at breakfast. Those questions from earlier filled my mind again, and I had to ask. “Alessandro, did you really intend to do it?” I probed softly.
“Do what?” he asked, his eyes frozen on the road.
“You know what,” I whispered. “Were you going to let me see May on the day of the accident?”
He cleared his throat. “Olivia, why does it matter? Can’t you just let it go?”
“No, I can’t,” I insisted. “I need to know.”
He expelled a long breath. “Fine. Yes, that was the plan, tesoro. I was going to pick up your sister and bring her back to our house on her birthday. Now, can we please talk about something else?”
The feeling of guilt and regret settled on my chest all over again. I gulped and exhaled a quivering breath. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I choked out.
Alessandro cast me a glance as a single tear rolled down my cheek. He swore under his breath and abruptly pulled up to the curb. He then undid his seatbelt and I shot him an expectant stare.
“Cara…” he whispered in a soothing tone as his thumb traced the wet trail on my skin.
“I just want to know,” I said in a constricted voice. “Why would you do it?”
Alessandro’s features softened and his lips twitched into a brief smile. “Because…despite the animosity between us, I care about you very much.” His fingers grazed my jaw. “And I have come to care about your little sister as well.”
“How?” Trisha had told me some of it, but I wanted to hear it from his perspective.
Those dark eyes clouded with murky shadows. “Olivia, we’ve just had a wonderful day with May. Why end it with conversations that will only ruin our mood and cause more pain?”
“Alessandro, I just want to know the truth,” I persisted in a quiet voice and gave him a pleading look. “Please. You owe it to me.”
“You want to know why I’m so attached to May?” he probed softly.
“Yes,” I breathed. “I want to hear what happened. Why did you help my parents and made sure May was okay?”
“The reason is quite simple.” A pained expression shadowed his gaze and his eyes misted. We sat in silence for a short while before he made us regress back into the past. “That night when I almost had your stepmother killed, I was enraged with myself because of what I’d done to you and I went berserk when I saw your parents. Unfortunately, your little sister witnessed all of it and she had a serious panic attack.” He sighed and blinked for a few moments. “She reminded me so much of Marcella and I felt that same need to provide protection. I scooped her up in my arms and did everything I could to get her to calm down. I looked like a fucking pussy in front of my men, but I didn’t give a damn. I just focused on the little girl who trembled in my embrace. Her mom was right there, but she wasn’t crying for her…she was crying for her big sister. She’d talked to you briefly on the phone earlier and kept asking where you were.”
Pain stabbed at my heart. “And what did you tell her?”
“Nothing. I kept hushing her.” He gulped and smiled sadly. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t let her see you. You were seriously hurt and the doctor was tending to the welts on your back.”
I closed my eyes and remembered how that kind doctor cleaned my wounds, and lifted my battered spirit to the best of his ability after I’d taken that nearly fatal bath. I released a shuddering breath and pushed the memory away. I glanced at Alessandro. “What happened next?”
“I realized how connected you and your little sister truly were and I felt very guilty for everything that happened. I needed something to satiate my conscience and I’d reached a decision. I wanted your little sister to have a home and a family so I bought them a house and gave them a monthly allowance along with protection and anything else they needed. The only condition was that they get clean…and I made sure they did.”
I nodded thoughtfully. “Trisha told me as much.”
Something flashed in Alessandro’s gaze and his expression stiffened. “Did she also tell you she got frantic every time your name was brought up?”
I shook my head. “She just said you refused to let them establish any contact with me.”
“Que cazzo!” Alessandro fumed in sudden irritation, then sucked in a