Mafia Kings: Adriano: Chapter 63

“…And then the old woman confessed that she’d killed their father right before she bit into a cyanide capsule and died.”

Alessandra was finishing her story as we strolled through one of the topiary gardens.

I hadn’t thought anything could take my mind off of Adriano –

But Alessandra’s story had knocked me for a loop.

I stared at her, eyes wide. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“So you’re a long-lost mafia princess who fell in love with a mafia don… you fought with him and left… then you got kidnapped and brought back to the house at gunpoint… but your husband and his brothers killed the bad guys and saved you… and then you shot an evil bitch before she could kill your husband?”

“Well, he wasn’t my husband at the time,” Alessandra said with an amused look. “But, yes… that’s it in a nutshell.”

“I can see why he married you. Damn, you’re a badass.”

Alessandra burst out laughing. “I am SO not a badass!”

“You saved Dario’s life!”

“Yes, but – ”

“And you nearly got killed in the process!”

“What about you?” Alessandra said, a friendly challenge in her voice. “The way I heard it, you faced down a bunch of hitmen with Uzis.”

I made a face. “I was in the other room on my cell phone when Adriano and the others ran in.”

“And then you climbed down a rope and escaped the assassins – ”

“I was basically just rescued by Adriano.”

Alessandra put a firm hand on my arm and stopped me in my tracks. “And you stayed with him in Florence when he sent Lars and Massimo home, even though you knew you were being hunted!”

“Yeah, but I was trying to save my father – ”

“And you faced down all that danger and were the only reason Adriano found your father.” Alessandra frowned and smiled at the same time, like What are you DOING?! “Why are you trying to downplay your bravery? You didn’t sign up for any of this – you’d never faced anything like it – and yet you were as brave as any man in this family.”

“No, I wasn’t – I was terrified.”

“You think that doesn’t make you brave?! That’s the definition of bravery – that you were terrified but you did it anyway!”

“But… you got kidnapped, and had a gun to your head, and shot somebody – ”

“And I was shitting a brick the entire time!”

I burst out laughing.

Alessandra was so dainty and beautiful that it was hilarious to hear such a crude expression come out of her mouth.

She grinned and hooked her arm through mine as we continued walking. “Never downplay what you’ve done for this family. Or for your own. Never.”

“…okay…” I said grudgingly but with a smile on my face.

“Dario and my brothers are extremely grateful for what you’ve done for them.”

“But I didn’t – ”

Alessandra flashed me a warning look.

“…okay, good,” I said with a sheepish grin.

She smiled approvingly, then got an impish look. “And Adriano is quite taken with you.”

I sighed. “We’ve only known each other two days.”

“I only knew Dario two weeks before we got engaged.”

I stared at her. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“He fell in love with you that fast?”

“He did. It took us going through hell before we got there, but he finally realized how he felt about me.”

“Yeah, well, Adriano and I kind of got off to a rocky start.”

“Getting shot at isn’t the way you want to spend your first date,” she agreed.

“Oh, it wasn’t just that. I thought he was an asshole. A very… hot… asshole.”

“What, and you think I was any different? I hated Dario at the beginning.”

“You did?!”

Alessandra made a face. “He kidnapped me and held me here against my will! Of course I hated him!”

“Why’d you marry him, then?!”

“I said at the beginning.” Alessandra sighed dreamily. “And even if I hated him… he was hot, too…”

I laughed. “Yeah. I know that feeling.”

“And he proved that no one would ever protect me the way he could.”

I nodded.

I knew that feeling, too.

I saw Alessandra looking at me out of the corner of my eye. When I glanced at her, she smiled.

“You know, ever since I met him – which was the exact same night I met Dario – I always thought of Adriano as ‘the Angry One.’ He always had a temper… he never smiled… and he was a total grump. But whenever he’s around you, it’s like he’s a whole different person.”

I smiled.

Just knowing that made my heart swell…

But a dark thought crossed my mind.

Alessandra saw it on my face. “What?”

“I just… I don’t want to say anything that might offend you, because you’ve been so kind to me…”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Go ahead and say it.”

I hesitated… then finally came out with it. “My father has been in trouble with the mafia my entire life, and I’ve grown up hating them for it. I don’t… know if I can be with a man who…”

My voice trailed off.

Alessandra nodded sagely. “When I first met Dario, I thought of him in my head as il Mostro. I’d heard the name my entire life. This feared mafia don who ruled with an iron fist over all of Tuscany. I was terrified of him… and I hated him.”

I stared at her. “What happened?”

