Page 64 of The Italian Reckoning
She knows me too well.
“No,” I say softly. “Not the only one. I… Sarah. I need your help.”
She moves past me and opens the fridge, removing a bottle of wine. Then she motions for me to follow her with one long finger. “Come. We drink and we talk.”
28
SARAH
“Ifeel like I should start with one hell of an apology.”
Rocky takes the offered seat on the couch and tucks one leg underneath himself, then he accepts the glass of wine I press into his hand. Iris streaks through the lounge and disappears under the table, growling softly in Rocky’s direction.
“Cute cat.”
“Thanks. But hold on, why are you apologizing?” My limbs feel loose and easy. I’m more relaxed than I have been in weeks, although I can’t pinpoint whether it’s Rocky’s presence or the fact that he just railed me on the kitchen table. Sitting at the opposite end of the couch, I pour my own glass of wine while watching Rocky sip his.
“Six weeks is a long time. I should have called. Should have done something to?—”
“Let me stop you right there.” Setting the bottle aside, I stretch out one leg until my foot is resting against Rocky’s thigh. “That morning when your father turned up… I was terrified. Not just for me but for you too. Everything I thought I knew about him and how your world worked just went out the window when he broke your arm.” My stomach tightens. “I can still hear itwhen I close my eyes. When he dumped me by the side of the road, I was so scared that I’d never see you alive again.” The wine does nothing to calm the rising tingling in my throat as if bile is trying to claw its way up my throat. “And then I got a message from Evelyn a week later and I knew you were alive.”
Rocky remains silent for a few minutes, his eyes on me as if studying every detail of my emotions that I’m too tired to hide. “He… would it make you feel better if I told you he’d always been like that?”
“No!” I lean forward and nudge him with my toes. “That’s awful.”
“That’s life.” He shrugs. “Although that’s the first time he personally broke a bone.” Rocky lifts his arm and slowly flexes his elbow. “I suppose that was my wake up call. I knew things were bad. For the past year or so, I’ve been watching him pull us further and further away from everyone. Our world only works if the people under him give us the respect we need. And usually, they do out of fear or loyalty, but my father has been ruling on fear long enough that people aren’t scared anymore. So I’ve been trying to fix that by building relationships, but all he sees is me fucking around.”
There he is, the real Rocky Barati laid bare.
On the surface, he does strike me as a man who wouldn’t know responsibility unless it jumped up and bit him on the ass, and I did think he was some kind of playboy, but deep down, he’s not. He’s a man who cares and uses his laid back attitude to make people feel at ease so they let him in and trust him to do what’s right.
“But your arm,” I say softly, my voice low. “He did that to you and you stayed?”
Rocky shrugs one shoulder and drinks. “He’s my family at the end of the day. I needed time to recover and make sure he wouldn’t put a bullet between my eyes, and then I thought Icould get him to really see what I was up to. But he’s so stuck in his ways that anything I suggest comes across as a threat. Even his adviser, Domenico, is having a hard time.”
“Who?”
“Domenico Del Prete.”
“Wait, the Del Prete Brewery guy?”
Rocky chuckles. “I forgot that’s how you’d know him. But yes.”
“And he’s your father’s adviser?”
“Anyone in charge has one, if they’re smart. To the people, it makes it look like they have someone to keep them in line, but in truth it’s just a way to get things done when you can’t show your face everywhere. Domenico’s sort of like a second father to me. At least he showed me more affection than my real father ever has. He’s spent years being the shore my father beats against. He came back from Italy over a month ago to try and rein in my father, but things have been…” Rocky trails off and shakes his head. “He’s fighting a losing battle. And if I’m not careful, there’s not going to be much of a family left for me. But that’s not the only reason I’m here, because I really do want to apologize.”
“And I said it’s not necessary.” I can’t expect an apology when Rocky’s own father will go as far as breaking his limbs to keep him in line. That kind of monster can’t be appeased with words. “Not that I’m not over the moon to see you, which is totally the wine talking, but I don’t want you hurt because of me.”
“This is my choice.” Rocky’s warm hand rests on my ankle and he massages gently. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the casino and I kept worrying that too much time had passed. That some other stranger had whisked you away.”
“No sexy bikers have stopped to save my life recently, if that’s what you mean.” I chuckle softly, and the fizzing tension in mychest gives way to the warmth of affection. “So, you snuck out to see me?”
“Mmhmm.” Rocky drains his glass and sighs, smacking his lips together. “One, because I needed to see you before I exploded. And two… the murders.”
Oh. Right. “I’m not on that case anymore.”
“What?”
