Patriot and his Secret Baby (The Rossi Family Mafia Book 1) (15 page)

My father's eyes blazed and he turned to my brothers, pointing at them and barking orders. "Find the car. Check it. Get the dirty cops to work with us on this." At the sound of the police, my stomach dropped.
 

"Daddy?" Regina's voice was small and squeaky like an animal's. Father turned to her and forced a smile.
 

"I'll be right back love, your mother will keep you company until then."
 

With that, the men headed for the door.

"Dad, I
―
" I reached out to touch his shoulder, but he breezed past me without a word. Anything I had to say about Lance Strong and his father's business meant nothing to him.
 

Once they were gone, my mother pretended like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, as she always did. She went about opening the curtains to the hospital room to look at the view from the window. As she wasn't looking, I felt a hand grasp my wrist, hard.

I about jumped out of my skin, I was so on edge. When I turned, Regina was looking at me. The sweet, hurt face that she had on earlier was gone. Instead, she was grinning maniacally at me. Something was horribly wrong.

"Check mate." she whispered. "The inheritance is mine."

I burst from the doors of the hospital, scanning the parking lot for any sign of my brothers. My phone was in my hand, with Lance’s number ringing and ringing.

“Hey, what’s up?” Lance asked from the other end of the line.
 

“Oh my goodness, Lance, thank
―
"

“Haha, gotcha! I’m not at my phone right now, but please leave a message after the beep.”

“Shit,” I said, just as the voicemail started recording. “Lance, when you get this voicemail, LEAVE TOWN. My sister
―
I don’t know what my sister did, but I think you’re in trouble with my family.”
 

As I was leaving the recording, I spotted Luca on the other side of the parking lot, having a heated conversation on the phone. I waved, jumping up and down as I talked.

“I’ll call you later, but right now you need to get somewhere safe. Take back roads, get as far out of town as possible until this is cleared up.”

I pocketed my phone and jogged up to my brother. Simone was sitting in the passenger seat, playing a mobile game. Luca said goodbye and hung up the phone as I got closer.

“What’s happening? Why did you guys leave the room so quickly?”
 

“I am sick and tired of being in the middle of this little fight you’re having with Regina,” he said, his tone terse. “Please tell me you didn’t cause this.”

“What?” My eyes widened and I raised my hands in a defensive stance. “Regina is a horrible person, but I would never want her to be seriously hurt! How could you ask that?”

“Because Father thinks your boyfriend rigged Regina’s car to crash.” He crossed his arms, waiting for my reaction, watching me.
 

“You think I told Lance to hurt Regina?”

“I don’t know what to think. You’re a Rossi just like us, unpredictably violent.”
 

We had gotten the attention of Simone, who had opened the passenger door to watch us bicker back and forth. He always watched our fights, but wasn’t one to take part in it.
 

“For starters,” I said pointedly, “He’s not my boyfriend.”
 

“Sure looked like he was interested at the club.”
 

“TWO,” I said, ignoring his comment. “You should be grilling Regina, not Lance or me.”

“You think she did that to herself?”

“Yeah, she’s up to something. I think she’s trying to frame Lance for the accident.”

“Why … does she care about what happens to Lance?” The twins looked at each other in confusion, having a quick conversation with their eyes. I was used to it, but it was still strange. There wasn’t much time for me to stand there in front of them, looking like a lost puppy. If my father was on the trail and Regina had given him some crumbs that pointed toward Lance, he would stop at nothing to spill blood.
 

So I spilled the beans. It took a few minutes, but I covered the will, Lance coming back into town, our relationship, my pregnancy and our plan. The further I got into the explanation, the wider both of my brother’s eyes got. Simone’s mouth was hanging open by the time I had finished my explanation.
 

“Jesus Christ.” Luca said.

“I … um … yeah,” was all I could reply with after dropping such a huge bomb in their laps.

“Why are you telling us this, if we stand to gain the inheritance when your plan fails?” Simone asked. It was a good question, but boy did it deflate me. Their faces didn’t betray whose side they were on, or how they felt about what I just told them.
 

“Because you’re the only people in this hell-hole of a family that I feel I can talk to.”

“Noted,” Luca said. “But right now, we’ll stay as neutral as possible.” He motioned to his brother.
 

I was disappointed not to have someone on my side, but I nodded in reply.
 

“I understand.”

“But, we’ll keep you updated on what Father is up to,” he winked. That was better than nothing.

It had been a slow day,
with fewer people bringing their cars in for repairs. With the garage all organized and no clients, I spent the day writing with a pad and paper. The paper was for the priest
―
about my thoughts on getting hitched, about Rosa and our marriage. As I added small notes throughout the day, it grew paragraph-by-paragraph. Before I knew it, I was done. Afterword, when I read it over I wondered, ‘I hope the priest will take the essay in sticky notes.’

Dad had gone home early, leaving me to man the shop until closing. I took any calls, swept near the front desk and emptied out the cash register. It was cooling off from the mid-day heat and I was happy the day was near an end.

I was crossing out and replacing a sentence on one of the sticky notes, when I noted that my phone had gone off across the shop. My mind was distracted with what words to use on the damn paper that I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings. The cell phone fell silent as soon as I made my way to it.
 

Rosabella had called, leaving a quick voicemail on my phone. Weird, she always texted when she wanted to talk with me. I picked up the phone and listened to what was on the other end.
 

My body stiffened as her words hit me with a ton of bricks. She begged me to flee from where ever I was. My knuckles were white from gripping the phone so hard. Shit, shit, shit. Her family was after me, and this time it wasn’t just Matteo. What did she mean? Had they found out about our relationship, the baby? Had her sister tattled about me being around Rosa at the club?

