Chapter 3 Anne My Daughter?

By the time we touchdown somewhere outside of Newark, my heart is in my throat, and I regret all of the chicken that I managed to stomach earlier.

What if something happened to her?

I’m sure that Alessandro has been talking to Nico, the man on the phone who is clearly his highest ranking guy on the ground. I’m desperate to know what he’s found.

Whether or not it’s Anne and Nonna Mia who live on the burned down farm.

The plane finally stops on the runway, and the engines are powering down when I see two big black cars drive up.

One of their doors opens.

And a familiar small shape emerges.

I don’t care about anything else at that point. I move like a robot, my body making decisions that I am not consciously aware of.

The stairs aren’t even fully descended when I’m on them. My feet hit the pavement, the chill of New Jersey biting into my skin, and I run to my child.

Anne’s eyes, that look so much like Brady’s light up. “Mommy!”

“My baby,” I gasp. I kneel down and she’s running for me too, and when she slams into me I almost fall.

But I don’t.

Instead I hold onto her so tightly, she squeaks slightly. “Mommy too hard.”

“Sorry, baby,” I pull back. I can’t help the tears streaming down my face, and I touch hers. “Are you okay? What happened? Nonna Mia?”

Her eyes fill up with tears. “I don’t know. There was yelling and she told me to run. And I ran just like you and Uncle Enzo tell me to. Mommy I ran really fast and…”

She burst into tears.

Around her sobs I tuck her against me. “Jesus,” I whisper, patting her hair. “It’s okay, it’s okay baby. You’re safe. You did the right thing. You did exactly the right thing. You ran and you did so good…”

I keep talking, keep patting her back for what feels like an eternity. I’m so thankful that I can’t hardly breathe, but at the same time, I’m horrified.

What happened?

What happened to her? To Nonna Mia?

Who the hell came after them, if it wasn’t Alessandro?

Alessandro.

I grab Alessandro and hoist her up. I spin to where he’s standing behind me. I knew he followed me off of the plane, and now I hold her close to me as I snarl at him.

“You did this.”

He frowns. “Did what?”

“You. You did this. You set up the hit on Nonna Mia to get back at my family for something that you think we did. You ruined my baby’s childhood, you monster!” I hiss at him.

I would use quite a few more choice words, but I’m mindful of the small head still nestled, sniffling, in my shoulder.

“You think I did this? That I organized a hit on an old woman and a child?”

“You’re the only one who is smart enough. Who has the resources. Who hates my family with a vengeance. It was…”

“Alyssa. Shut up.”

I reel back like I’ve been slapped.

Alessandra is fuming. His face promises darkness that I am terrified to face.

But I will anyway.

“How dare you speak to me that way,” I spit. “That’s how you talk to your wife?”

Immediately his face pales. His jaw works. “Alyssa, I…”

“Mommy, who’s that?”

Shit.

Anne’s head is off of my shoulder and she’s peering at Alessandro with interest.

Everyone freezes.

Amara looks like she’s in shock. Her eyes dart between Alessandro and me, with a smattering of glances at Anne. Anne blinks from my arms, looking at Alessandro with interest.

I’ve never seen Alessandro look so lost.

All of the gloom and danger that he had promised earlier is gone. In its place, there’s a slack-jawed shock, a kind of total confusion, as he stares at Anne.

His throat moves. His jaw works. It looks like he’s trying to say something.

Fury sparks in me again.

If he did this, then he’s dead to me. Beyond dead. And I’d absolutely never want Anne to know that her own father tried to kill her.

“Anne,” I say calmly, setting her down on the ground. I crouch down to her level and tuck her hair behind her ears, wiping away some of the tears that streak down her face. “This is someone who is going to help us find Nonna Mia.”

 “Really?” her ears perk up, and my heart feels crushed like a soda can.

“Yes. Since you did such a good job running like Mommy and Uncle Enzo taught you, you can help us find out that she’s okay. Mr. Alessandro de Rossi is just very good at finding people. He helped me find you!”

She frowns. “Does he know Uncle Nico?”

God damn Nico for calling himself her uncle. “Yes. He works with Uncle Nico.”

