Page 69 of Family Secrets

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Gino asked for the hundredth time as he held Elizabeth tightly in his arms. A gentle breeze blew a strand of her dark hair across her face, the sun highlighting the natural glow and pink cheeks left behind by the still chilly wind.

“Physically, yes,” Elizabeth admitted. “But I feel guilty because I don’t feel the need to cry with him.”

Word spread fast about Elizabeth’s parentage once Emilio woke from his coma three days after Sully’s death. Emilio checked himself out of the hospital when he heard the news of where Nicole was buried. After much begging from Elizabeth, he rested at home for three more days before boarding a plane for Missouri. He hired cadaver dogs to find the graves of both Nicole and Morti, then proceeded to pay a few officials to turn a blind eye as he flew home with their bodies.

“No one expects you to have feelings for someone you never knew.”

“Maybe not,” moving from Gino’s embrace, Elizabeth kept her eyes on her father. “But I can at least comfort someone who did.”

Running her gloved hand down Gino’s chest, the bright sunlight irritating the residual headache which had plagued her since the night Sully punched her. Elizabeth made her way passed the sea of mourners, dropping to her knees beside her father.

Elizabeth wished she had clever words, or a famous phrase to share with him, some measure of comfort to make today easier, but she didn’t.Instead, she did what her granny did for her when she was sad and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head against his, as the strong and powerful man was reduced to a puddle of sobs. Ignoring the bitter chill of the wind and the people standing, waiting to bid Nicole goodbye.

“I hatethat you never got to know your mother, to feel the immense amount of love she had for her family,” Emilio confessed, resting his hand on the mahogany coffin holding what remained of his wife.

“Me too,” Elizabeth admitted. “I always wanted to know about my mom, but Gra…or rather Margarita—"

“Don’t,” Emilio interrupted his daughter. “Margarita may not have been blood, but she cared for you without question, which makes her family in my book.”

Standing to his full height, taking Elizabeth’s gloved hand in his, “I don’t want to push you into anything. Being my daughter comes with a mountain of privileges, and an even deeper valley of pitfalls. I won't lie to you and deny my wish for you to allow Giovanni to pursue you.” Lowering his head, the conversation he had with the man in question flashing in his mind. “As a matter of fact, I’ve already given him my blessing.”

Shiftingher eyes to the portrait of her mother resting on a gold easel, the similarities unbelievable. “He says he loves me, but…” Elizabeth trailed off, shaking her head as she returned her gaze to her father’s face. “The last man who said those words cheated and stole his way into my bank account. Yet I was willing to settle for him.”

“You should never settle, Elizabeth, not with anything in your life. Especially not with any man you give your heart to,” nodding his head in Gino's direction. “You already know Giovanni is no stranger to women,” Emilio paused, taking a moment to enjoy the hint of fear coloring the young man’s face. “If he says he loves you, then he’s telling the truth.”

Turning to look over her shoulder, Elizabeth took in the man in the black overcoat, his dark hair tousled from the wind, and yet it looked perfect. For all the decisions in her life at the moment, being completely in love with Giovanni wasn’t one of them. She’d fallen hard for the ultimate bad boy, and this time, there was no settling.

* * *

“You okay with this?”

Niko knew the answer before he allowed the question to leave his lips. He’d known the Vitale Family for well over half his life. He’d been beside Gino when he shot his first gun, watched him as he came to grips with the first life he ever took and handed him the keys to Jonathan’s prized Porsche so he could do donuts in the driveway. He’d also watched the young, caring boy morph into a callous man when his heart was shattered by a cruel girl.

“I have to be, Niko.” Gino returned his attention to the wooden crate in the center of the trash heap.“Sully knew the punishment for hurting an untouchable the second he pulled his fist back to punch her.”

He’d held Elizabeth’s hand as the doctor his mother had waiting at his penthouse removed chunks of glass from her scalp, sitting up all night with her as they waited out the time for her to avoid falling asleep.

“I know what is required of you to say, but Sully was the only brother you knew. Despite what he did, it’s okay to mourn his death.”

Once Elizabeth was deemed free from a concussion, Gino laid beside her freshly showered body, holding her tight as she drifted off to sleep before slipping out the door with Niko to retrieve Sully’s body from the Vittorio’s. Salvatore Mastone was a traitor and would make his way to the Underworld branded as such.

“He wasn’t my brother, Niko,” Gino bit out. “He was a mistake my father was too stupid to correct.”

Niko knew it was easier for Gino to be angry than to admit what Sully did hurt him. He’d watched Gino as he used the hurt festering inside him to remove Sully’s head from his body, sand the fingerprints off his fingers and pull every tooth out of his mouth, before tossing his body face down in an old crate, and shoving his head in the crack of his ass.

“Now he can rot in hell with my father, let the Devil deal with his deception.” Gino watched as a pile of New York City trash was dumped on top of the crate, a family of rats scurrying toward the rotten food and baby diapers. Sully’s decaying body would be a treat for them, as they would devour his flesh by the time the sun set tonight.

“Have we heard from Tony?” Gino questioned as he watched a large rat dig at a loose board on Sully’s crate.

“Yes, the barrel was emptied into the Hudson an hour ago.”

Gino’s anger wasn’t centered solely on Sully. Due to the depths of her deception with Elizabeth, Gino had ordered Lisa’s body placed in a barrel of acid and tossed into the river. Her belongings were removed from the apartment he provided her and sat under a bridge for the homeless to enjoy.

“And what of the warehouse, have the cops finished their investigation?”

When Niko first came to Gino with his suspicions of Sully’s parentage, Gino put measures in place in case Niko was correct. Initially, he planned to set Sully up, allowing the cops to raid his warehouse and find enough drugs to put him in prison for a long time. All that changed the minute he’d involved Elizabeth.

“Rhoads sends his gratitude, the amount of coke they found will earn him some kind of commendation. And Flynn is being held without bond, he’s suicidal of course.” Niko added with a laugh.

“Of course,” Gino returned, checking the watch on his wrist. “I have a visit with Nona to get to.”

“How is the old girl?”

“Not the best,” Gino admitted, climbing behind the wheel of his car. “She says parents aren’t meant to bury their children, much less a grandchild. She says she prays every day for God to take her before she has to do it again.” Gino hadn’t the heart to tell his Nona of Sully’s deception, deciding her heart was heavy enough with his death.

“Give her my love,” Niko requested, leaning over Gino’s open window. “Let her know as soon as everything is sorted, I’ll pay her a visit.”

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