“I got to know him. And I realized that il Mostro was what people called Dario’s father… not him. He’s only been don for a couple of months, not much longer than he’s known me… and he’s different from everything I’d thought about the mafia. All of his brothers are. Yes, they’re involved in illegal things. Yes, they work outside the law. They’re neck-deep in political corruption. They’ve killed men, although it was always men who came after them first. They’d done all sorts of things that could land them in jail for the rest of their lives.

“But they have a code. For instance, they won’t do anything with drugs, human trafficking, or prostitution. They cut it out of the business after their father died. They refuse to be involved in any of it… and they nearly paid for that choice with their lives when they said ‘no’ to the man who kidnapped me.

“Are they saints? No. Are they bad men? I don’t think so. I think they’re good men in a bad world, who do some bad things because that’s what they know. That’s all they’ve ever known. But it’s all about family for them… about keeping the family safe, and together, and whole.”

Alessandra sighed.

“All I know is that I love Dario… totally and completely… and I’m willing to compromise if that means I get to keep him. Maybe that says something awful about me. But he’s assured me that they don’t want to live this life forever. Roberto has a plan to make everything legitimate in two years, and Dario swore to me that our children would never be involved in the family business.”

“And the first one’s on the way, right?” I asked.

She looked at me quizzically. “Did Adriano tell you?”

“No – I saw you didn’t drink any alcohol last night, so I just assumed.”

“I’m only a couple of months along, so I’m not even showing yet.”

“Congratulations!”

“Thank you!” She hugged my arm. “You’re very observant to have figured that out.”

“Eh, it was just a lucky guess.”

Alessandra got a stern look on her face. “What did I tell you about downplaying – ”

“I’m very observant,” I said dutifully, with a bit of humor in my voice.

“GOOD,” she said, and nodded her approval.

I loved being around Alessandra. Even though she was a couple of years younger than me, she seemed wiser.

Maybe it was all the life experience she’d had – a lifetime for most people, all crammed into the last couple of months.

In a way, she felt almost like an older sister…

Which is something I’d never had and desperately wanted.

And like an older sister, she liked to pry.

“So… Adriano,” she said with a big grin.

“Yyyyyyyeeeees?”

She looked at me in that impish way she had. “Are you in love with him?”

My mouth dropped open.

I tried to say something, but nothing came out.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “That was incredibly personal – I shouldn’t have – ”

“Yes,” I whispered. “…yes, I guess I am.”

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

I hadn’t even thought about it…

Not really…

But it was undeniable once I was forced to put it into words.

I felt more for him more than any other man I’d ever dated.

Hell, more than all the others combined.

The feelings weren’t even comparable.

The other guys were sparks from my past… glowing embers, even when I’d been with them…

But Adriano filled me with a heat as bright and hot as the sun.

“That’s the first time you’ve said it, isn’t it?” Alessandra asked.

“…yes…”

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“For what?”

“For trusting me enough to tell me.” She smiled and squeezed my arm. “I know he’s in love with you.”

That stopped me dead in my tracks.

Alessandra pulled up short, yanked to a halt by me stopping, and looked at me with comically wide eyes.

“How do you – why do you – ” I stammered.

She scoffed. “You’re not the only observant one around here. I see the way he looks at you.”

Part of me just thought that was him caught up in the moment… because the sex was so good…

And that he probably acted that way with all the women he dated.

I struggled to put my fears into words. “He’s not…”

“A player? No. Valentino, yes – he’s too pretty for his own good. But not Adriano. He might have been a long time ago, before I knew him… but since his father died six months ago, they’ve basically been consumed with trying to keep the business afloat.”

His father.

I remembered what he had told me in the dressing room of the thrift shop…

The secret he had revealed…

The one that cracked my heart wide open.

Looking back on it, that was the moment that my emotions had gone from just lust…

To love.

“So there’s no one else?” I asked hopefully.

Adriano already told me in the restaurant last night that he’d never had a long-term girlfriend.

But it would be nice to hear confirmation from someone else.

Alessandra shook her head. “As far as I know, there hasn’t been anyone in his life for at least six months. And never anything serious.”

She paused, then added, “…before you.”

Then she grinned again. “Trust me, you’ve turned him from – who’s that American puppet that lives in a trash can? The one on the children’s show?”

“Oscar the Grouch?”

“Yes! You turned Adriano from Oscar the Grouch to – I don’t know if he’s Prince Charming yet, but he’s definitely on the way.”

“A very angry Prince Charming,” I said wryly.

Alessandra laughed. “The angriest!”