Page 72 of Gunner

“He can’t protect you. I proved that.”

That’s the wrong thing to say. Diletta bares her teeth, going junkyard dog for me. I should be the one doing it for her, but even so much as a flinch and I know Luciano’s guard dogs will be all over me, tearing at my throat and that will get Raiden and the others involved.

“That’s what everyone has said,” Diletta sighs, exasperation painting her tone so clearly that even the non-Italian speakers have to understand. “What about the argument that I’m far more dangerous to him. I think today also proved that. It proved that if anything were to happen to me, you’d be here. You’d keep me safe. Gunner is just one man, but you have an entire army.” She pauses to let that sink in. “I need to know what’s happened at home. With the Rossi family.”

Luciano looks to his men then dismisses them with an upturned palm. They shuffle back, a horde of black, a good fifteen feet. The conversation is just for him and Diletta.

“They’ve moved on. It’s been five years. They’ve had new enemies crop up. Distractions. A turf war over a new rising family in Sicily. They’re giving them hell and back with their ports. This kid is no older than twenty and he’s making a mess of everything for them.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed.”

Luciano steps close. I want to charge in front of his daughter, shielding her with my body, but I don’t move. He caresses her cheek lovingly, regret all over his face. “I can’t help but hide my glee. I made peace with them for the sake of all the innocent people who would have been caught between us and hurt, but I’ve never forgiven them for what they did to you.”

“They did nothing. Keeping the peace for the sake of the public who would have been collateral damage was the rightthing to do.” We didn’t know if her father knew who I was. We both assumed that he had to know the truth but seeing him stare right at me and there be nothing, isn’t something we discussed. Diletta takes control, making a decision for both of us. “The man who saved me… what ever happened to him? I always wanted to find him and thank him, even though I knew I never could.”

“He’s dead.” To his credit, there actually is some sorrow in Luciano’s voice. “I gave him money so he could start over since he’d always have a price on his head. Either someone got to him, or it was just an accident, but he died a week later in a car crash in Germany.”

Diletta bows her head. I’m thankful for all the years of practice I have controlling my face.

After fleeing Italy, I had to make sure I covered my tracks. I left a trail that even a child could follow, heading straight to Austria and then on to Germany, making sure to make all the sloppy mistakes. I knew enough from my former life about faking a death. Find a morgue, look for any unclaimed bodies. Once that was done, renting a car, putting the body in, and ensuring that it drove into a wall at a speed fast enough to wreck the thing completely was pretty straightforward. Of course, I tampered with the scene, ensuring the vehicle burned so hot that the corpse was nothing more than ash. There were no dental records on file for me, and no family for DNA match, that’s if there’d been anything that could have been tested left.

I’d disappeared.

Rocco Lombardo was dead, and some months later Donal Gunnigan was born.

I still feel bad about that unclaimed man. I think about him more than I should, wondering who he was. He was aperson with someone out there, surely. I just hope they find peace.

“I’ll repeat, I don’t like him for you,” Luciano growls, bringing me back. “You deserve better. He’s a thug. He’s unworthy. He’s violent. People don’t change. They just transform themselves.”

Luciano doesn’t have to know who I am for that to be true. Although, he’s going on the persona of the fake ID I assumed after landing here, tracing Diletta’s steps right to Hart. I didn’t just buy paperwork. I bought full background. It wasn’t criminal, but there are enough gaps that if anyone looked, they could assume anything. Assumptions that would only be solidified, given that I’m part of a motorcycle club now.

“I don’t believe that, but even if I did, I’d say that he was a good man all along, trying to make the best of not-so-great circumstances. If you harm him or attempt to separate us, even though I love you more than the world itself, I’ll never forgive you. I need you to trust me.”

“What do you propose that I should do then? Let you throw your life away for a man who will never know how to love anyone?”

It takes all my control to remember that I’m not supposed to be able to understand what’s being said right now. I can’t make my displeasure known in any way other than setting my hand on Diletta’s lower back because I sense her distress and want to steady her.

“I’m not throwing my life away,” Diletta breathes, hurt seeping into her words. “I’ll love him. I’ll teach him how. Just like you showed me how when the world said you weren’t capable.”

She floors me, fighting and silencing all the brutal arguments I’ve had with myself foryears,but especially since she found out I was real.

“You loved Mamma and she loved you. Your love was real. I know that it hasn’t stopped just because she died. You still feel the pain of not having her with you every second of the day.”

“You can’t mean that what you feel for this man is this deep. Your mother and I had years. We had a family. We made our own history together,” Luciano protests, but his voice shakes with emotion.

“I want that same opportunity to make my own choices,” Diletta pleads. “I don’t believe it’s a mistake, but even if it is, Gunner would never hurt me. What hurt me most was watching him be taken and beaten. I thought about it differently before I had someone who I cared about, but each man out there has someone who cares about him. Or they did, at one time. I want you to stop, Papa. I want you to get out of it.”

I don’t know who is more surprised. Luciano, or me.

“You know that if I did, someone else would take my place,” he reasons and he’s not wrong. “My father passed this empire down to me. Taught me the old way. You think things would go that way if I left that hole empty?”

“Train someone. You must have a successor in mind, knowing I was never going to take over for you?”

“Should I ask for resume submissions?”

“No, Papa.” Diletta smiles for the first time. I get a flash of hope—the most dangerous and shitty emotion in the universe—that maybe this will be okay. “I’m just asking you to think aboutwhat you want for the future. Everything else aside, what would make you happy?”

“My plans were to do this until I die then leave the assets and cash to you in various bank accounts that it would be easy for you to access.”

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