by LaQuette
“I don’t want you here,” she murmured, still looking out the window, still keeping her gaze locked on the outside sky.
“Sanai, you have it all wrong,” he countered. “Tomassa is not my wife.”
“So those pictures are a lie?”
She was looking for him to take away her pain. That was his specialty—making everything right in her world. But if he did that this time, he’d be outright lying to her face. Everything in him wanted to fix this for her, but to purposely lie to her—he couldn’t bring himself to stoop that low.
“No, they aren’t a lie. Tomassa and I were once married.”
“When?”
“About six months after you died.” He spoke carefully as he moved closer to where she was standing.
“So that’s all the information you’re going to give me?” she questioned, turning to him, crossing her arms across her chest.
“No, I’ll tell you everything.” Dante then turned around, locking the door to the family room to make certain their conversation remained private. “Sanai, Tomassa is someone I’ve known all my life. Her father and my father were literally partners in crime.”
“What the hell does that mean?” she inquired.
“My father was the head of the DeLuca crime family.”
“Crime family? You mean like the mob?”
He gave a silent nod. He let her process his answer. She seemed mildly shocked. She kept her wide eyes trained on him, questioning Dante, seeking the truth.
He walked slowly toward her, motioning for her to take a seat in the chair nearest her. “Tomassa’s father was the head of the Esposito family,” he stated. He carefully sat down next to her, bracing his elbows on his knees and linking his fingers together as he continued. “Our families were friendly allies. Tomassa was Don Esposito’s only child. If she had been born male there was no question her father would have chosen her as his successor.
“About six months before the fire, she came to me asking me to help her take over her father’s business. Her idea was to marry Don DeLuca’s successor, join both families into one, and then she’d be able to rule her father’s family through her husband’s name.”
“So you just agreed,” Sanai interrupted. He could see her mood shifting as she listened. She’d been hurt when he began, but was slowly moving toward the angry side of the spectrum.
He couldn’t blame her. It couldn’t be easy finding out all of this under their current set of circumstances.
“No, I didn’t. I told her I wasn’t interested in succeeding my father, and that perhaps she should try convincing my cousin, who was set to be the next Don DeLuca. I knew Tomassa was dangerous when she wanted to be. I didn’t want her knowing anything about you she could use to hurt you.
“I honestly thought that was the end of it. I should’ve known better.”
“So she tried to kill me, and then you married her?” she huffed. “Exactly how does that shit work, Dante?”
“It wasn’t like that. I didn’t know she tried to kill you. Remember, as far as I knew, the woman who died in the fire was you. The fire marshal said the fire was accidental and there were no accelerants present. The police weren’t looking in to it. The body couldn’t be identified. The only thing they had was your locket. I knew you’d never part with it willingly. I just accepted it was you.
“I buried you. I grieved for you. I was so angry and depressed for those six months, Sanai. I could hardly eat I was so messed up. While I was wallowing in my pain, Tomassa came back to me, propositioned me again. Without you there, I really didn’t have a reason to say no. I was hurting, miserable. Becoming Don would allow me to make the rest of the world miserable right along with me.”
“You knew who this woman was? You went home and lay in a bed next to her after finding out what she’d done to me?”
“Never,” he answered. “Tomassa and I never slept in the same bed. We had a business relationship. Our marriage was never consummated. We shared a house but slept in different rooms. When I pieced everything together and discovered what she’d done, there was no way I could continue my partnership with her.
“I wanted her dead after what she’d done to you. But her father still lives. Any aggression toward her might have impacted you and Naz in a negative way. I made the decision to hit her where it hurt most. She did all this to assume power, so I stripped her of it. I made the decision to leave the mob. I turned over control of the DeLuca family to my cousin and served Tomassa with divorce papers on the same day. She knew I’d found her out, so she signed the papers.”
“Those trips to Florida?” she asked.
“Most were about the sale of my business and house. Some were for divorce proceedings. The last time I went to Florida, they were finalized. My life in the mob, Tomassa, all of it is behind me, Sanai. From the moment I found out about you and Naz, I’ve worked like crazy to secure this life we’ve built in Brooklyn.”
He’d laid everything before her that led them to this moment. He sat for a second, staring at her, hoping she’d give him some clue what was going on behind her eyes. He’d purposely kept all of this from her to protect her, to protect their family. But somehow his past was still reaching into their present, and could quite possibly destroy their shaky future.
“You know it all, Sanai. I just need to know two things to figure out how we move on from here. Are you willing to give me a second chance? And who sent you those pictures?”
Chapter Twenty
“So how did your little visit go?”
Bernadino gripped the arm of his chair to prevent him from reaching across the small table between him and Tomassa. He turned his head to a nearby window and tried to focus instead on the many yellow cabs passing by on the busy New York street.
“By the way you’re sitting over there grinding your teeth, I’m gonna say not so well.”
“I told her about you and Dante. Led her to believe you’re still married. She wouldn’t listen to me.”
