The Rocchetti Queen - Bree Porter Page 0,47
charge forward, but I grabbed his arm.
“You get to see his face when Aisling tells him the news,” I reminded him. “Let that be payback enough for him being a lunatic.”
My husband relaxed, grinning ferally. “You’re right.” He straightened, seeming to get a hold of himself once again. “Where is she now?”
“I assume she is at the doctor’s, as Nora said. But we will wait for her call.” I squeezed his arm, comfortingly. “Come on. I’ll clean you up.”
“What about my father?”
“He can get his own wife.”
Alessandro huffed, letting me lead him away from the men, and the violence, and the pain that all the Rocchetti men held inside themselves until it was time to explode.
It quickly became clear my medical expertise would not be enough.
Dr Li Fonti, the Outfit’s concierge doctor, was called to the house to look at both Alessandro and Salvatore Sr. Both of them had gone at each other very hard, leaving Toto with two broken ribs and my husband with a severely bruised knee and broken nose.
Neither man wanted to sit down and be treated, so I had to hover over them like I was their mother, snapping whenever they fidgeted with their bandages.
Since both had put their foot down at the mention of the hospital, Dr Li Fonti had been forced to load them both up with opioids and tell them to go easy on their bodies for the next few weeks. From the way the doctor had sighed, he knew he was going to get another call before the week was even up, saying one of them had injured themselves again.
I thanked him as he left, waving him down the street. Aisling’s car passed his, and she pulled into my driveway, red hair matching her furious expression.
“I trusted you!” She slammed the car door.
“Listen to what happened before you make assumptions,” I said from the patio.
Because Aisling had some common sense, unlike the two battered men sitting in my living room, she paused and looked to me for answers.
“Alessandro and Toto were trying to kill each other. I managed to calm Alessandro down, but Toto was not calming down. So, I told Oscuro to call you...but Nora picked up.”
Aisling’s features softened ever so slightly. “That’s not as bad as I thought it was.”
“And told everyone that you were with the doctor and her baby brother.”
Anger took a hold of her features once again. “Shit, Sophia! This is bad news.”
I rose my eyebrows at her tone but didn’t say anything. I did feel guilty for letting her tightly guarded secret become public knowledge.
She rubbed her face, looking more stressed than I had ever seen her. “Damn it! Where is he?”
“On the couch.”
Aisling strode past, walking through the snow into my house.
I kept up with her, mainly because I wanted to see what happened between her and Toto. Both out of worry and curiosity—worry, because who knew how Toto was going to react, and curiosity, because who knew how Toto was going to react.
Toto looked up as she entered. “Do you have something you want to tell me?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” She crossed her arms, glancing at Alessandro, who sat on the other end of the couch.
My husband and I weren’t going anywhere so I signaled for her to go on.
“What did you do to yourself?” Aisling asked, noticing Salvatore Sr’s bandage around his ribs. “Were you being stupid?”
His nostrils flared. “Don’t try and distract me, Aisling.” I had never heard Toto take on such a tone. He sounded almost...normal. Angry and pissed off, but normal. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
She worked her jaw, but answered, “I am.”
“How far along?”
“Just under 20 weeks.”
I did the math in my mind. That meant she had fallen pregnant in September, just a month after she became his mistress.
Toto rubbed his mouth—just like Alessandro did—and nodded sharply. He rose, holding his side. “Whatever you and the baby need, say so.”
Aisling looked rightfully suspicious.
He went on, “As well as the, uh, bigger one.”
“The bigger one?” I said before I could stop myself.
My father-in-law actually looked a tiny bit embarrassed. Or maybe I was imagining it. My brain tricking me felt more believable than Toto the Terrible actually showing an emotion such as embarrassment.
“Your girl, your daughter. I’ll pay for everything. You and your children won’t have to want for anything,” he said.
I looked at Alessandro. My husband’s eyes were wide and lips parted. Obviously, he had not expected his father to offer to fund Aisling’s life.
“You can move back to