It has to be killing Alessandro to diminish his role in her life, but to his credit, he doesn’t say anything.

Good.

She squints at him, then nods, like she’s trying to approve of him. “Okay. I’m hungry.”

“Auntie Amara has some food on the plane,” I say, pointing her toward Amara. I see Amara’s eyes flash with surprise, then get a little teary at the edges.

I can offer olive branches too, Amara.

“Zia Amara?” Anne giggles. “That’s silly.”

Her voice seems to spark Amara out of her stasis. She blinks once, wipes away the tears that were right inside her eyes, and nods. “I know. Zia amara is kind of silly.”

“I like silly,” Anne beams.

“I like being silly too,” Amara grins back. She offers her hand, and Anne takes it. “Come on little one. What kind of snacks do you like?”

“Oreos,” Anne declares proudly.

I hear Amara laugh as she walks to the plane with Anne. They start chatting, both as animated as can be, and my heart eases slightly looking at them.

Children are so resilient. We don’t deserve them. They’re willing to give us so much grace when we’ve ruined everything around us, and truly, the fact that Anne was sobbing into my shoulder ten seconds ago and is now chatting about Oreos to Amara is just… a blessing.

With any luck she’ll be totally fine.

They get on the plane and I move to follow, but a big hand wraps around my wrist.

I pull back like his touch burns me. “Do not touch me,” I hiss.

Alessandro puts himself in between me and the plane. “Alyssa. Stop.”

“No.”

“I didn’t do this.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I wouldn’t put a hit on my own child,” he says quietly. “I would never.”

“You didn’t know. You didn’t know she was your kid until about three hours ago.”

“I don’t kill children.”

“But old women are fine?”

He curses softly in Italian. “Alyssa. I do not kill old women and I do not kill children.”

“Is Nonna Mia dead?”

“No,” he says softly. “Your brothers took her to the hospital.”

I arch an eyebrow. “But they couldn’t find Anne?”

“She is, apparently, very good at hiding. Nico is an expert tracker, and that is the only reason that he was able to find her.”

Interesting.

“So now my brothers think you took a shot at our great-aunt and tried to kill my kid.”

“Alyssa, I…”

“Here’s what is going to happen. Anne and I are going to get on that plane. You are going to contact Joemar Russo, and let him know that you didn’t do this. He won’t believe you, but you’re going to let me talk to him. Then, you’re going to release me from this farce of a marriage, and you’re going to leave me and Anne alone. Forever,” I say, holding my chin up.

He glares at me, some of that darkness returning. “No.”

“No?”

“No. I will not leave you alone. She’s my daughter, damn it.”

“She’s my daughter,” I whisper. The ferocity in my tone is more of a scream than any sound I’ve made so far.

Alessandro steps back.

“She is my daughter,” I say quietly. “I gave birth to her. I raised her. She is my child. And the second I became involved with you, she was put in danger.”

“Why didn’t you introduce me as her father?”

The question almost throws me off, but I narrow my eyes. “Because you haven’t earned it.”

“And Amara has?”

“Yes,” I state.

I don’t explain.

For a minute, Alessandro stares at me. Finally, he speaks.

“I do not have to negotiate with you, Alyssa,” he growls. “I can take what I want, and be done with it.”

I hear the threat.

And he’s not wrong.

Anger rips through me again, and I put my hands on my hips. “You are a monster, then.”

We stare at each other.

From this close, I can see every detail on Alessandro’s face. I watch his eyes as they search mine, I see the muscles in his jaw work.

He doesn’t like when I call him that.

“You may call Joemar. But we will be on the plane when you do it. And Alyssa,” he glances at me, his intense grey eyes drilling into mine. “I did not do this.”

It’s almost convincing.

“I don’t believe you. One phone call to Joemar. From the plane,” I nod.

“And she knows I am her father.”

“When you deserve it,” I whisper.

I watch that tension ripple across Alessandro’s face again.

Finally, he nods.

“When I deserve it.”

 XXX

Alessandro de Rossi POV

When I deserve it.

The way that Alyssa looked at me left no doubt in my mind that she thought I was a monster. She hadn’t needed to say the words, because they were plainly written on her features.

She absolutely thought that I was capable of taking out a hit on my own child.

