Page 21 of Cherished Union

“You can’t take my daughter,” Natalia cries, fake tears falling from her eyes.

“Watch me,” I grind out, wanting to snap her fucking neck.

“As for you, Aldo,” Da begins. “You have a choice. You can either hand the famiglia to your son, Rocco, or I’ll start letting your men know just how long you’ve been feeding me information.”

It’s a lie. Neither one of them have ever done that, but it doesn’t look good, especially when not one but two of his children are getting married to the family.

“You bastard,” Aldo hisses. “You’ll ruin me.”

Da smirks at him. “Tick tock, Aldo, you’ve got a choice to make. What’s it going to be?”

“Fine, the boy can take over.”

My fist snaps out and lands perfectly against the motherfucker’s jaw. Just as I expected, he goes down like a pussy.

Knocked out.

“If he reneges on what he’s just said, you both will have to deal with me,” I warn Natalia, her face ashen as she kneels beside her husband.

‘You did good, son,” Da praises me as we leave the house. “You didn’t kill him, but also for taking on Viviana. That girl is going to need some stability.” He pats me on the back. “Go, do whatever you need to. I’m going to tell your ma we have another family member.”

“He’s right you know,” Hayes says. The fucker was more than content to just stand back and let Da and I take the lead with Aldo. “Not many people would take on a thirteen-year-old, but you haven’t even hesitated. You like Adelina. It’s her soft nature that pulls you in, isn’t it?”

I glare at him. The fucker sees too much. But yes, Adelina’s fierceness, along with her soft, kind, and caring nature, is what draws me to her. Having had to deal with what that cunt has done to her, I’m unsure as to how she’ll be now. Either way, she’s mine, and I’m not letting her go.

CHAPTER7

ADELINA

My body aches, and my mouth feels as though it’s filled with fur, but what hits me the hardest is the tear stains on Viviana’s face as she recants what happened almost three nights ago.

“You’ve barely been conscious, Addie. I was so worried about you,” she whispers as the tears fall harder.

“I’m okay,” I assure her as I try to sit up. Pain throbs in my ribs, and I fight back the wince. Vivi's already struggling enough. I don’t want to add to her pain. “What happened after I passed out?”

She wipes away her tears. “Elio brought us back here. He’s determined that we stay here, until we move in with Hayden.”

I blink. Wait what? “We?” I must have misheard her. There’s no way in hell our parents will allow Viviana to leave. That would get people wondering why she’s not there, and the one thing my parents despise is gossip, especially when it’s about them.

“I don’t know,” she whispers. “They were all talking about what to do. Dario and Hayden wanted to kill our father.” Her voice trembles. Sometimes I forget how young she is, and hearing people talk about our parents like that must be hard. I’d have been the same, until the moment our father put his hands on me and our mother pretended as though everything was A okay.

“Keep going,” I urge her, needing to know what happened, because the moment one of my brothers comes to check on me, they’ll try to boss us around and tell us not to speak or worry about those things.

“I didn’t hear it all, but from what I did hear, along with the pieces that have been said over the last three days, they’re planning on taking the Famiglia from Papa.”

My blood turns ice cold at her words. I’m not in the life, but I know that going against the boss is akin to betrayal, and that leads to death.

“Hayden went to our parents’ house the night we got here. I’m not sure what was said, but when Rocco spoke to Papa, he’s pretended that nothing had happened and that for our safety, you and I are staying with Elio.”

I shake my head, not in the least bit surprised that the man is trying to twist the truth just to save his own ass.

“But Hayden didn’t even hesitate, Addie,” she whispers, leaning forward on the chair beside the bed. “He told them all that he’s taking me with you when you both get married.”

My heart fills with warmth. I reach out for her hand and hold it tightly. “That’s good, Vivi,” I say as I try to smile, but the moment I do, my lip pulls, and I whimper in pain.

“You had to get stitches, Addie. Try not to pull them out.” She gets to her feet. “I’ll be right back,” she tells me as she moves toward the door.

I know she’s going to get Elio and whoever else is out there. I have a sickening feeling that I’m about to be descended on by all of my brothers, and that’s not something I want. They’ll demand answers, and I’m not sure if I’m ready for that.

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