My Mafia Husband Forced Me to Bleed for His Pregnant Mistress novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Old Man's Phone

Stefano read Fabiola's contract twice at the kitchen table before dawn.

He photographed every page and sent them to the other three Dons, with a note that the girl would swear to it in person.

Nobody answered yet, so he drove me to the hospital to see Nardo.

Nardo lay propped on three pillows with his right hand in a cast the size of a boxing glove.

He had not slept.

I could tell by the grey under his eyes and the way he said my name when I came through the door.

"Cosima. Child."

"Don't get up."

"I wasn't going to." He tried to smile. "Ugo took my fingers. He didn't take my legs."

I sat on the edge of the bed and took his good hand.

Stefano stayed in the corridor with two of his men.

"I heard about the dining room," Nardo said. "My grandson ran the whole thing to me on the phone. He cried."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I should be on my knees at your feet." His eyes filled. "I signed the clinic payments, Cosima."

My hand went still in his.

"Nine years ago, a standing order. Fifteen thousand a month to a freezer company. Rocco said it was a medical account for the family. I never asked."

"You didn't know what it was."

"I knew he was hiding something. I was his consigliere for thirty years, and I did not ask. That is what I did instead of looking at you."

"Nardo."

"Let me say it." He drew a shaky breath. "I watched you marry into that house at twenty-two. I watched you grow thin. I watched him call you fragile in front of other men. I told myself it was none of my business."

I did not tell him it was all right.

It was not all right, and he would have heard the lie.

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