And the woman who watched over her. The elderly woman, who was their grandfather’s sister.

I didn’t know which was more shocking. The fact that Alyssa had thought me capable of unspeakable cruelty that went beyond the bounds of any that I have heard so far.

Or the fact that she refused to let  Anne know I was her father.

I meant what I said. I did not have to ask Anne’s permission for any of it. I could take Anne, tell her Alyssa had abandoned her, and raise her as my own.

I could send Alyssa away, making a formal declaration of war between the Russo Family and myself, so that any of our retaliatory actions would be sanctioned by the powers that be.

I could do all of that.

However. Every time I thought of doing any of those things, of taking the action that I wanted to, the action that I should as the leader of my family, Alyssa’s eyes flashed at me, full of fire and anger despite the gloom of the New Jersey sky.

 Monster. I would be a monster then. I would be as ugly on the inside as I knew myself to be.

And Alyssa would know it then as well.

That thought, more than any other, kept me from doing what I had every right to do.

And take back my daughter.

My daughter.

Even now, the words still rock me.

Alyssa figured out about ten minutes after her phone call with Joemar that we weren’t heading back to the little mansion in Florida. No, if I was going to have my daughter on board, then I was going to be somewhere else entirely.

Thank God they were able to fuel the jet up completely at Newark.

Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to get to Italy without falling out of the sky.

I’m not usually a nervous flyer, but for some reason this time I’m gripping my seat with every bump and wiggle of the aircraft as it hits turbulence.

Having Anne on board makes me hyper aware of exactly how dangerous it is to hurtle at nearly a thousand miles an hour in a metal tube across an ocean.

If there was a safer form of transport, I would have taken it.

But this was my only option.

My mind moves forward to the villa. My Nonna is a little to the north, happily ensconced in the town she grew up in, where she gets to reign supreme among all of the Italian nonnas in town who attend church just as regularly as she does. She will be thrilled, of course, to hear about Anne and to come down…

“You will not call Nonna.”

My sister interrupts my thoughts and I narrow my eyes at her. “Amara, don’t be ridiculous. Of course I’m going to call her. And the zias and everyone who will need to come to be a part of Anne’s life, and…”

“Alessandro. You are many things. But right now, you are being stupid.”

I’m angry with her now. “What did you say to me?”

“You’re being a moron. Take two seconds to think.”

“I was thinking well until you arrived, harping about me being an idiot at my shoulder,” I grumble.

“If you do that, you’re going to fuck it up.”

“Fuck what up?”

“Your relationship with your child. And her mother,” she adds darkly.

I huff. “I don’t care about Alyssa.”

Amara shoots me a glance. “That’s cold.”

“It’s accurate.”

The look she gives me is searching. Like she’s trying to discern if I’m telling her the truth or not.

I’d like to know the answer to that as well.

Alyssa sighs and sits back. “Anne doesn’t know you. You are a stranger in her life. You haven’t said a single word to her?—"

“That is not my fault,” I snap.

She holds her hands up in surrender. “Be that as it may. The truth is still that Anne has no idea who you are. Can you imagine being in her position?

“She’s finally reunited with her mom. She’s away from her uncles and everything she knows. She had to run away from armed men who started a fire at the house she was in.

“Do you honestly think that she’s going to be happy with a bunch of old women who don’t even speak English?”

I pause.

Anne doesn’t speak Italian. The thought honestly never occurred to me. In my mind, no child of mine would ever speak English before Italian.

Everything about this feels wrong.

I have a daughter. I have a family.

But it doesn’t look like anything I had ever envisioned.

I had always wanted to be a father and to have a family. Those were dreams that, when I first met Alyssa, I had been so excited to fulfill.

I wanted Alyssa to be the mother of my children.

But… not like this.

“Anne will be happy with the Nonnas,” I growl.

Amara shook her head. “No, she won’t.”

 “She will. She’s my child. And she will.”

“Alessandro. I love you. And if you fuck this up, I will personally take Anne and Alyssa somewhere that you will never find them again.”

Amara’s voice is low with a threat that gets my attention. I look into her eyes, and I see anger there.

My sister does not get angry.

XXX