Page 68 of The Leader

Gio still simmered with rage when he thought back on his conversation with Antonio Rossi.

“You were the man that led my father into Bianchi’s trap.”

The report from the PI had been damning. The truth had been hidden deep, but in the end, all trails led back to Antonio Rossi. The only thing they didn’t understand was the why.

Antonio hadn’t denied it. The man had sat in a garden chair, overlooking his estate, and took a deep sigh as he started confessing.

“Oscar had your father killed because of greed and lust.”

The greed part Gio understood. Oscar had taken over his father’s assets after the war that took the Scolinis out, but the lust part was new. “Lust?”

“Brianna.”

One word was all it took for Gio to connect the dots. “He wanted my mother?”

Antonio nodded. “Your mother was a beautiful woman. It was practically impossible tonotbe enamored by her. She was kind, nurturing, and completely devoted to your father. I knew they would be a perfect match.”

“Why?” It was the only question that was left.

“Bianchi had dirt on Marco. A film with him and a fifteen-year old girl. A girl with influential parents. He threatened to expose it, unless I helped him get your father to that warehouse. I presumed Oscar just wanted to take over your father’s place, but he wanted much more. We’ll never know what exactly happened that night, when he went to your mother after having killed your father. I assume he propositioned her, and Brianna rejected or attacked him. Ending with him killing her.”

“That’s why you kept giving him loans from Rossi Enterprises, even though he was a liability.”

Antonio’s lips thinned. “That, and because he clearly kept an eye on Marco, expecting that my son would fuck up again. Bianchi found out about what happened that night with Jazzy and Mary. I couldn’t let my girls get exposed like that. Astain like that, on one’s family, takes generations to clean,so I did what I had to do to protect my family.”

Gio was close to snapping Antonio’s neck. The only thing stopping him was Jazzy.Because, however much he hated the old man, he loved his wife more. He no longer believed it was a coincidence that the old bastard had propositioned him first to marry one of his granddaughters.

“That was quite a risk you took. Assuming I would fall in love with Jazzy.” And by that, protecting his granddaughters, even when he would be out of the picture.

“What manwouldn’tfall in love with her?”

Antonio Rossi was the most manipulative son of a bitch. By giving him Jazzy, the fucker had taken the joy out of exacting his revenge.

Except, it wasn’t justhisrevenge. He’d had to ask his brothers, one by one, to agree to not put Rossi down. The talk had gone over easier than he’d expected. Especially the one with Vince, his most volatile and impulsive brother.

“I like Jazzy,” Vince had said. “Wife trumps bastard. Also, he’s dying anyway. I love the idea of him rotting from the inside every day. Hurting and being in agony like a motherfucker.” Vince was also the most vicious.

“The only reason we’re letting you live is Jazzy.”

The old man had Stage Two liver cancer. Which meant a slow, and painful, death. No one deserved it more.

Speaking of deserving, his wife deserved the truth. Trailing back into the present, he took the envelope and pulled a black and white picture from it. “Let me show you why it involves you,bella.”

***

JAZZY

When he turned the photo and Jazzy stared into the face of her belovednonno, her heart broke into a million tiny pieces.

“No…” She looked up into Gio’s eyes that were blazing fire.

“Now, tell me,bella. Do you think, knowing me for who I am, that I would have let Antonio live, for any other reason than for you?”

“What are you trying to tell me?”

He dropped the picture and pulled her against him. “You’re going to make me say the words, aren’t you?”

A trembling started from inside her. She didn’t dare hope. Not while she had the picture of her grandfather with a red cross on it still fresh in her mind.

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