Page 8 of Bound By Sin
“Why do you care if she has a child?”
His question brought me back to the conversation, and I didn’t miss his evasion of my question.
“You left her.”
Brian had always had deep feelings for Tara. I believed she once loved him, too.
In the beginning, when our relationship shifted from only physical, that connection they’d shared made me jealous and very possessive. She was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. The bastard had even picked the ring out; he showed me the custom piece his jeweler had designed specifically for her.
However, Brian was also a practical man. It was one of the many reasons he was so dangerous. He knew when to put his feelings aside, even if it hurt him or the person that loved him in the process. That was the type of man you didn’t want for an enemy because he had a dangerous type of levelheadedness. Things were only black and white. There were no areas of gray.
They spent more than a year together in a loving relationship but not a happy one. I never understood how that was possible, but Brian and Tara’s relationship was the perfect example of love not always being enough. He couldn’t give Tara what she needed to be happy, no matter how hard he tried. And despite how hard it had been for him to let her go, he understood she needed more than he was able to give her. He understood I was the only person who could give her the one thing she needed. The one thing she craved.
Pain.
“Because, according to some damn tabloid reporter, the kid is mine, Brian.”
Silence settled between us. Maybe he didn’t know who the child’s father was. Maybe she’d kept that information from him because she thought he would let me know. But it would be shitty if, as my friend, he helped her keep this fucking secret from me, even if it was for the woman he and I both loved.
“I’m here on business, and I know you’re in Chicago for Antonio Rizzo Sr.’s funeral.”
“You keeping tabs on me?”
“I stay in the know of major developments in your world.”
I didn’t doubt it since he walked that fine line between criminal and legitimate.
“Do you still have your invite to Club Desire?” he asked.
“I do, but I’m not in the mood to go to some damn sex club, Brian.” I rubbed my hand down my face. Fucking frustration was tiring. “What I want to know is why in the hell did one of my closest friends keep this shit from me!”
“I didn’t keep shit from you, Valentino.” He sighed. “Look. Meet me there tonight. We’ll talk then.”
“Brian, I swear on my fucking life, if you knew about me having a kid and didn’t tell me, I’m going to fuck you up.”
He chuckled. “See you there.”
He ended the call without waiting for me to respond.
I laid my head against the seat’s headrest and took a breath, trying to calm down. I was only supposed to pay my damn respects and leave Chicago alive and not in a body bag. This wasn’t how I’d expected this day to go.
“Fuck!” I yelled, punching the seat a few times, trying to get rid of some of my anger and frustration.
I wished it was somebody’s fucking face so I could feel the sting of the skin splitting on my knuckles. I knew Aurelio and his brother, Luca’s eyes were on me, but I ignored them. While it was rare for me to show any emotion in front of my men unless I was torturing someone, with the news that I possibly had a child, I didn’t give a fuck what they saw or what they thought of me. I, more than likely, had a kid who had to be around seventeen that didn’t know I fucking existed. I’d missed her entire damn life.
Let them see me angry.
I scrolled through my phone’s contact list, hit the call button, and then put it on speaker. “Don’t get worked up until you know what the hell is going on,” I muttered to myself as I waited for Charlie to answer. “She wouldn’t keep something like this from me.”
“Don.”
“Charlie. I need you to get me all the information you can on Tara and Nia Weatherly.”
“The supermodel?” he asked, his voice hitching in surprise.
I wasn’t shocked. Charlie loved movies and beautiful women. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d jerked off to a few images of Tara, although I didn’t want to think of my godson doing some shit like that while watching the woman I loved. But I couldn’t blame him.
I certainly had over the years.
