Page 31 of The Don's Unexpected Baby

"Oh good." He said. "Are you hungry? What would you like to eat?"

I watched, stunned, as Alexander went to the fridge and rummaged through it, deciding what he wanted to make. This jumpiness and eagerness to do something seemed so uncharacteristic of Alexander that I knew something had happened.

Alexander was usually calm and collected and not ruffled like this.

"Are you okay?" I stepped forward and touched his arm to stop him from moving. My brows curled inwards in concern. He stopped in his tracks and took a deep breath before slowly exhaling.

Thinking back on all the times he cared for me, it was my turn to do the same. I gently grasped his wrist and led him away from the fridge and back to the seat he had vacated. I then pushed on his shoulders to make him sit down before filling a glass with water and giving it to him.

I then sat in the chair beside him.

"What happened? Was it because of…yesterday? Do you regret it…" I trailed off, looking uncertain. I didn't know how I would react if he said it was indeed because of yesterday and that he regretted it.

"What? No!" Alexander refuted immediately, relaxing my nerves that had been high-strung. I was relieved and, at the same time, wondered what it meant, but it was not the time to ask about it.

"It's my father."

I widened my eyes.

"Is he all right?" I questioned. Despite him making us live together, which was slowly not becoming worse, I still genuinely cared. Mr. Romano seemed like a good man and a caring father.

"He's fine." He let out a breath. "But he almost wasn't."

"What happened?"

"Tony and Marcello came here last night after you had fallen asleep."

I was slightly surprised that Alexander's close men had come here at night. I didn't bother asking what they had come for since Alexander was already going to explain.

"After I had discovered you had left the house," Alexander shot me a disapproving look which I had the grace to look chagrined at. "I had immediately phoned my fratello to inform him of your disappearance, but you had returned before I could say anything. Worried, he and Marcello wanted to come but couldn't because they had been engaged in something they couldn't leave."

Alexander inhaled deeply and clenched his hands briefly. "You know that there is a traitor in our midst, and my father was aware?"

I nodded my head. I had been there when the three Italian men had discussed it. I saw his jaw tighten and knew he wasn't aware that his father had known about it and refused to inform him.

"Well, my father had a meeting to attend to, and on the way, their car had suddenly diverted off track. The driver had thought himself clever to believe my father hadn't known the way."

"Where did the driver want to take your dad to?" I asked despite the niggling at the back of my mind that seemed to know the answer.

"He wanted to take my father to one of the Saconne's territories." Alexander scoffed in a mixture of contempt and anger.

I took one of his clenched fists into my hands and rubbed the back of his hand in a soothing circle. I didn't know what possessed me to do so, but it felt right. Steadily, he calmed down and released his hands from where they were curled tightly. I could briefly make out small marks in his palms that his nails had caused by digging in too deeply. I moved from the back of his hand and massaged his palms instead.

"How did your father escape?"

"My father had already been on alert since finding out about a possible traitor in our ranks. Anywhere he goes, he secretly has a few cars to tail him. At the sign of any danger, he has a device that he will activate, which will send an alarm to the men tailing him."

Oh. That was a genius move, and I told Alexander that.

"Well, my father is an intelligent man." My heart fluttered at the gentle smile he gave. I noticed that whenever he spoke of his father, his gray eyes shone and sparkled with life and much love. It was obvious that Alexander would do anything for his father. In the back of my mind wondered if he would ever look at me like that.

"I can see you're proud of him," I said softly.

I wondered if he would ever hold such an emotion in his eyes for me.

"I am." He whispered just as softly as I had spoken.

"Why don't you go and clean up? Your father is safe and sound. It would be best if you focused on that. I'm sure he wouldn't want you to beat yourself up because of what happened, and by the way, no offense, but you look terrible." We both shared a small laugh over what I said. "You've been preparing food for me all this time. I think it's my turn to repay the favor."

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