Page 73 of Borrowed Bride

“The world thought me dead. Yourfatherknew otherwise. So from that point on, I was convinced you had learned who I truly was and shipped me off.”

“I wouldn’t,” Marco says. “But I don’t understand why?—”

“It was him, wasn’t it?” Leonardo speaks up, looking rather unwell himself. “Dante. It has to be. Why else would he leave her there, huh? He had to have known she was already there, or had a hand in putting her there, right? And now he’s in bed with the Ricci’s, letting us tear ourselves apart.”

He has a point. All this time, all the good Marco has been working to do; none of it holds up against Dante’s cruelty. Why he sold Fawn is still unclear, and why he kept me captive and hidden for so long remains a mystery.

So many questions and only one man can answer them.

“Do you know where my father is?” Marco asks and his voice is eerily calm, like the lull in the ocean before a storm.

“We had eyes on him,” Tara speaks up. “But since the club explosion, he’s gone to ground.”

Marco looks up. “Why did you come to the safe house? How did you know where we were?”

“Fawn’s followed Dante back there countless times, but she wanted to investigate another building where she found Gianna. I was to make sure Dante was at home so Fawn knew exactly how long she would have.”

Marco nods stiffly, and his hand moves to grip my thigh.

“If he’s gone to ground, I’ll find the fucker,” Leo snaps.

“No,” Marco cuts in. “Emilia, my sister, she’s still with him.”

“Your sister is alive?!” Leo chokes on the words. “What the fuck?!”

“Dante wanted to sell her, marry her off for power and I refused. After what happened to my mother, I couldn’t let that happen and I—” Marco pauses. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. Either way, we can’t go against him until I know Emilia will be safe.”

Fawn glances at Cherry who nods once and slips from the room.

“We’ll find your sister,” Fawn says. “We’re already aware of her condition. Moving to that new safe house made it more obvious you had someone else with you.”

Marco gazes up at Fawn. “Why are you helping me? By rights you should still want to kill me for what my father did.”

“I do a little bit,” Fawn replies. “But you could say I’ve learned a new perspective.” She glances at me with the smallest of hidden smiles.

Suddenly, there’s a thump and through the door comes Freya who, upon seeing strangers, immediately begins to wail. During all the discussions, she had slipped my mind, but now she runs straight toward me, sobbing.

I scoop her up and feel everyone’s eyes burning into me.

It was supposed to go better than this. I have no idea how I would have told Marco the truth, but given the dark topic of conversation, it feels right to mention something nice.

Especially as Leo and Fawn hug each other after decades apart.

“So,” I say softly as Marco stares up at me, his eyes locked on to Freya. “Would finding out you’re a father be too much for you right now?”

30

MARCO

“What?”

The world falls away, and the people in the room all fade away to nothing. Nothing exists except Gianna standing before me, and the sniffling child in her arms.

A father? I have a daughter?

All my anger at Dante and my conflicted feelings over Leonardo and Fawn suddenly don’t matter as I stare into the eyes of a child whose ice blue matches mine.

“I’m a father?” I repeat as Gianna adjusts the crying girl on her hip, and nods.

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