Page 41 of Vengeful Mafia Prince

She presses a hand to her chest and sinks onto the couch, her eyes squeezing shut. I know those are the words she has wanted to hear for so long now, that the person who has caused our family so much pain and suffering over the years is well and truly gone.

But a moment later, they spring open again, locking on to mine.

"How do you know he's dead?"

"Because I'm the one who killed him."

"You killed him? What the hell were you thinking, Giovanni? Are you hurt? Are you—"

"Let me explain," I insist, and after taking another sip of my scotch, I finally start to fill her in on the details, on everything that has happened—Elena texting me, me rushing over to her father's house and rescuing her, him following us into the woods and threatening me. About him taking the shot and about the way I jumped into action without even thinking, just so I could stop anything from happening to Elena. And how he's dead now, lying out there in the woods, where nobody will find him unless they know where to look.

She takes it all in, not saying a word till I'm done. And then, she lifts her gaze to meet mine.

"And what about Elena?"

Now, there's the issue. That's the part I'm going to have an issue with, I'm sure. She's never taken well to me doing things behind her back, and after everything that has happened with Elena, it wouldn't surprise me if she thought I had turned my back on this family for good.

"She's upstairs."

"She's upstairs?!" she exclaims, looking around like Elena might manifest right there in front of her if she doesn't move fast enough. "What were you thinking, Giovanni? You don't think someone is going to come looking for her and—"

"The only person who would have come looking for her is her father," I reply calmly. "From what she's told me, she didn't exactly have a good standing in his business. Nobody will notice she's not at her dorm room as long as she makes it to her next few classes on time."

She shakes her head. "There's no way she can stay here," she warns me. "You need to get her the fuck out of here. Because if you think I'm having the daughter of the man who killed our parents living under our roof like some kind of houseguest, you've—"

"Valentina, listen to me."

"No, you listen to me!" she argues, remonstrating as she stabs her finger in the air. "You have been going around with her like— like you love her. And you know who she is. You know what her family has done. You should know that better than anyone, Giovanni, and yet here I am, having to tell you that she's dangerous!"

"She's not dangerous," I protest. "She never has been. Her father, he's always been the problem. She didn't know any of what he was doing, not a damn thing. I'm the reason she found out about it all in the first place. She's innocent in all of this. She always has been."

Valentina parts her lips once more, clearly intent on continuing to argue with me, but something about my words seems to get through to her.

"God knows that we understand how easy it can be for families to be into things everyone doesn't know about," I continue. "Look at Mom and Dad. How much did you know about them, before...?"

"Enough. I knew enough."

"Yeah but there's probably so much more we never even heard about," I point out. "So much that they never wanted us to hear because they were scared it would change the way we looked at them. That's what happened to her. She had no idea what her father was doing. And as soon as she did, she took the first chance she had to turn against him and make him pay for what he did. She led me to him. And she's here now, needing our help. Are you really going to turn her away?"

She inhales deeply and heads to the drink cabinet to pour herself something strong. For a moment, the only sound in the room is the ice hitting her glass and then the generous measure of vodka being poured over it. Once she's taken a long sip, she finally manages to turn back to me.

"You really think you know what you're doing with her?"

"I don't think, I know," I reply. "I know. I trust her, Val. I really do. And she needs someone right now. She just lost her dad. We know how that feels, don't we? How it feels to have someone you thought was going to be there for the rest of your life just up and vanish out of nowhere?"

I can see something in her soften, a rare event for my sister, but a good sign. I know it's going to take a lot more than that for her to start seeing things from my perspective, but at least she can relate to Elena on some level.

I rise to my feet and go over to my sister. She still can't quite bring herself to look at me. I can't say I blame her after everything that's happened. It's a miracle she's still here in front of me and didn't fly for my face like a harpy after I told her I let Elena into this house with us.

"I know how hard it is for you to accept," I continue. "God knows it's been hard for me, too. I just miss them so fucking much, and I felt like— I felt like, if he was gone, then we would be able to move on at some level, you know?"

She nods.

"And he is gone," I assure her. "He really is gone, there's nothing else he can do to us or anyone, you understand? We're safe now. Our family is safe."

"But what about her?" She finally meets my gaze, her voice tight.

"What about her?"

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