Chapter 9

DANTE

My brothers stared across at me as I washed the blood from my hands and pulled off my shirt that carried the evidence of the couple of hours I'd spent interrogating one of the men we'd captured from the club. I had never questioned our way of life but since Anna had returned there had been fleeting moments where I had. I wondered how it was possible to do the things we did, cause the pain and suffering we did, and then go home and be caring and gentle. Looking down at my hands as I dried them, I questioned how these were the same hands that held Amina, a picture of pure innocence, that pushed stray hairs from Anna's face when we lay together, the woman who encapsulated all that was good in the world – love, but had so recently taken a man apart, bit by bit until his soul had left his body. I'd seen my father, Carlo and Marco balance those things and although I hadn't given it much thought until now, I could see that while they were two sides of the same coin, the two extremes never occupied the same space.

"At least we know it wasn't one of our guys who told them we'd be in the club." Joey sounded relieved as he interrupted my thoughts.

"Yeah, I don't know that I could have dealt with any more betrayal," Carlo agreed.

Accepting the sweatshirt from Joey, I noticed all of my brothers were sat in an arc as if they were about to interview me. A single seat was opposite them and Marco gestured to it. Okay, maybe they were going to interview me.

"You wanna tell me what the fuck this is?" I asked, already dropping into the chair. "Is it an intervention?"

"Does it need to be?" Tony asked seriously.

"What? No!" I answered my own question. "Why would I need an intervention?"

They all exchanged glances and then the penny dropped for me when I saw Carlo shake his head.

"Ah, you want to know about Anna?"

Joey sat forward. "We know how important she was to you, how close the two of you were as kids and figured you may be distracted by that . . ."

If I hadn't just cleaned all of the blood off, I might add some more. "I am not distracted." That was a lie. From the second I had set eyes on her again, she had been the only thing on my mind. Even before then. Since she had left I had thought of her often, then when she returned for her father's funeral, and again when Aldo had crossed us and left, meaning she'd disappeared too.

The disbelieving expressions on all of my brother's faces suggested that they didn't believe a word of what I was saying and they knew I didn't either.

"Okay, she distracts me, but in a good way. You mean that I can't see straight and that her reasons for being here are dishonest, well, they're not. She is Anna, the same Anna we all know and lov–" I cut myself off before one of them did.

Carlo smirked and shook his head at me. The others exchanged more glances, some amused, others disapproving.

"Jeez, what the fuck is the matter with you pussies?" asked Luca, pointing between me, Carlo and Marco. "All this love and romance bullshit. I intend to marry a suitable woman, one that won't ask questions and knows her place."

"Tread carefully," Carlo warned, sensing that the inference was that Gina didn't do either of those things."

"Anna knows this world as well as we do, she even accepts that Aldo's fate had to be fulfilled, but I love her, always have, so, if you have an issue or if there is anything else you'd like to say."

Luca continued with a shake of his head. "I'm just trying to look out for you. You've always had a soft spot for her."

One of the others muttered something about my spot being anything but soft where Anna was concerned and the others sniggered.

"Then I thank you, but there's no need, really. We have shit to sort out, and I have a feeling our road may be rocky, but she's here to stay, her and the baby."

"I am more than happy with Jay," Marco threw in, clearly thinking he needed to defend his relationship too as he was one of us who had found love.

Luca rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Your funerals, all of you."

Carlo was up on his feet and essentially dismissing everyone with the exception of me who he guided away, towards a smaller office at the back of the interrogation space.

"I've been thinking about the baby's father."

I was surprised. It had taken longer than I'd expected for him to ask about Amina's dad. "He's dead."

"What do you mean?" Carlo looked stunned.

"No longer alive. Dead."

"I know what it means, but I received information this morning about Anna and the time since Gino . . ." he paused, "I'm never quite sure how to describe what happened. Was it an attack, an assault, because here's the thing that doesn't sit right with me, never did entirely, and we know Papa wasn't happy . . . everyone assumed Aldo had meant to kill him, and yet he survived."

I'd had similar thoughts myself, more so lately but was glad to hear that I wasn't the only one it didn't sit well with. "You think Aldo didn't mean to kill him?"

"I don't know what Aldo meant to do, but what I do know is that if he'd wanted Gino dead, he'd be dead, rather than living as he does."

"Shit! You think he intended to maim rather than kill."

Carlo's brow quirked. "We may not have said it, but I think we both know that he did."

"You said that you'd received information about Anna." I'd heard him say that but hadn't quite processed it.

"Yes, and there's nothing. Amina's birth certificate has no father listed and she went into hospital a few hours from here to have the baby and then left. The bill was paid by Aldo and the discharge address doesn't exist, it certainly wasn't the shithole she was living in when working in the club and the club work coincided with your meeting with Aldo."

"So who the fuck was he, the father?"

The door behind us burst open and as we both drew weapons, Luca filled the doorway. "Dante, you need to come, it's Anna, she was walking with Pa and something's happened and she's run off . . . the baby is with Gina . . ."

"She left Amina?" I had no clue what had happened but whatever it was, it must be serious for her to leave without her baby, so serious that I was already pushing through the doorway with Luca leading my path and Carlo following in it.