I heard the squeal of tires on the main road, the the crunch of gravel. My pencil tapped the wood table in thought, it sounded like someone needed to get their car to the shop in a hurry. My muscles tensed.  

I took a deep breath and stepped toward the open garage door to see who was coming down the road. I stepped out and squinted.
 

“Dammit,” I muttered to myself. “This doesn’t look good.”

Two Italian sports cars were racing down my road. The only people I knew in town who drove those kind of cars, that fast, were Rossi’s.
 

Casually, I walked over to the front desk like I hadn’t seen them. Behind the register was a small handgun, just in case someone tried to rob the store. My Dad was always prepared for the worst. He probably didn’t imagine it would be used against members of the Italian Mafia.
 

I leaned to grab the gun out of the line-of-sight from the windows, then tucked it into the back of my waistband. My shirt was loose enough that it hid the shape of the firearm if I had to turn my back to them.

Straightening myself, I waited for them to close in on the shop. It was funny, I would have thought I’d be scared with two Mafia vehicles flying toward me, but I was more miffed than anything. There was no knowing what was coming, but I knew that I was formidable for any enemy in battle.
 

Adrenaline pumped through my veins when I heard their breaks hit and bring their cars to a halt. Dust clouds rose up behind them from the dry, kicked up gravel.
 

My arms crossed against my chest and I leaned on the garage door casually. Whatever they knew or wanted from me, I was ready to face them like a man.
 

The doors flew open and I watched as Rosabella’s father, the leader of the Rossi family, stepped out. His eyebrows were stern as they set on me. In the other vehicle, was Matteo, Rosa’s jack-ass older brother. There were no other family members or mafia members to speak of. Doors slammed behind them.

“How can I help you gentlemen?” I asked, trying to act as normal as possible. There was no way I was going to back down to them or show any kind of weakness. I smiled, but they didn’t return the favor. Both were making a beeline for me, their faces stern … like stone. I was afraid they were just going to run into me in an attack, but they stopped a few feet away from me. First, they’d use intimidation to get what they wanted.

“Is this your shop?” Mr. Rossi, the father, asked.
 

“I’m not the owner, but I can answer any questions you might have. Looks like you two are in a hurry to get something. What can I do you for?”

“Don’t get cute with us,” the oldest brother sneered, “We know you
―
" He was cut off by his father, who had placed a hand on his shoulder. Matteo looked like he hadn’t grown out of his hot-headed ways, and his father still had to tell him when to stand down. Like a dog.
 

I raised my eyebrows, waiting, acting like I had no idea what they were going on about. It was partially true that I didn’t quite know what they wanted from me, but I had a few ideas based on what I had gleaned from Rosa.

“This morning, my daughter, Regina came in to pick up her car.”

I blinked, Regina had walked in with a hoodie and some sweatpants. I had been afraid she would bring her meat-head boyfriend or make a fuss, but it was an easy transaction. There was even some sharing of info about what I had done and what should be updated next time she comes in.
 

“Had a few people pick up their cars this morning, yes.”

“She had a car much like this one,” her father said, placing a hand on the hood of his Maserati.
 

“I remember,” I nodded toward them. “A beautiful car.”

“Am I correct when I say she brought the car in for a replaced battery?”

Confusion flashed across my face and I saw they weren’t expecting that. Clearing my throat, I tried to think quickly. Regina wanted to cover her tracks and probably made up an excuse that was plausible.
 

“Yeah, sorry I get a lot of dead batteries in, they all sort of meld together. I also checked her breaks and made sure her oil was full.” They both became tense. The father looked to the son, and then back at me. It was more than freaky.

“Is there a reason you were asking?” I asked.
 

“After she had picked up the car …,” Mr. Rossi said, “She lost control of her vehicle. The police checked, and it looked like her brakes were tampered with on purpose.”

He left it out there, in the air. They watched my reaction closely, as I knew they would. What mattered was keeping my cool, even if I didn’t expect anything out of their mouths. I thought they had figured out about the baby. It would have been better if they had.
 

Her father would probably be happier to welcome a baby to the family rather than think I had tried to take one of his kid’s lives. It bothered me even more that Regina’s car had lost control because of the brakes. When I had tested them, they had worked perfectly. Hell, they would last a year or so without getting them tested again. There was no way they would just give out. Since I didn’t tamper with them, she must have done it herself or had someone do it between here and the accident. Or maybe, just maybe, someone else wanted the girl dead. But I had to say something and say it fast, before they started getting antsy.

“You don’t think that I have anything to do with that?”

You tell us,” Matteo spoke up. His voice made me want to punch his nose in, but I held back. It was something about him that was always so entitled. He had money, a family with connections, a job on his lap, power. He’d always had that and didn’t know what the world was like outside his castle walls. It worked against him and I knew that I had an upper hand. Leaving for the Marines had changed me, giving me a new look on the world.

“I checked everything twice, the brakes worked perfectly. I have the paperwork if you’d like to see it ….”

“It’s bullshit and you know it,” the younger man growled. He wasn’t one to waste time.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Well, you can start by fessing up what you did,” he shot back. This was going nowhere. The father watched us through slitted eyes. He was seeing how I handled myself.
 

“I don’t know how to prove to you that I didn’t do it. I’m sure you could ask some of your other family members and they could vouch for me.”

“Like Rosa?” Matteo said. He wanted to bring up our old high school wounds. I shrugged.
 

“It’s been a long time since high school, Matteo, I’ve changed since then.”

The Father glanced over at his son with a question, but he answered it before words could be spoken.

“This piece of shit was the one who broke Rosa’s heart six years ago. Just up and left. She cried for two months straight.”

Damn it, that hurt. Had Rosabella really cried for that long over me? I had imagined being just a headache to her, causing fights with her brothers, but had she really cared that much.
 

Shame flowed through me. I wished I could go back in time to right my wrongs.