Page 135 of Savage Vow (Mafia Marriages 3)

I smile my thanks, and she escorts Ashton up the staircase.

I wait to make sure they do as instructed before I follow into Alessandro’s office.

Is there an interrogation that I’ll be required to do tonight? Is that why he asked me to speak with him?

I give a firm knock on the open door before Alessandro gestures me into his office.

“Come in and have a seat.”

I shut the door and grab the chair across from his desk. “What’s going on?” I ask.

I don’t want to consider the possibility that some of our soldiers may not make it home. It’s part of the job, putting your life on the line for the family.

He exhales a heavy breath. It takes a moment for him to speak. Is he thinking about what he wants to put into words? He’s usually quite direct, blunt, in fact.

“As I’m sure you heard on the radio, Dorian is dead.”

I nod and clasp my hands together in front of me on the desk. “Yes, I’m relieved to know that my family is safe.” Karina and Ashton are part of that family, the Rinaldi’s.

His gaze flickers for a brief instant. “There were, unfortunately, a few casualties. It’s to be expected in matters of war,” Alessandro says.

The air is thick, heavy.

My stomach flops. Is it my younger brother, Giovan? Did something happen to him during the attack? My mouth is dry, parched. I can’t speak. It’s too hard to form the words aloud.

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” Alessandro says. His expression is full of remorse. “Etta is dead.”

I swallow. There’s a lump in my throat that keeps me from speaking. The nausea roiling through doesn’t help me focus either.

“Dead?” I croak. “What about the baby?”

Alessandro shakes his head. “The baby didn’t survive either. I’m sorry. I know that you and Etta were once close, but it had to be done. All ties between the Rinaldi’s and Bianchi’s needed to be severed.”

I stare at the mahogany desk. My fingers graze the wood lines. They're perfectly polished, but they look rough beneath the surface. Not all is as it seems.

“You ordered the hit on her?” I need to know the truth. I glance up at his intense scrutiny.

“I did,” Alessandro says. He holds no regret, no sorrow. Only acceptance that he’s won the war.

My vision spins, and I take a calm, steady breath to focus. I open my mouth, but Alessandro speaks before I have time to say anything.

“Consider your words carefully, Aurielo. You have a family here, a wife and son with our protection, and a job that pays handsomely. Etta was a distraction that would have weaseled her way into our home and our lives. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“She could have been carrying my child,” I seethe.

Alessandro gives a mere shrug. “That is a possibility that I considered, but what would you have done? Shared custody with her? She would have run the entire Bianchi empire and would have destroyed what you have with that woman upstairs.” He holds up his finger to silence me. “While you might not have married Karina out of love, I see the way you look at that boy, like he’s your own flesh and blood. Don’t lose focus of the bigger picture.”

“Which is?” I rasp. My heart pounds wildly against my chest. The room is stifling, and my stomach won’t stop somersaulting.

Etta is dead, and this is supposed to be a good thing?

I understand his position as don, his reasoning for what he did, but I should have been consulted before, not after her death.

“Your family needs you, Aurielo. The Rinaldi’s need you.”

There’s nothing more to say. At least not today. I understand the game. Alessandro took out the enemy and the next in line for the throne. It was a strategic decision for several reasons. He didn’t have to consult me. He didn’t even have to tell me himself, but he did.

Maybe I should be grateful for his honesty.

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