Chapter 52: Family flare ups

Alessandro

The hospital coffee tasted like ash, but I drank it anyway. Sleep was a luxury I couldn't afford, not when my world had nearly shattered in the span of seconds. Not when Bianca's blood had stained my hands, warm and terrifying,and that's me feeling guilty that I didn't anticipate that she would be caught in a crossfire that my brother started.

I stood at the window of her private room, watching the dawn break over CapeTown . The city stretched below, oblivious to how close I'd come to losing everything. My reflection stared back at me, a stranger with hollow eyes and clenched fists. My hands should be free, however I have pent up anger that I cannot express and that's because I had no control over the outcome of what happened.

Behind me, Bianca slept. The steady rhythm of her breathing was the only thing keeping me tethered to sanity.

My phone vibrated. Again. I'd been ignoring it for hours, but this time I glanced at the screen.

Papa. I knew that something was wrong when the truth came out about the real reason why I was set to marry Bianca.

My jaw tightened. I stepped into the hallway, closing the door softly behind me before answering.

"Alessandro." My father's voice was clipped, businesslike despite the early hour in Milan. "We need you here."

"I'm not leaving Bianca."

"This isn't a request." A pause, heavy with unspoken consequences. "The Vitale family struck while we were distracted. They've taken the shipping contracts, the properties in Rome, the accounts in Geneva. Everything, Alessandro. Everything except the resort. Danilo messed up badly you and your sister were supposed to be watching over him. "

The words hit like physical blows. Years of careful expansion, of strategic alliances and calculated risks, gone. My father had built an empire, and I'd helped him maintain it. Now it lay in ruins.

"How?" The word came out flat, dangerous.

"That's what we need to determine,we can't do it over the phone, and we can't wait. If we don't act now, they'll take the resort too. It's all we have left."

"It had been a long time coming... Hang in there and papa..."

" Sí."

" Don't lie to me ever again I almost lost the one person that I care about and you're going to be a grandfather soon so stop the games."

"You falling in love with Bianca Morena wasn't on my bingo card."

"She is special and I love her ."

I turned back toward Bianca's room, my hand pressed against the glass window in the door. She looked so small in that hospital bed, so vulnerable. The monitors tracked her vitals, the baby's heartbeat a reassuring flutter on the screen.

"I need three days," I said.

"You have forty-eight hours. After that, the Calabrese will move on the resort, and we'll have nothing."

The line went dead.

I stood there, rage and helplessness warring in my chest. The people I loved most in the world were in this building. Bianca, still recovering from surgery. Our unborn child, a miracle I'd barely had time to process,and Danilo.

Danilo.

My little brother, whose reckless independence had put Bianca in harm's way. Who she'd saved, nearly dying in the process.

I found him in the family waiting room, slumped in a plastic chair with his head in his hands. He looked up when I entered, his eyes red-rimmed and haunted.

"Alessandro, I."

"Don't." The word cracked like a whip. I closed the distance between us, my voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "You have no idea how close I came to losing her. To losing my child. Because you couldn't stay where you were safe."

"I'm sorry." His voice broke. "I never meant"

"Your intentions don't matter." I gripped the back of his chair, knuckles white.

"The consequences do. Bianca threw herself in front of a bullet for you. For you, Danilo. Do you understand what that means? What I would have done if she hadn't survived?"

He flinched, and some distant part of me registered that I was terrifying him. Good. Maybe fear would teach him what reason hadn't,but then I thought of Bianca's words. He's just a boy.

I released the chair, stepping back. My brother looked up at me, eighteen years old and suddenly ancient with guilt.

"I have to go to Milan," I said, my voice rough. "The family needs me. But when I come back, things will be different. No more freedom without security. No more risks. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Barely a whisper.

"Bianca saved your life. You owe her yours. Don't make me regret leaving you here."

"You won't "

I left him there, shoulders shaking with silent tears, and returned to the woman who'd become my entire world.