The Rocchetti Queen - Bree Porter Page 0,61

a lost as to where the baby was. I hadn’t been around when my husband had told his brother the news, but according to him, Salvatore Jr had showed little reaction.

Even Toto the Terrible had shown some sort of reaction when he found out Aisling was pregnant. But Salvatore Jr merely cataloged the news like Alessandro had told him about the weather.

That empty response to the world around him unnerved me more than I would ever be able to convey.

“My love, did you say you saw a photo of Dupont’s mother on his desk?” Alessandro asked.

I nodded. “I did.”

“Nero, hunt her down,” Alessandro ordered. “If Tristan wants to fuck with our family, we will fuck with his.”

“Are you going to get violent with her?” I asked. “She is an old woman.”

“I don’t mind,” Nero said. He was ignored.

Alessandro looked to me, jaw tense. “Threats do not always lead to violence. If you want, you can deal with her. I need to have a little chat with Raul, anyway.”

My father-in-law looked way too excited.

“I have her. You deal with Raul.” I pressed my lips to Alessandro’s ear. “Make him pay for almost hurting my son. I want everyone in Illinois to know what happens to those who dare touch our family.”

“Don’t worry, my love,” my husband murmured. “His blood will water the soil of our dynasty.”

Mrs Dupont lived alone in a retirement community between the border of Canada and the States, along the St Clair river. Her little home was neat and quiet, and only sign someone lived there was the rocking chair on the porch.

I stepped up to the door, knocking loudly. Oscuro waited by the car, tense and alert.

The door opened, revealing a short old woman with watery blue eyes and white hair. She blinked at me in surprise, “Hello?” There was a slight French tang to her voice.

“Mrs Dupont?” I stretched out my hand. “It’s so lovely to finally meet you. I’m Sophia, a friend of your son’s. Could I trouble you for some tea?”

Alessandro came back home in the dead of the night.

I felt his fingers pass over my hair before he disappeared into the bathroom. The smell of blood wafted after him.

I slid out of bed, wrapping my dressing gown around myself. Dante stayed asleep, but I made sure to shut the bathroom door behind me so the light wouldn’t disturb him.

Alessandro had already slipped out of his shirt, not a cut to be seen, yet still blood soiled the fabric.

“It’s not mine,” he said quietly, bent over the sink.

I came up behind him, trailing my fingers down his spine. “I know, my love.” I pressed my lips to his arm, a butterfly of a kiss. “Raul?”

“Dead.”

“Your brother...”

“Behind it.”

I sighed deeply. It was what we had expected, yet the news didn’t bring me any joy. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” he asked.

“I was hoping for another outcome. For both you and your father.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Since I was a child, I knew Salvi was my biggest opponent. What will happen next has been written since the day I was born.”

I slid in between the counter and Alessandro, flushed against his body. His hardness pressed into me, the thin silk of my dressing gown a scant barrier between us. The sink dug into my back.

His gaze roamed my face, half-delighted.

“What did you do to him?”

Alessandro pressed his forehead against mine, breathing deeply as he remembered. “The same I do to all those that dare oppose me.”

“He protected Dante, Alessandro. We...trusted him to protect our son.” I couldn’t stop thinking about it. All the chances where Raul could have hurt Dante, all he would’ve had to do was push past Dita and Teresa.

“I know, my love. But our son is fine.”

I pressed my lips against his collar bone, then lower, and lower.

Alessandro tensed as I moved further down, scraping my teeth and tongue over his corded muscles. I traced his tattoos with my nails, following the lines of the oaths he had made to the Outfit and the Rocchettis.

“My Sophia,” he murmured, voice low.

“Mmm?” The bathroom tiles were cold against my knees.

His hand came around my head, weaving into my hair.

I unbuckled his belt, sliding down his pants, until all of him was revealed. I traced his happy trail down, smiling as I felt him tense beneath me.

“Sophia,” he growled. “No teasing.”

“Is that so?” I mused, replacing my fingers with my lips. Moving further and further down... “Where is that rule