Page 53 of Dario

“Not quite,” I said, swallowing the knowledge of once upon a time when my mom’s forgetfulness seemed the worst thing that could happen to me. “So, are you Mom’s brother, or his father’s?”

He didn’t answer.

I sighed. “Have you seen the photo?”

He tipped his head. “Of course, and the DNA profile.”

“And you don’t care he’s in the hands of a monster?” If that was so, I wasn’t getting anywhere.

“A monster?” he repeated, narrowing his eyes, and my heart lurched.

“The photos Sofia showed me show bruises she said were inflicted as punishment by his foster father.” Rage curled my fingers. “He’s so traumatized he doesn’t speak!”

I watched as a muscle ticked in his jaw. “That wasn’t the picture I was shown. Then why are you refusing to sign? Don’t you want him out of there?”

I sank down on the bed. “Because I don’t trust Sofia or Elisabetta not to kill him anyway.”

He glared at me with such an icy gaze I nearly shivered. “Sign the papers. Do it now. I can guarantee that Tomasso will be safe.”

Could I trust him? Did I have any choice? He’d said he’d keep Tomasso safe but hadn’t made that same assurance for me. Not that it mattered. It would be great, sure, but the real importancehere was a little boy. He deserved a chance. Even if that meant I didn’t get one.

Dario

I wanted to scream as the larger boat vanished on the horizon, and turned to see every one of my men holster their guns. The urge to use my own to put a bullet into every face was nearly overwhelming, but it wasn’t them that would meet a bullet, it was my lying, cheating husband, and I would do it myself.

Lucio walked up to me and pushed his phone into my hand. “Tell me something,” I growled, not caring who it was.

“Fratello,”Gia said. “Lucio just told me. Do we have a name?” I hesitated. “The boat,” Gia clarified.

I looked up. “Did anyone see the name of the boat?” They all shook their heads. “No,” I ground out.

“I’m sending his last texts to your phone, then I’ll reach out to the marinas. See what’s official and then hack into their records.” Gia said. “Let me reach out to all the people we have in position as well. Give me some time.”

Alessandro's phone – I shakily pulled mine out and called him. It didn’t even ring, but if he had it with him, it would have been in the water. I saw the notification from Gia and opened the text.

Make sure you are on the beach by six a.m. Plans have changed. Look for the boat.

I stared at it for a few seconds, then looked up at Lucio. By this time, Terry was racing down the sand. I saw Nonna by the door holding Emily.

This was not their fault. He’d fooled us all.

I walked back to the house, refusing to even meet Nonna’s eyes, and stormed into my office, ordering Lucio and Alvize to follow me. Wordlessly, I passed them the phone. “That was the last text message.”

Lucio took my phone and Alvize read it over his shoulder. “What was unsent?” Lucio asked.

I snatched the phone back. There was a notification a message had been sent and I'd been so intent on what I could see that I hadn't taken any notice of what I couldn't. I looked up, but Lucio was already on the phone to Gia. He hung up, then winced. “Gia needs his phone, and the tracker shows the last point as somewhere past the beach.”

Then it was in the water. I turned to Alvize. “Get Terry.” Terry returned with Alvize a moment later. “Did Alessandro give any indication he was planning something?”

Terry raised an eyebrow. “No, and yesterday I would have said he wasn’t likely to speak to me at all, never mind confide in me, but he helped me with Emily last night. He’s a natural.”

Yeah, a natural liar.

I sent Terry home and then, of course, I had to deal with Nonna. I’d never hidden anything from her, and I wasn’t about to now. Bitterly, I told her about Alessandro’s betrayal, and the possibility of who he was.

She nodded carefully. Then took each of my hands.“Stupido,”she spat out. I nodded and shame heated my cheeks. I’d been made a fool of. But then the word was accompanied by quite a hard slap on my arm. I swallowed. I knew I’d let the family down, let her down. She tutted and shook her head, mutteringsomething that sounded likesciocco. Not that fool was any better.

But he hadn’t just fooled me. Not that I was about to point that out to Nonna.