Tomassa smiled as she wrapped her delicate fingers around her wineglass. Looking at her bright smile, her eyes so full of joy and excitement, no one would ever guess she was plotting the destruction of someone’s life.
“I should be really mad at you for interfering in my original game plan. But then again, getting to kill this chick a second time around is going to be so much fun.” Tomassa giggled just before taking a sip of wine.
“I’m doing this for the benefit of the DeLuca family,” Bernadino snapped. “Dante can’t just walk away from the family like this. Too many of us have stood by him, worked with him, pulled our way up the ranks. Now he’s just gonna hand it over to his cousin? Forget about all of us who had his back all that time. Jimmy is already pushing us out, has his own people to help him run shit. I’ve put in too much time to let Dante throw it all away for a piece of ass.”
She shrugged and took another sip. “If I’m honest, I don’t really care about any of that. I just want what’s mine.”
Bernie tensed at her last statement. He’d always known Tomassa was dangerous. Just sitting here with her was enough to put his life at risk. He’d had several moments of regret since he’d called her to the warehouse where Dante had left him bloodied and bruised on a cement floor. He’d known she was the only person in the family who would dare go against Dante or the new Don, the only person that had just as much to lose as he did.
She smoothed a hand across the table and rested it atop his. “Listen, Bernie, it comes down to this. We both want the same thing for different reasons. You don’t want your prospects in the family to dry up because you’re no longer Dante’s right hand. I don’t want to be frozen out of my father’s business simply because I’m female. Once we make our move, Dante will have no choice but to do as we demand. We’ll have him back at the head of the family, and each of us will take our rightful place at his side.”
It was a dangerous plan. There were so many things that could go wrong with it. He was as good as dead if anyone ever found o
ut his involvement in this scheme. But after being tossed aside like a useless piece of garbage after serving both the father and the son, Bernadino was ready to do whatever it took to secure his place of pride in the family.
“All right. I tried it my way and it didn’t work. Do what you have to do.”
* * * *
Sanai looked up from her book to see two tall figures walking through the door. She smiled and laughed a bit when Big Tony and his son stepped into the room.
“Lil’ Tony,” Naz squealed before he jumped into the teenager’s arms. Moments like these served to remind her how young her son really was. It pained her to admit it, but sometimes frequently being in the hospital made a child grow up faster than they needed to.
“Hey, squirt, you wanna go to the playroom?”
Nazario opened his arms in excitement and waited for Anthony Jr. to pick him up.
“Anthony Jr., he can walk. Don’t let Naz fool you,” Sanai warned him.
“It’s no problem, Ms. Ward.” The teenager blushed. “I don’t mind giving the little man a lift.”
Sanai watched as Anthony Jr. walked out of the room with her son before she turned her attention to his massive father and raised a brow.
“You brought reinforcements to plead your boy’s case?” she huffed, crossing her arms tightly against her chest. “Whatever it is you have to say, I’m not really up for it. There’s no excuse for what Dante did, Tony.”
“There’s no excuse for what you did either, but Dante managed to forgive you, give you a second chance,” he added.
His condescending tone made her want to cause him bodily harm. Too bad her protruding stomach prevented her from balancing long enough to take a swing at his big ass.
“Sanai, you can say what you want, but Dante had just as much right to hold a grudge against you for letting him believe you were dead and for keeping his child from him. He could’ve easily hated you, but he didn’t. He sucked that shit up, put it aside, and did what his son needed him to do—be a father to him and a partner to his mother.”
Just who the fuck did this man think he was telling her about her life? She had so many nasty responses stuck on the tip of her tongue. Unfortunately, not one of them escaped her mouth. Why? Because her conscience was too busy screaming, “You know he’s right,” in her ear.
“Be pissed with him. Put him through the paces, but don’t let one mistake keep the two of you apart.”
“It wasn’t just one fucking mistake, Tony. He lied to me. He was married.”
“In name only.”
His words added fuel to the fiery anger burning inside of her. Yeah, it was on paper. At least they both kept that part of the story the same. But it wasn’t nothing. He married the fucking woman who’d tried to kill her. Damn straight she was just a little pissed off about it.
“It doesn’t matter, Tony. His entire life was a lie. He put us in danger. He convinced me to bring another life into the world under false pretenses. We…we were…” She couldn’t get her words or her breath together. Her head began to swim, and when she looked at Tony his image was fuzzy.
She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to shake the fuzziness away. When she opened them again, her vision was worse. Rainbow-colored spots filtered over Tony’s blurriness.
“Sanai, are you all right?” Tony’s voice seemed closer. She reached out in front of her, hoping to find something to anchor her against the dizziness building in her head. She grabbed air. She felt herself falling until strong arms grabbed her, halting her fall.
“I need help in here!” was the last thing she heard Tony scream before everything around her went black.
Chapter Twenty-One
Dante nearly fell out of the elevator trying to get to the antepartum ward. Once he was buzzed in, he scrambled down the hall, glancing at room numbers as he passed by. When he found the room indicated on the visitor’s pass, he stormed inside.
Big Tony was leaning against the window across from Sanai’s bed. Before Tony could form a word, Dante asked, “What the hell happened?”
