this.”
I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes. “Gaige came over earlier.”
“Are you finally going to go on a date with the poor guy? He's been pining for years.”
“Darien. No. And he's not pining—he's my best friend. He just happens to have a perpetual potential boner where I'm concerned.” This conversation would be awkward, but Darien's always insisted that he was the 'fun uncle' and not a father, so he's gotta deal.
“Only potential?” he questioned, one eyebrow quirked.
“True,” I acquiesced. “Maybe it's not potential all the time.” I guess that it is a literal boner occasionally. Depends what I'm wearing. Luckily, today was a sweats day, not that it thwarted his attempt.
“Okay, so if it wasn't his attempt to date you, then what is it?”
I licked my dry lips slowly. I could feel them chapping as my tongue slipped over my lower one. “You know how Angelo went to Chicago last week?”
Darien sat up straight, his foot dropping back to the floor. It was quick, and I knew he was one hundred percent listening to me. “Yes.”
I wrung my hands together, then forced myself to stop, clasping them in my lap instead. I met his dark brown eyes with fear bundling in my belly. “He heard Gino's consigliere talking to my father's.”
His fists clenched. “Go on.”
“He didn't hear much, but my father thinks I'm alive.”
Darien squeezed his eyes shut, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “When did he hear it? And is that all?”
“Yes.”
“Armo should have called us,” he bit out, referring to Angelo and Gaige's father. “Straight away.”
“I know. I told Gaige before he left, but he shrugged and said he told his dad to. It was only when he realized he hadn't called you that he came over.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “What do we do?”
He took a deep breath, still pinching his nose, and leaned forward. His elbows rested on his knees and he glanced up to meet my eyes. “We see if we can find out more. Not everyone in the Romano hierarchy is entirely loyal to your father, Addy. They stay for their safety, but it's how I've been able to keep you safe.”
“So you can find out what my father's plan is?”
“Not necessarily.” He sighed. “If it was common knowledge in the family, I would have known already. I will try to find out, but it sounds like this is information your father wants to keep close to him.”
“Because they already think I'm dead,” I said softly. “And if I'm not, he will be questioned.”
“Precisely. And if he's questioned, his time as Don is over.”
“Good. He shouldn't fucking be there anyway.”
“I know, bambina.” Darien stood and walked to me. He dropped a kiss on the top of my head, then turned away. “Don't stay up too late. You have class at eight.”
“I know.” I smiled up at him.
He reached the doorway and looked at me. “You will be safe, Adriana. I promise you.”
“I know,” I repeated, still smiling.
I hoped.
Chapter Two – Hunter
Rain hammered against the window as the car sped down the road toward the Hamptons. Frustration had been coiled in my stomach for the last twenty-four hours—ever since I'd first heard the rumors.
That Adriana Romano was alive.
I was sure I'd lost my fucking mind—or that the people who'd started the rumor had. There was no way she was still alive. She'd died in a car crash with Alexandria when she was thirteen and I was fifteen. I fucking remember being told. I remember finding out that she was dead.
I went to the fucking funeral. I cried my broken heart out over her white and gold casket.
And for what? To find out ten years later that she might be alive?
I was a clusterfuck of searing emotion. I wanted to slam my fist into a wall, just to see the plaster break, at the same time I wanted to tell everyone to leave me the hell alone so I could cry like a pussy.
Ten years.
Ten. Mother. Fucking. Years.
Enzio Romano. My boss. Her father. Godfather of the Romano family. Now the idea was in my head, there was every damn chance he'd been lying through his damn teeth when he told us she was dead. I remember his tears as he struggled to get the words out—as he spun a web of sick lies for his own agenda. As he sobbed as he described Darien's crash.
Suicide mission, he'd called it. He'd found the note in Darien's room.
He was sickly in love with Alexandria,