Page 52 of Courting Danger

Before anyone could move, Valente suddenly lunged, but he didn’t aim for Alex. Instead, he grabbed Ghita, wrapping one arm around her throat from behind and pressing a gun to her head with the other hand.

Everyone around them jumped back. Many pulled out their own weapons, though they weren’t sure where to aim.

I remained at Alex’s side, my gun halfway out of its holster. Drawing it would be useless. I didn’t trust my aim enough to shoot Valente without hitting Ghita.

Would a head on confrontation work better?

It might at least distract Valente enough to get the gun pointed away from Ghita.

No, Valente would likely just end up shooting Ghita before she could escape.

Despite the tense atmosphere, Valente’s hands were steady as he pressed the gun a little harder into Ghita’s temple.

“Accusing me of attacking this family. How did you come up with such an assumption?”

Rather than get upset, Alex turned his back on the entire situation and went over to the nearest table to pour himself another glass of champagne.

“You were surprisingly sloppy. Once I started thinking that it might be you, everything fell into place. You were at the aquarium, and you distracted my bodyguard right before someone took a shot at me, but you didn’t try to protect me until it looked like I might survive. You’re one of the few people who can get close enough to drug me and has enough authority to come and go as he pleases. You even helped interrogate the gunmen, where you could conveniently kill anyone who said too much.”

Swirling the champagne in the glass, Alex watched the bubbles for a moment before he continued.

“When D’Angelo Bianchi also got shot, the opportunity to use him as a scapegoat was too perfect to ignore, wasn’t it? Unfortunately, using a drug only the Bianchi family have access to, and burying me on their property was a little too obvious to be believed.”

In the end, Alex put the glass down without taking a sip and turned back to face Valente. He smiled, and Valente’s finger tightened on the trigger.

I wanted to smack Alex.

What was he doing, antagonizing the man pointing a gun at his cousin’s head?

“You’ve got no proof,” Valente said, but even he didn’t sound convinced. He knew this audience didn’t require proof. The Mariano family lived by their own law.

Alex acted as if Valente hadn’t said anything. “The one thing I can’t figure out is why. Why try to kill me? Initially, I thought it was because you didn’t want me to take over the family. But your first attempt on my life came before my father was dead. Before I even knew he’d been arrested. You’ve always been loyal to this family. So why?”

For the first time since I had met the man, Valente’s hands shook. The barrel of the gun jerked against Ghita’s temple, making her whimper, but she didn’t flinch or try to pull away.

Valente’s eyes turned to chips of flint, like hard bits of stone with no life inside. He calmed down by breathing deep through his nose.

“I wasn’t loyal to the Mariano family. I was loyal to David. I’ve spent years as his shadow, and I was happy to do it because I thought that was where I belonged. A mafia king needs a wife and an heir to maintain power. He needs to be respected, and a relationship like ours... it wouldn’t be respected.” His hand faltered for a moment, dropping a few inches like he’d forgotten about the gun he was holding.

I crept forward, ready to yank Ghita out of the way, but before I could get close enough, Valente snapped back to attention.

“It was all fine, until you came along, refusing the respectable marriage arranged for you. Wearing your deviance like a badge of honor. And David just accepted it. He let you live the open life he never allowed for us.”

While Valente ranted, Alex sighed and checked his watch. Once Valente fell silent, he finally looked up with an expression of bafflement written over his face.

“That’s it? You set my father up to be killed, then tried to assassinate me, all because I’m gay and you’re jealous?”

Pulling Ghita backward by the throat, Valente moved toward the door. “He was my life. I made him who he is, and I could take it away just as easily. He needed to be reminded of that.”

People parted around out of his way as he dragged Ghita across the greenhouse. She stumbled with each step, struggling to walk backward with an arm around her throat.

Yet, despite holding her hostage, Valente barely paid her any attention. His gaze remained firmly locked on Alex.

“At first, I was going to let you go, but you couldn’t just fall into line. No, you started flaunting this outsider around, just to taunt me.” Since both his hands were busy, Valente nodded at me.

If it was true that Valente and Alex’s father were secretly lovers, then I could see how my presence would have exacerbated things. I stood beside Alex in the same way that Valente had stood beside Alex’s father. The only difference was, we didn’t have to keep our relationship secret.

Seeing someone else get exactly the life he wanted must have been like a slap in the face. He had reason to be upset, but that was no excuse for threatening Alex’s life.

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