Page 128 of Caterina
He takes in the scene in one fast sweep. Me standing. Boots on, weapon holstered.
His dark gaze narrows.
“You were told twenty-four hours.”
“It’s been twenty-four hours.”
“Barely.”
“Still counts.”
Teresa mutters, “Unfortunately.”
Vito steps inside and closes the door behind him. “Luca wants everyone in the study.”
Vito’s mouth twitches, but only for half a second before his attention drops to Cristiano. The change in him is immediate. Not soft, exactly. Vito Conti does not do soft in any way that announces itself. But something in his face loosens.
Cristiano notices him and lights up.
A full-body baby reaction. Arms jerking, legs kicking, ring abandoned in favor of reaching. A sound of delight shrieks out of his mouth.
Vito crosses the room and picks him up. The baby grabs at his shirt, fist closing in the fabric, and makes a babbling noise.
The heir in his father’s arms.
Vito kisses the side of his son’s head, then looks at me over him. “Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“Let me rephrase. Can you walk without reopening anything and making the women in this house blame me?”
“Probably.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“It’s the answer you’re getting.”
Teresa points at me. “See? Insufferable.”
Vito adjusts Cristiano against his chest. “I noticed.”
For a second, looking at them together, I understand Vito better than I did when I first arrived. Kidnapper, heir, killer, yes.
But also husband, father, protector. The man Teresa came back pregnant and in love with. The man I came here, partly, to judge.
I did judge him.
Still am.
But there is no performance in the way he holds his son.
No calculation. Just a father holding a son.
Vito’s eyes move over me again. “Caterina is already downstairs.”
I keep my expression still. “Good.”
Teresa watches me.
