Page 125 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
Cazzo. Not long enough.
“How are you feeling?” I let my voice cool, as if I’m speaking to a stranger. My hands are tight fists. If I let them relax just a bit, they’ll shake. It’s taking everything I have to put on this act.
Mari picks up on the change in me immediately, her brows furrowing at my tone. “I’m fine.”
“Where’s Sophia?”
She frowns. “She has a fracture in her paw. She’s sleeping. The vet gave her a sedative.”
“Good.”
Her lips part, and her eyes are swimming with confusion.
I can’t fucking take it. Breaking our eye contact, I turn to De Rossi. “We need to talk.”
His jaw is hard. “I’m looking forward to hearing your explanation for how the fuck this happened. Come on.”
We walk out of the room, and I resist the urge to look back at Mari, but I feel her gaze burning through my back.
CHAPTER31
GIORGIO
De Rossi takesme to an office and shuts the door.
“Who the fuck is Polo?” De Rossi demands as soon as we sit down. “Martina wouldn’t say anything until you got here.”
I run my tongue over my teeth.When in doubt, say less.
“He’s my half-brother.”
De Rossi scowls. “And why would he want to betray you? Don’t make me interrogate you, Napoletano. I want the full story.Now.”
I lean back against the chair and wrap my palms over the arm rests. “I’ll tell you everything. I have no reason to hide this part of my history anymore. Polo and I have the same father.”
“The submarine.”
I give shake of my head. “Sal Gallo.”
De Rossi’s eyes widen, and a moment later, he’s out of his seat and whipping out his gun. “You’re Sal’s kid?”
I stare down the barrel. “I am.”
He disengages the safety. “You have thirty seconds to explain yourself before my bullet meets your skull.”
There used to be a time when having a gun pointed at me would at least raise the hairs on the back of my neck, but that was a long time ago. I crack my neck. “Sal raped my mother. You’re looking at the result.”
De Rossi’s forehead creases. “What the fuck.”
“My mother kept me, and her husband—the man you know as my father—agreed to not make a fuss and claim me as his own in exchange for a promotion. That’s how he became a submarine. That might have been the end of Sal’s involvement in my life, but someone up there-” I point my finger to the ceiling, “-decided he wasn’t done with me. Sal heard about a hacker working for the Secondigliano Alliance and discovered it was me—his kid.”
Comprehension slowly crisscrosses over his face. “That’s why they traded you to the Casalesi.”
I nod. “Blood ties run deep in thesistema. Even though I’d never met Sal until then, he was my father, so in some way, I belonged to him.”
De Rossi cocks his head. “Do you?”
“I’ve spent my entire life thinking about how I’m going to kill him.”