“The doctor said her blood pressure was high. They’re testing her now to see if she’s spilling protein in her urine.” Big Tony clapped Dante on his shoulder. “I’m gonna go back to hang with Nazario while you take care of your woman.”
That was exactly what Dante planned to do. When Tony closed the door behind him, Dante looked down at Sanai. She looked rested, but something had to be terribly wrong if she just passed out in front of Big Tony like that.
“Dante?” she slurred as she blinked away sleep.
“How’d you know it was me?”
“I always know when you’re near,” she answered. “Dante, you—”
“Sanai, I know you’re pissed at me. You have every right to be. But if you think I’m going anywhere, you’re mistaken. Be mad, but I’m not leaving you.”
She watched him carefully before speaking, as if she had to test the words out in her head before she could actually speak them.
“I’m pissed. I’m really pissed at you. But passing out like that made me realize I don’t want anyone by my side other than you. I’ll scream and holler at you later. But right now I need you too much to let my anger win out.”
Dante leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on her lips before he smoothed his hand across her stomach. He knelt down and let his mouth press against the mound of her belly. “Salvatore, don’t give your mama trouble,” he whispered.
A light tap on the door pulled Dante back to his feet. A petite young woman with brown hair walked in smiling as she neared Sanai’s bed.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Franks. I’m the on-call doctor tonight. I just wanted to come in and check on you.”
“Is she all right?” Dante asked. “Is the baby…”
“As far as we can tell, yes,” the doctor answered. “The baby looks healthy, and we didn’t find any protein in your urine, so we’re not so concerned about preeclampsia anymore.”
“So what caused the dizziness?” Sanai asked from beside Dante.
“The only thing that came back funny on your bloodwork was your glucose level. It was really low. That’s probably what caused the vertigo. When was the last time you ate?”
Dante thought about it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d witnessed her putting anything in her mouth. They’d rushed out of the house in the middle of the night with Nazario. Between his intake and transport to a bed on the ward, hours had passed, and the only thing he remembered her swallowing was water.
“Our oldest is being treated for leukemia in PEDs. He woke in the middle of the night with a fever. Honestly, I can’t even tell you when I last ate.”
The doctor nodded as she tapped her tablet, updating Sanai’s chart. “That probably accounts for your blood pressure spike as well. Either that or your contractions,” Dr. Franks replied.
Dante felt an unexpected heat bloom in his chest and spread throughout his body. “You’re in labor?” he asked.
“I thought they were Braxton Hicks. They were only coming once every ten minutes or so, and they weren’t that strong” she replied.
The doctor shook her head and smiled. “No, you are in labor. The very early stages, but yeah, labor. Usually we’d send you home until you had more progress, but considering your earlier fainting spell, we’re going to keep you here and monitor you.”
Dante’s stomach rolled and his chest tightened. Sanai was in labor. Logically he understood she was technically considered to be full term, but he hadn’t thought today was going to be that day.
“He’s coming?” Dante choked out.
She nodded. “Yeah, he’s coming.”
* * * *
“We need to talk, Dante.”
Dante repositioned himself in the stiff chair and looked over at Sanai. She was sitting cross-legged in her bed, watching him with disapproving eyes.
“No man has ever been happy to hear those words. What’s up?” he countered.
“Dante, how could you
not tell me all of this?”
He slid from his chair to her bed in one motion and pulled her hands into his. She tried to pull her hands away from him, but he held on. They did better when they made physical contact. He wasn’t above using that to his advantage now.
“Sanai, you’re in labor. Do you really want to discuss this now?”
“I’m in very early labor. My contractions are ten minutes apart. I think I’m okay to have a simple conversation with the father of my children.”
Shit, this wasn’t going to be as simple as Dante hoped. “I didn’t want to hide things from you,” he uttered.
“Then why did you?”
Dante thought about her question. There were plenty of answers he could give her, many that would probably paint him in a favorable light. But he couldn’t do it. This woman had suffered so much for loving him. After everything, she’d taken him back into her life, into her heart. And still, after finding out who he really was, she could have sent him packing. Hell, she’d tried to briefly. But even though she was pissed enough to attempt to get rid of him, she was sitting in a hospital room, her body preparing to give life to his second child. Through all that she still cared enough to attempt to try to work her way through understanding his shit.
“The truth?” he asked. “I was always afraid I’d lose you to the mob. I couldn’t let that happen. I really had no idea what Tomassa had done to you. If I had, I promise I would have never allowed her to hurt you or Naz.”
She sucked in a noisy breath, drawing his attention from their joined hands. He placed a cautious hand on her stomach and felt it tighten under his touch.
“That was a bad one?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, but don’t change the subject. Dante, you could’ve told me about your family a million times. I’m so fucking mad you just made decisions for me without informing me. I can’t live my life like that. I can’t always be worried about what psycho from your past is going to come for us next. The only way this can work is if we do this together, Dante. Equal partners.”
“You’re giving me a second chance? I wasn’t really expecting that.”