Page 86 of Pietro
I can't speak. Tears stream down my face. The Sartori brothers don't make a single sound. They stand like statues, witnessing the complete unraveling of my life.
Everything I thought I knew about myself has changed. My father isn't my father. My uncle is my father. My mother betrayed her husband with his brother. And I? Who am I now?
Pietro
I stare at Nora as she crumbles before my eyes. Her entire world has just been shattered with a few sentences. The fierce, defiant woman who challenged me at every turn now sits broken, tears streaming down her face.
I feel an urge to cross the room, to pull her into my arms, to shield her from this pain. But I hold myself back. I can't trust this isn't all an elaborate performance. The daughter of ConnorO'Sullivan—or not, apparently—sitting in my warehouse, crying over a revelation that changes nothing about the fact that my shipments have been hit five times with perfect precision.
The silence stretches, heavy and suffocating, until Nico finally breaks it.
"What the hell does your family drama have to do with us?" he asks. "So you're her real father. Connor isn't. What does that change about our situation?"
Finn sighs through the speaker. "That's the last piece that's missing from what I had to say."
I tense, bracing for whatever bomb he's about to drop next.
"Siobhan had a best friend," Finn continues. "A woman she met under... circumstances that it's not my place to talk about."
Something cold slides down my spine. A premonition.
"Her name was Giulia."
"Fuck," I whisper, the pieces suddenly clicking together with sickening clarity.
Lorenzo's head snaps toward me, his eyes widening.
"When Siobhan died," Finn continues, "I wanted someone to talk to about her. Since I couldn't talk to Nora, I kept a connection with Giulia over the years."
"Giulia," I repeat. The woman who's been like a second mother to me.
Nora looks up at me, confusion mixing with her grief. She doesn't understand the significance yet.
"Giulia has worked for our family for over thirty years," I explain, my voice hollow. "She's practically raised us since our mother became ill."
"Are you saying Giulia has been feeding information to the Irish?" Nico demands, his face flushed with anger.
"No," Finn says firmly. "Giulia would never betray your family. She loves you all too much."
"For fuck's sake," I growl, running a hand through my hair. "What are you saying, Finn? Stop dancing around it."
"If you'd all stop interrupting me," Finn snaps through the speaker, "I could explain everything."
"Talk," I command, my voice dropping to that dangerous register that makes my men snap to attention. "Now."
Finn sighs. "I couldn't let Nora come directly to me when she fled Boston. Declan would have known exactly where to look."
Nora's shoulders shake with silent sobs. I fight the fucking urge to go to her.
"She's twenty-three years old," Finn continues, his voice breaking slightly. "She's lived her entire life believing Connor is her father. I couldn't just drop this on her while she was running for her life."
Lorenzo moves closer to me, his expression thoughtful. "So you called Giulia?"
"Yes," Finn confirms. "When Nora called me that night, terrified and bleeding, I reached out to Giulia. At first she couldn't help much. I was sending Nora from bar to bar until we could find something good enough. Then she mentioned Pietro needed a secretary. That's all."
"I sent her there because I knew Giulia would be close to her one way or another," Finn explains. "The plan was simple: Nora would work for a few months, gather enough money, and disappear somewhere Declan would never find her."
No one can talk.
