Page 15 of Mafia And Taken

There were five of us siblings in total and we all shared the same dark Marchiano features. Marco was the oldest at twenty-seven. I was just a year younger than him at twenty-six. Next was our brother, Camillo—he was eighteen and already initiated into the Fratellanza.

Our youngest siblings were Danio, who was fifteen, and Debi, who at fourteen was the baby of the family.

“Who’s that girl you took upstairs?” asked Danio.

I exchanged a look with Camillo. I knew that he would have kept quiet about what was going on. “She’s the daughter of one of our Captains. The Bratva took her and we managed to get her back, but I needed the doctor to see her.”

Debi looked on with concern in her deep brown eyes. “Is she going to be okay?” she asked earnestly.

“Don’t worry, shortcake. The doctor said she has a concussion, so we just need to keep an eye on her for the next day or so.”

We sat down to dinner around the kitchen island. Juliana had made a pasta dish and I dug in, although I wasn’t really that hungry.

Juliana was shooting dark looks at me. I wasn’t sure what Marco had told her, but I knew she was probably unhappy that I had the girl up in my bedroom. I tried to ignore her and instead concentrated on my food. This was Fratellanza business and had nothing to do with her.

Marco sat next to me. He was already tense due to the events of the last couple of days, and his mood was not helped by Camillo making faces as he ate.

Camillo peered at his pasta. “Why are there so many black bits in this? How the fuck does anyone burn pasta?” he exclaimed, screwing up his face as he tasted the meal.

Juliana just shrugged, “It seems fine to me.” She always seemed oblivious to how bad her cooking was and would eat anything without complaining. And I knew Marco was eating the pasta to humor her, especially now that she was pregnant and had been having issues with high blood pressure.

Marco and Juliana had only been married a short while. Their marriage had been rocky at the start, having got off to a violent beginning, plus she had only been nineteen and he was eight years older than her. However, once they had gotten over their difficulties and settled into married life, Juliana decided to take a cooking course because she said she wanted to do more around the home—although in all honesty, I hadn’t seen any improvement in her cooking skills since then. Marco really needed to ask the guy who ran the course for a refund.

I could see Camillo sneakily feeding the burned bits to Juliana’s dog, Mr. Fluffy, when he thought no one was watching. When Marco had married Juliana she had brought her dog with her, much to my dismay, and now he was a firmly entrenched member of our household.

“Don’t worry, Camillo. I’ve baked an apple pie for dessert. I’ll give you an extra big slice,” chirped Debi.

Camillo’s face broke into a wide grin. “You’re the best little sister ever, Debi.” The smile made Camillo look less like the thug he normally looked like. He was huge and the most muscled out of all of us as a result of his obsession with weights and working out. He also had the most tattoos, including tattoos running up the back of his neck and down both his arms. However, despite his outward looks, Camillo was more soft-hearted than he appeared.

“Alessio, can I take some apple pie up to your friend?” asked Debi.

Marco and I exchanged a look. “Best not to. The doctor said she needs complete rest, so we don’t want to disturb her right now.”

“Okay.” Debi was so innocent, and I felt guilty not telling her the complete truth—that the girl was here so that we could get answers out of her. But she was my baby sister and I would protect her from our cruel world for as long as possible. Debi was a soothing balm to our scarred, violent hearts, and I didn’t want anything changing that.

CHAPTER 6

ALESSIO

After dinner, I went back upstairs with a tray of food for Caterina. I went into my bedroom and found that she was still awake, although she looked sleepy.

She sat up, and as she did, she shrunk back against the bed.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” I said softly. I needed to get her to trust me so she would tell me everything she knew about what she and her father had been up to.

I sat down on the side of the bed with the tray of food on my lap. “I’ve brought you some soup for dinner.”

She went to reach for the tray.

“No, I’ll do it,” I said quietly, yet firmly.

She sat back and watched me diffidently as I raised a spoonful of soup to her mouth. She brought her head slightly forward and slowly opened her full lips, wrapping them around the spoon as she took the soup into her mouth.

I kept my eyes fixed on her as I fed her. I liked taking care of her for some strange reason, and the thought of this and the sight of her plump lips made my dick harden to steel. Fortunately, the tray on my lap hid this from her.

She watched me warily, not saying anything to me. When I was about halfway through the bowl of soup, she held up her hand. “I’m full, thank you.”

“You’ve only eaten half the soup. You need to build your strength back up, Caterina.”

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