Page 25 of Vengeful Mafia Prince

I flag down a car and give the driver the address to Giovanni's apartment.

Chapter Fourteen—Giovanni

As soon as I hear the buzz on the door, I know who it's going to be.

Rising to my feet, I put my drink to the side and go to answer it. I'm in my apartment in the city. Valentina is expecting me at home, but I can't face her right now. I need my distance. I need some time to think.

Even if all I can think about is her right now.

I tell the doorman to let her in, and a few moments later, the elevator pings open in front of me. On the other side stands the woman I haven't been able to stop thinking about all this time.

"Gio," she gasps, and she sinks forward into my arms. Wrapping herself around me, she presses her head into my shoulder, inhaling a deep lungful of me like she wants to gorge herself on my presence.

"Hey," I murmur, gently pulling her away. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I-I'm sorry," she tells me, shaking her head. "I shouldn't have come here. I should have—"

"No, you're right to be here. Just tell me, what are you doing?"

She looks up at me again. Her eyes are written over with confusion and anger and grief, an expression I've seen on my own face, more times than I care to count.

"I just spoke to my father. Asked him about what he was involved with, the stuff that he's kept from me..."

I draw in a sharp breath. "Elena, that's not a good idea."

"Yeah, well, I guess I was operating on the premise that he would actually respect me enough to tell me what was really happening," she fires back, shaking her head. "But he just... he basically just told me that I was nothing more than a stupid little girl and I should be glad that he's not making me a part of his world!"

The words hang there in the air between us. I don't know what to say to her. I can see how much this has hurt her, and that makes me angry, but how the fuck am I supposed to deal with that? I thought I was in this because I was going to take down her family, but now, as she stands there in front of me, staring up at me like she's pleading for me to give her some kind of explanation, I have nothing.

I have nothing.

Before I can say a word, however, I hear the elevator ding again. When did someone call for it? I untangle myself from Elena, and to my horror, I hear raised voices coming from inside.

"Who the hell is—"

But before I can finish what I'm saying, the doors slide open to reveal Elena's father—and, in front of him, Valentina, shoving him away from her like she can't stand to be in his presence.

"Val!" I cry out and grab her arm, pulling her away from him. I notice, out of the corner of my eye, a flash of metal. She'sholding a knife, a small pocket knife, and she's brandishing it wildly in his direction.

"This motherfucker rushed me!" she exclaims. "He, he barged past the doorman and followed me into the elevator!"

"What the fuck are you doing here, Elena?" Elena's father cuts in. She parts her lips, a furrow appearing between her brows. She's clearly got no idea what he's doing here, and I, frankly, want to know how the fuck he knew where she was.

"I followed you here," he says, spitting the words out with disgust. "I knew you were up to something after the way you spoke to me at my office. But if I'd known that you were going to come to him—"

"You know who he is, then?" she asks him.

His lip curls. "It took me a while. But I do now. He's their son."

"Their son?" Elena whispers.

I reach for Valentina's hand and lower the knife. The last thing we need is for bloodshed to happen here.

"The son of the people he murdered!" Valentina explodes, finally unable to hold it back. "Your sweet father ever tell you that part, Elena? That he killed our parents? Left us with nobody?"

Elena keeps looking at her father. She looks as though she could cry or slap him, neither expression more prominent than the other.

"You did... what?"

---