He was probably right, but my mind wouldn’t stop saying it. That couldn’t be him.
Chapter 36
Tino
As we arrived at the mansion, Angel asked to see Leo. He was already with the doctors, trying hard to stabilize him.
“Why don’t you go take a bath and rest? I’ll let you know what the doctors say as soon as they finish,” I said.
Angel wouldn’t move, but Nicole held her arm gently and convinced her staying outside Leo’s door wouldn’t help. As Angel dragged her feet away, Nicole glanced at me, mouthing her thanks.
I nodded, and as soon as they disappeared upstairs, I sank in the chair outside the room Leo was in, my face in my hands, going through what happened, trying to figure out when and why it’d gone wrong.
Why was that fucker Andretti taking her outside instead of backstage as we agreed?
How did Leo find out the right place and time of the trap? I didn’t tell him anything.
Why did Andretti shoot Leo? To be exact, why would Leo let Andretti shoot him? I taught my son how to shoot, how to easily incapacitate a captor. They were face to face, their heights the same, and Angel was short in comparison. Leo had a clear shot of Andretti.
“Brutto. Stronzo.”
If he hadn’t been shot already, I’d have done it myself. In the dick. I’d fuck my only chance to have grandchildren without an ounce of care. I didn’t want them if he thought he was gonna make them with my Angel. I’d have more children with her, and they’d have my grandchildren, not that punk.
Could I really blame him, though? For loving her? For doing what he’d done?
I growled at the ceiling. “Like father like son.”
Michele came to tell me about Andretti. He’d taken care of the body and the police, and the fucker’s apartment—it wasn’t really his, but I’d chosen one close to hers and made it look like it was Marciano’s—was all set with the evidence Angel needed to believe.
The doubt in her eyes would be long gone when she saw for herself the details of the monster tale she’d been living in her whole life etched over every corner of that place.
The only one standing between me and her now was Leo. After the little game he played, it’d be a lot harder to get him out of the way than I thought.
Hours later, the doctors assured me they got out the bullet and stopped the hemorrhage. No vital organs were affected—of course.
I stayed all night in the room downstairs where he was, rewinding his whole life in my head since he was still in his mother’s belly. The first time I’d felt his kick. The tears in my eyes when I held him in my arms after he was born. The lullaby I sang for him when he was too stubborn to sleep. His first birthday party that was the talk of the city for weeks. His first bike and the nasty knee scrape he got on his first ride without the training wheels that left a visible scar until now. His first day at school. The first time I caught him smoking. The smile on his face on his play dates with Claudia. The first time I taught him to shoot. The first time he stole my car and my cologne. The first time he drank my whiskey.
The look on his face when he found out about his mother’s death.
“I love you, Leo, more than anything. I’ve done everything that I can to protect you, and I’ve always wanted you to be happy even if you don’t believe it.” Not knowing if he could hear me, I kissed his forehead, his skin warmer than usual. “I didn’t believe you the first time, refused to believe it until today. You really love her, don’t you?”
I didn’t need him to say it. I knew. “You must be to go behind my back and have your own deal with Andretti. To make him betray me and play for you. To make it look like you were saving her, taking a bullet for her.” I took a long breath and let it out slowly. “Now you’d be stuck at home where I can’t kick you out with a gunshot wound, where you can be with her, a hero in her eyes, her savior. She’d take care of you to repay you for saving her life, and you’d dazzle her, charm your way to her heart.”
The only way to ruin his plan was to tell her it was all staged, but he knew I couldn’t without outing myself, too. The fucker Marciano must have told him everything about the fake kidnapping. Leo must have thought I was doing it to make him stop chasing the stalker, prevent him from becoming her hero, but he turned the tables on me.
Well played, Leo. Well played.
In the morning, he opened his eyes and slurred her name. I cradled his hand between my palms and kissed his forehead, his temperature normal now.
“Papà? Were you here all night?”
“Certo. Where else would I be? Meno male.”
“Thanks. Where’s Lina?”
I sighed. “I’ll send for her. She was so worried about you.”
One of the nurses that had been checking on him all night came in and told me everything was normal. I waved for her to bring Angel and Nicole.
Angel’s gaze as she saw Leo put a sword through my chest. That look would have been for me, was meant for me, not him.
But it was too late now.
I lost my Angel.
Chapter 37
Lina
Marciano Andretti. That was his name. My pictures, the pink tank top I’d been missing for months, the night binoculars, everything that was in the apartment two blocks away from my condo proved he was Marciano.
Tino said Marciano had been renting that apartment since I’d moved to the condo. He had easy access to the academy because he’d worked for Tino before.
So many secrets had unraveled since Marciano died. Like the fact that my father had done a few jobs for Tino, too, and that Marciano was my father’s friend.
It was all hard to believe. How Marciano died. Why Tino hid that fact that he knew my father. How everything always went back to the Bellomos. It wasn’t a miracle that got us into their program. It wasn’t Marciano either.
It was fate.
My father had to be the sicko he’d been. He had to work for the Mob. He had to be friends with Marciano. All so that Marciano would find out what his friend did to his daughters and kill him. So that Tino would feel obligated to take care of his daughters and send them to his school. So that I’d grow up with my father’s killer growing an obsession for me. So that he’d threaten and attack me, and I’d find my way back to the Bellomos. To Tino. To Leo.
“How was your exam?” Leo asked as we strolled together in the mansion garden under June’s sunny sky. That had been my routine now for the past week. Study, practice, sit for the exam, take a slow walk with Leo as his health improved— not chaperoned, which worried me about Tino. It wasn’t like him at all.
“Easy.” I smiled.
“Awesome. I want you to finish school as fast as possible.”
I rolled my eyes. “And we’re back to that.”
“Yes, we are. And don’t even start about Claudia. The second the doctors clear me to travel, I’m going back to San Francisco.”
“God, Leo.”
“You said the two things that were standing between us was that piece of shit and the engagement. I took care of the first obstacle. I’ll take care of the other, too.”
“You took a bullet in the stomach when you handled Marciano. When you break off the engagement the bullet will be in your head.”