The Consequence (The Evolution of Sin 3)

I wrenched my gaze away from Elena and my unfair rage against her to look at Cosima again. Her skin was papery under my fingers when I reached over to brush my fingers against her cheek and her normally lustrous hair was brittle. Another sob rose in my throat but I swallowed it painfully. Crying would only prompt my family to do the same.

“Cane, let me through!” A roughened voice demanded from down the hallway.

“Get your act together,” another voice bit out, “or I won’t let you see her.”

A moment later, Sinclair led a disgruntled Dante into the room. I gasped at the sight of the Italian man, his inky hair completely disheveled and his black eyes wild with grief. He immediately tumbled into the room and sat on Cosima’s bed, his hands shaking as they gently skimmed over her face.

“Mia bella ragazza,” he murmured over and over again, as he stared at her.

I was deeply surprised and even strangely moved when tears began to roll down his cheeks.

“Who the fuck are you?” Sebastian demanded after the moment of shock passed.

Dante ignored him. Instead, he pressed his forehead against Cosima’s and continued to mutter in Italian under his breath.

Sebastian took a menacing step forward but stopped when Dante let out a choked sob. His hand shook as he stroked it down Cosima’s brittle mane of hair.

“What happened to you?” he whispered in anguish.

Sebastian stilled vibrated beside me but I knew he wouldn’t rip the mafia man away without asking questions first.

I opened my mouth to do just that, but Elena interrupted me.

“What are you doing here, Daniel?”

It took me a moment to process what she was doing. When I whirled to face her and saw the sincerity in her expression, I was furious for a different reason.

“Elena,” I snapped, before I could temper my response.

Sinclair held up a hand and stepped forward. “Elena, this isn’t the time.”

Mama looked between the three of us with sharp eyes that saw too much. “What is going on, ragazzi?”

“Daniel and I are,” Elena paused delicately, “going through a trial separation.”

Sinclair frowned but didn’t correct her. I wanted him to so badly that my muscles twitched but I tried to understand why he remained silent.

Mama barely bated an eyelash. “I agree. This is not the time, Elena.”

“No, it is the time for this cafone to tell us what he got Cosi into,” Sebastian growled as he moved forward to plant a heavy hand on Dante’s shoulder.

The made man stilled, his lack of movement filled with threat.

“I didn’t get her into anything,” he said quietly.

“Stronzo, do not lie to me about my sister.”

“I would never do anything to harm her,” Dante whispered again.

Was it absurd that I believed him? He was looking at Cosima with a tenderness that echoed in my chest.

“Tell me the truth,” Sebastian roared, yanking him back by the shoulder.

Dante was on his feet in a flash, his forearm across Seb’s throat as he held him against the wall. My brother was tall, over six feet, but Dante was practically a giant, closer to seven feet than six, with muscles defined and bulging like coils of rope beneath his skin.

Dante leaned close to Sebastian’s face and calmly repeated, “I didn’t get her into anything. I saved her, patatino.”

He knew his family nickname.

Who was this guy?

Dante stepped back with a snort of disgust and turned to face Cosima again, his face soft with anguish again. He took her hand but spoke to Sebastian, “I understand your anger but know that I have lived with it for much longer than you, this rage against the people who dare to touch this woman.” His fingers tenderly brushed her hair away from her face. “She kept you in the dark because you weren’t strong enough to deal with her demons.”

Sebastian growled but I stepped forward to press a hand to his arm.

“She never gave us the chance,” I said softly. “Maybe you can?”

Dante looked over at me, his eyes large and wet with tears. For a moment, I could sense his desire to connect with us. There was no doubt in my mind that he loved Cosima and the outsider in him longed to be accepted by her and by association, her family.

But the expression flickered and died a quick death when Elena snorted at my comment and Sebastian bared his teeth.

The family that couldn’t even accept their own would never accept him and by the look in his eye, he knew it.

“It is not my story to tell, not really,” he finally said.

“Cut the bullshit,” Sebastian said. “I want to know what happened to my sister.”

Dante shrugged as if he didn’t care but his eyes were tight. “I can’t know for sure. She knows more than one dangerous person, myself included, that could have swept her up into the middle of a feud. She always was too curious for her own good. Too defiant.”