Antonio ( Underworld Mafia Romance 3)

“Who are you?” I ask him. “And what do you want from me?”

“You don’t know who I am?” The man in the suit strokes his light-colored beard. “Oh, right. It’s because you’ve just entered the story now. Wait. No, that’s not right. You were in the story before, but I took you out. I thought I did. That was supposed to be the first blow against Orso.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “What do you mean you took me out?”

He pulls out a chair and sits.

“I might as well tell you everything since I don’t expect you to slip from my clutches a second time.” He clasps his hands on his lap. “My name is Sergio Bianchi. I was once part of your father’s organization. I was one of his closest friends, actually. But we had a fight. He tried to kill me. He failed. I retaliated by trying to hurt his daughter. I failed.”

My eyes grow wide. “Daughter?”

I have a sister?

Sergio chuckles. “Si. La sorella. Alyssa. He was having her raised by someone else. I found out and kidnapped her. He found out about that, and let’s just say that I paid for my stupid crime.” He points to his face. “See this? This wasn’t always my face.”

I thought there was something off about it.

“I gave up on revenge for a while. I tried to find peace but couldn’t. We mafiosi can never have peace. Then someone offered to help me.”

And I know exactly who it is.

“It was his idea to mess things up that night at the Espositos’, although I did most of the work. You and Cain were supposed to die that night. Strangely, neither of you did.”

“So you blew up the van?” I ask him.

Sergio shakes his head. “That wasn’t me. That was Gil Esposito, the son of Damian Esposito. Cain killed him.”

My eyebrows furrow. Something tells me there’s more to this story, but I’ll just ask Cain when I see him.

“I thought you were dead,” Sergio goes on. “We all did. You had us all fooled. Who would have thought you survived and were hiding all this time?”

I guess he’s the one I was hiding from.

“I bet Nora helped you. She disappeared after that night.”

Nora? Abby mentioned a blonde woman with a black leather jacket. I bet that’s her.

“You should have stayed in hiding. I would have left you alone. But I don’t blame you for coming out. Secrets can’t stay in the dark. People can’t, either.”

“And now that you have me, what do you plan on doing with me?” I ask.

“Oh, I’m just going to let your father know I have you,” Sergio answers. “And then I’m going to make him watch as you suffer and die. You’ll be joining your mother.”

“Did you kill my mother?” I ask him.

He grins. “Not me, either. But I know who did.”

The knowledge that my mother was murdered makes my stomach clench. I didn’t hate Sergio before, not for what he did to me, but now I do. I’m going to make sure he pays for his crimes.

“And then what? After you kill me, will you finally find peace?”

“No,” Sergio answers. “You still have two brothers and a sister. They’ll be next. Like you, they’ve escaped me before, but they’ll come for their father and I will be ready to take them down.”

Yeah, right. Like he could take Cain down. Then again, if he’s working with that man, he just might succeed.

Shit.

“Then I’ll make your father watch as his organization crumbles, everything he’s worked for taken away. I don’t care what happens after that. He can die already. He can even kill himself.” Sergio touches his chin as he chuckles. “That would be funny, a man who miraculously got a second chance at life killing himself.”

I don’t know what he means, but I don’t ask any more questions. I’ve heard enough.

Sergio stands up. “Now that I’ve told you everything, I’ll leave you to think. And prepare yourself for your fate. Or you can go back to sleep. I just woke you up because I wanted to finally meet you.”

He waves his hand.

“Arrivederci.”

He leaves the room with the man who splashed water on me. The other guy remains, still on his phone.

I lift my cuffed hands. “Aren’t you going to uncuff me so I can change clothes? I’m all wet, you know, thanks to your friend. If I get sick and die, that would ruin all the fun, wouldn’t it?”

He disappears into the bathroom. I stand up and look out the window. I can’t see any houses nearby, just trees. I see guards patrolling the grounds, too. Making my way past them is going to be tough, and first, I have to escape from this thug guarding me.

He comes back with a towel that he throws on me.

“No one dies from a splash of water.”