my nose was going to soften the news. He was probably right. I loved being outside. I think a lot of it had to do with my shifter side.
“You’re going to give me bad news, aren’t you?” I asked.
Sandro stopped walking, gave me a look that was pure surprise, and then sighed. “That depends on how open you are to news. It changes a lot of things for you, and although nothing between us will change, it might impact other aspects of our lives.”
We had made it to a fountain that had a gorgeous set of benches around it.
I walked over and plopped down, and if I were able to shift into my leopard at the moment, I would do so.
He would love this spot. It called to me already, and I could see myself lying out here sunning myself in my feline form.
“All right. Just spit it out. You say it won’t change anything between us but might. That doesn’t exactly make sense. What happened in that meeting that you’re being weird with your explanation?”
Sandro sighed again before he sat down beside me. “It’s nothing terrible, in my opinion, other than the fact that you’ve been lied to your entire life.”
I looked over at my mate, confused. “Huh? How? Shifters can’t lie. Well, they can lie, but we can detect it. Who lied?”
Sandro’s expression turned serious. “At a minimum, your parents. Most likely, everyone around you. I refuse to keep this information from you, therefore the lies stop here.”
“Should I be worried?” I asked, suddenly just that. He was causing my anxiety to spike, and I didn’t exactly care for that. I’d been so content with my tea and the breakfast I’d managed to eat and keep down. Now it was suddenly sitting like a brick in my stomach.
“You shouldn’t, no. I apologize for making you worry. That is not what I intended. I’ve been trying to figure out how to share with you what I’ve been told.”
“Bluntly. Just blurt it out, Sandro. If you feel that I should know these things, then just say them.” That worked, right? The phrase was ripping off the Band-Aid, and that’s what he was doing by telling me all at once.
“Your parents,” he started. “They obviously loved you very much and went to great lengths to protect you.” Immediately, I wanted to know from whom.
I kept quiet though, waiting for him to continue.
“When you gave me your surname, I thought it sounded familiar. Turns out I was correct in my assumption. Your father belonged to a family, much as this one, actually, from Sicily.”
“Huh?” That was…what? “What do you mean?”
“The Mosca family. I’m quite surprised your father didn’t take your mother’s last name, but it seems that wouldn’t have been much help as they were officially married in Sicily in front of your father’s family.
The Mosca family is a very active family in Sicily.
Your grandfather is Alfio Mosca, the head of it, just as Master Vincent is the head of this one. ”
I blinked at Sandro several times. “You’re telling me that my grandfather is the head of a mafia family?”
Sandro nodded. “There’s more.”
“Of course there is. What else are you going to drop on me?” I placed my hand on my stomach, and after a couple of deep breaths, my stomach seemed to calm some. “I’m not upset with you. This is just something that I never would have imagined.”
“I would think not,” Sandro said. He placed his hand on my back and started rubbing up and down. “If you need, I can get Rio out here to help. He can do some magic, and your stomach will calm. Possibly.”
It was tempting, but honestly, I think this was more anxiety than it was anything to do with me being pregnant.
Then again, that might not be helping things.
“I’m good. I just never thought that my dad was from an organized crime family.
He was…boring. He loved my mom something fierce, and they were incredibly happy.
” I smiled, thinking about the way they used to look at each other.
I would give anything to have Sandro look at me the way that Dad used to look at Mom.
“What other deep secrets have been revealed to you?”
“Your mom wasn’t Italian,” Sandro said.
I shook my head. “All right. That is difficult to believe. She was all things Italian.”
“Possibly. She has had at least two decades, possibly longer, to immerse herself in the country. She’s actually from a pack just outside of Moscow,” Sandro told me.
I continued to blink at my mate because I didn’t know what else to do. “Is anything about my life true?” I asked finally.
Sandro reached for me, and I sighed before I stood and moved over and crawled onto his lap. Thankfully, the bench had a back, and Sandro was able to hold me here with my feet resting on the bench beside us.