All Chapters of Daring Delfina's Heart: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Arriving back home the following day, Delfina was a bundle of nerves. She hoped her mother was at work but decided she was still being punished for her sins as the woman pulled the front door open and glowered at her furiously.Nek squeezed her hand. “Your body. Your choice. Your choices were removed for years. Do not let her wailing get to you.” Nek was still reeling after finding out Furio Matrone paid their hotel stay and it was making him even more worried for Delfina’s safety. He was boldly standing at her side against everyone now. He’d brought this darkness to the family.She gave a single nod and then took the steps up to the house, “Mom. I’m really tired. Can I just go to my room, and we can do this later?”“You took her, Nek? You took her to commit such a grievous sin?”“I took her to do what was right, Aunt Tizi. You would rather your daughter be forced to endure ongoing trauma than to do what is right?”“She would have loved the child the minute they put him in her arms.”

It was before opening in the restaurant when Delfina’s father came into the kitchen with a solemn look on his face.“Now what? Are you here to do more bible readings and praying over me?” She’d been pissed off to wake up this morning to her parents both standing over her bed praying silently with hands outstretched. It was more than intrusive than anything they’d done so far. She was still angry.“Ercole’s family is back. They came before the restaurant opened hoping to talk to you. The younger man says he has questions only you can answer about a desk and a safe. I asked them to leave but they insisted on being let in. They said,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “well the mother said they have evidence you were an accomplice to some crimes which Ercole committed, and they’d take it to the police if you didn’t answer their questions.”“Fine.” She took a breath, “Dad, let them in. Put them at the long table. I’ll be there in a minute. I need you to take everything out of the oven when

It had been three weeks since he’d been to the Poletti Family Restaurant and Ruggero couldn’t stop thinking of it.It wasn’t the tiramisu which he’d brought home in a restaurant sized pan and devoured in the span of four days sharing only small portions with his sisters. No. It was the woman who made the dessert who was occupying his mind.He’d been stunned when she’d plopped the phone down and Furio Matrone introduced himself. At first, he’d wondered how she’d known the man. Matrone’s father was known to be one of the most barbaric mafia leaders in the world. One rumored story he’d heard as a boy visiting Italy with his paternal grandparents, involved a tale about tourists who made the mistake of asking to speak to Severino Matrone and take photographs with him because he was some kind of internet obsession for people who thought the criminal world was a romantic daydream. He’d shot them both right in the heads with nothing more than a “you don’t deserve to say my name” and from then

“You know,” he said quietly as the man from the car down the road leaned against the front door of the restaurant waiting for her to get out of the car, “you’re not who I thought you were.”“Thanks. I’m glad to know I’m not a really a gold-digging whore looking to fuck an old man to death to get his cash.”“I still remember the day my mother shouted at you. I was in awe you could simply stand there and take it without a single word back at her.”“She said it in front of a room full of people. Her behavior over the three years I was married to your grandfather is why he cut her out of the will apart from her mother’s jewelry. She was supposed to get a half billion dollars and he donated it to an animal shelter. He told me straight up he’d rather give it to bitches he doesn’t know than the one he raised.”He turned to face her incredulously, “no.”“Yes. He said it wouldn’t have mattered if she hated me because he understood where she was coming from but the fact, she made no attempt to

“It’s a hell of a dress,” Caprice said for the tenth time as she reclined on the bed in Delfina’s room watching her pace in circles. “How did he know your size? I mean it’s like the thing was tailored to you.”“My guess is Ercole has my measurements in a file somewhere though I’ve gained weight so maybe not.”“You have gained some weight but not tons of it.”“I’ve gained close to twenty pounds. I’ve been taste testing every dessert which comes out of the ovens and Mom’s been keeping me filled up on homemade pastas and meatloaves.”“What did you eat at Ercole’s house?”“His chef would have made me whatever I wanted but most of the time I wasn’t hungry. There were days I barely ate a single meal though the chef would tattle and then Ercole would personally sit and watch me clean my plate.”The sound of the doorbell downstairs made them both exchange horrified looks.“He’s early!”“He wouldn’t come to the door?”They spoke over each other and then they were both racing down the stairs, D