“Figlio, who is she?” My father’s voice comes from behind me.
I stand and turn, protecting her from him. The worry that she was attacked because of who I am is riding me high.
“She was mine, but I don’t think I can keep her. She was targeted, a hit put out on her.” The words come out full of the torment in my soul.
“If she is yours, son, then you must protect her. This wouldn’t have happened if she wastrulyyours.”
“I can’t,” I bark, and McKenna trembles.
“Bambola, wake up, please,” I beg as I fall to my ass in the chair next to her again. Her fingers squeeze mine. “Bambola?” Her eyes flutter and she raises her hands as if trying to pull something from her face. “McKenna, your eyes are swollen from the attack. You can’t see. But here, squeeze my hand again.”
She fights me and cries out. Her hands come up again and she hits herself with her casted hand. The doctor and nurse rush into the room and sedate her again.
“She needs to remain calm. Please,CapoandConsigliere,no arguing in here,” the doctor begs us, and I nod.
“Come outside, Dante,” my father urges me, but I won’t leave her side. The last time I let her out of my sight this happened to her. “I’ve put out feelers. The attack on you was unprovoked. I don’t understand. The attack on her shouldn’t have happened. And the clerk from the hotel is missing. He could have told us something.”
I don’t tell my father the clerk is at my vineyard in a barn being beaten to give us information. The guy doesn’t believe we’ll kill him; he says he’s protected.
“You’d destroy him to find out the information?” I ask the question. I don’t know what my father would do for me. I know he didn’t do anything when my sister disappeared. I’ve contacted Santi to do a deep dive and find out who attacked McKenna and why. I also have him searching her past to verify she doesn’t have someone after her.
“I’d do whatever is necessary to protect family. If she is yours, then she is family.” His voice doesn’t waver from his statement, and I turn to watch him, taking my eyes off McKenna.
“She is mine.” I hate it, but I can’t let her go. I won’t let her go. He nods, as if knowing I wouldn’t let her go.
“Then I’d cut off his fingers to find out the information,” my father growls. This is why he has become so feared here in the north. There have been hints that the mafia has become weak in the south. But that is the furthest from the truth, and Santi proved that. We have never been thought of as weak. My father has been leading since the night the Rossi family was slaughtered. We might not act right away as we take time to gather information and then destroy whoever goes against us. That’s why the treaty was initiated after the Rossis were killed. The other families didn’t want that to happen to them too. To this day, we haven’t been able to find the people responsible for murdering the Rossi family.
Wait. We? Am I mafia?
“He thinks he’s protected and no one will hurt him.” The words are torn from my chest in pain, because if he’s protected, that means someone is after our family now.
“You are mafia. Prove it.” My father’s words give me a slight pause.
“If I come back, it’s to protect McKenna, only.” I turn back to her. I’d do anything to protect her. I know it in my bones that she is mine. She will always be mine.
“You know you’vealwaysbeen mafia. It’s why you never take jobs against other families; you honor the treaty. It’s why you don’t kill in Italy also.” His words stop me, and I turn to look back at him. “Yes, son, I know what you do in your spare time. It’s why I’ve never stopped you. You need to find her or those that hurt her. I have all of Narcissa’s belongings. I sent my men to the hospital she was staying at.”
“You knew where she was the whole time?”
“No. Narcissa died without anyone in a private hospital. I was notified because they thought Luna was with me.”
“I don’t understand. Why would they think Luna was with us?”
“I don’t understand either. There was only a letter to Luna among her possessions.”
“This doesn’t make sense, Father. I’ll come back. For McKenna.”
He reaches out and places his hand on my shoulder. “Take care of her. Protect her. I’ll put out the word that any attack on her is an attack on the family.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out something. I see the flash of gold briefly. “This was your mother’s. She must be yours completely.” He hands me the ring, and I slip it on her finger.
I won’t ask because this is to protect her, and I won’t give her the chance to deny what we have. I hear my father move out of the room, and I remember my mother wearing that ring every day before she died. I still don’t understand why he remarried if he loved my mother so much that he kept her wedding ring. I know it was my grandmother’s before it was my mother’s.
I fall asleep with my head on the bed next to her hip, my fingers laced with her bruised ones.
* * *
McKenna
Everything hurtsand I don’t know why. I try to take a deep breath and feel a sharp pain spread through my chest. My face and jaw hurt. A heaviness surrounds my right hand, but my left is laced with another’s.