Page 148 of Corrado

Dare didn’t have children, and as far as Corrado always understood, Alessio filled that place for the man. He protected Alessio far more than anyone realized, and not for one second did Corrado think that his relationship or love for Les would make a difference to Dare at the end of the day.

“I can’t go into the tracker data without alerting Dare,” Cree said, “and I’m going to assume you don’t want me to do that.”

“I just … I don’t know if he’s okay.”

Because this worried Corrado, not that he had any fucking business worrying about Alessio at all. If the man wanted to fuck off somewhere, then he was due that. If he needed to take time away and figure out this shit, then it wasn’t Corrado’s place to deny him that.

And he wasn’t.

But he didn’t think that was it, either. He figured Alessio was doing this to him because that’s what he did when he couldn’t deal with shit. After all, this wasn’t the first time Alessio had gone off the radar when things caught up to him. Usually, he made sure at least someone knew where he was, or what he was doing, but not all the time. Sometimes, he hid away purposely, made sure no one could find him, if possible, and when he was good and ready, then he would come back.

Only when he was ready.

Corrado didn’t know if this was the same, though. That’s what bothered him the most. That’s where his concern came into play because how in the fuck was he supposed to fix this between them if he didn’t even know whether or not Alessio was going to come back?

“Maybe …” Cree trailed off.

“What?”

“Alessio always seems one way to everyone else looking at him,” Cree murmured, “but you know in his mind, he’s different. He’s always been that way. There are very few things he holds close, Corrado, but if someone tried to hurt those things, well …”

“He would slaughter a city for them.”

“Exactly.”

“But someone didn’t hurt me, Cree, I hurt—”

“Him,” Cree interjected. “I figured that much out. And so, what we’re learning now about Alessio, because I don’t think he’s ever had to handle this before, is that when the thing he loves hurts him, well, he does the opposite.”

“What does that mean?”

“He wants to slaughter you.”

Corrado stiffened, coming to a stop in front of the window. The late July sky was cloudy, and dreary. A mix of wetness, and heat had made a fog sit around the tops of the buildings surrounding his. It felt appropriate for his life right now.

Confusing.

Suffocating.

Messy.

Horrible.

“But he can’t hurt things he loves, because he has so few of those, and he knows what it’s like to be hurt by the things that are supposed to love him,” Cree continued on like Corrado was actively conversing back with him. “Go back to his parents, his abandonment … it’s really not hard to put it together, Corrado.”

“Well, it is for me.”

“Yes, because despite what you may think, and what everyone else likes to say about you and Alessio being shadows—or extensions—of the other, you are both actually very different people. Two people who lived entirely different lives and see things like love and loyalty and bonds in varying ways.”

“So, what you’re trying to tell me is that—”

“He’s staying away because he doesn’t want to hurt you right now, and if he’s too close … he might do just that. He can’t trust himself, so he needs some time. All you can do is give it to him Corrado.”

“Huh.”

Didn’t that mean this wasn’t done, then?

It wasn’t over?