Page 50 of Alessio

“Are you going to answer the question?”

“I have been calling. Three times this last week, in fact. He ignored my calls and messages. You’re informed on how Andino Marcello can be.”

“Rivals you for the biggest asshole, doesn’t he?”

Corrado flashed his teeth when he laughed. “Yeah, a bit. I asked Chris to see what he might find for her, and about her sisters, though. I figured …”

“Cosa Nostra, made … connections to New York, yeah,” Alessio said, “I get it.”

“It’s the best I can do right now.”

“Is it?”

Because if Corrado really wanted to, he would make a trip to New York himself, pay a visit to Andino, and get business done. Like Alessio had done when he wanted details about what in the hell Corrado had gotten himself into here.

It’s who they were.

Rules be damned.

Corrado sighed and glanced away. “For once, my pride isn’t playing a part here, Les. She needs to be safe more than she needs to be informed on what’s happening there … doesn’t she? Yeah, I could go there, get what she wants, and come back, but it’s a risk. I don’t take risks with people I love.”

Alessio blinked.

Corrado stared back, silent.

Alessio thought hearing Corrado say those words would have more impact when they hit him with their reality—their blinding truth. Though he had been watching this man fall in love with that woman for an entire month … a month after Corrado had already spent time alone with Ginevra before Alessio even showed up, he still hadn’t allowed himself to think Corrado loved her.

He didn’t want to think it.

Not when he wanted to hear Corrado say it.

“I expected a different reaction when I told you that,” Corrado murmured, “something other than … silence.”

“I already knew because I saw it coming, and I understand why.”

Corrado nodded. “And you’re not hurt or—”

“Was I the first person you told? Not her?”

“Of course, you were.”

Alessio’s brow dipped. “Why?”

“Because that’s what we do, Les. That’s what we’re supposed to do, and I didn’t do that before. I’m sorry. So yes, you were the first person I told. Anything else you want to hear me say right now? Anything else you want to ask about that conversation I had with her yesterday, or no?”

A lot.

But he was still trying to unpack all that shit he’d compartmentalized over the years. One thing at a time, and he was trying to handle this thing in the present. He couldn’t go back to the past.

“I want to talk about now, really talk,” Alessio said.

“Her, you mean?”

“Why you did this, yeah. You said when you told me, there would be no going back. That it would change everything. I want to know—so talk.”

“Koi no yokan.”

“I have no idea what that is.”