“She was shot coming out of her doctor's office,” I pressed on, watching his face carefully. “Six months pregnant with Gastone's daughter.”
Federico's eyes widened with shock. “It was a girl?”
I nodded. “I need to know, Federico…I don’t know how to say this. But did you, did we—?”
Federico’s voice rose, just an octave. “Hethinkswe did it?”
“He says he has proof. That was a message from Gio when he was expanding into Ajello territory. Even the paper reported you being responsible.”
“Yeah, we saw that article but thought Gastone was smart enough to know better,” Federico muttered. “You know how many fake leads the feds throw around to stir up paranoia between families? We figured it was just another distraction.”
“Well, he says you killed her,” I sighed with resignation.
Federico ran a hand through his hair, his expression troubled. “That's why he took you. It wasn't just about Larissa.”
“No,” I admitted. “It wasn't.”
“Elena, I swear to you, we weren’t behind this.” He gripped my shoulders. “But I'll find out who was. And then, I…well, I don’t know what I’ll do, but we’ll figure it out.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, knowing I could count on him. “Don't tell the others. Please. I don’t want them to hate Gastone for telling me.”
He looked reluctant, but must have seen the worry in my eyes. “I won't. But Elena?”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful. If Gastone believes we killed his family, there's no telling what he might do.”
I thought of the warehouse, of Gastone's hands covered in blood. Of the pain in his eyes when he showed me Adriana's photos. Of how he sobbed into my chest that night when we got home andapologizedfor it.
“I know,” I said softly. “Believe me, I know. But he won’t do a thing to me.”
Chapter 18 - Gastone
Elena seemed different tonight. The previous dinner we went to, the one at her family’s, she had hovered over me, was careful with her words, and stingy with her laughter. But tonight, she seemed to be having fun.
Carlo was hosting a dinner for us, to introduce Elena to our family, he had explained. He’d invited a dozen extended family members, and I had expected Elena to be shy, but she wasn’t holding back or siding up to me for support.
I watched as she spoke to my cousin Marco. He was telling some uproarious story about the time I thought I had a shot at race-car driving.
“And then,” Marco continued, gesturing wildly with his wine glass, “Gastone shows up covered in mud from head to toe, trying to explain why he'd driven the Ferrari into a ditch!”
Elena burst into laughter as she glanced in my direction, amused beyond belief.
“What?” I defended myself. “I was seventeen!”
“And someone had messed with the brakes.” I shot a pointed look at Carlo, who leaned in and whispered something into Elena’s ear. She chuckled.
“What?” I asked, rather annoyed by how they were ganging up on me. “What did he just say to you?”
“Um…” She gave Carlo a conspiratorial look. “Should I?”
“Oh, come on. We all know what he said.” Larissa rolled her eyes. Caspian had not made it tonight. He had a work thing, apparently. But I wondered if he was just avoiding my family.
“Which was?” I asked, pointedly.
“The fact that Dino and I made Carlo do it, of course. You were a terrible driver!” Larissa informed me without cushioning the blow.
“I was not!” I protested.
