Page 105 of Mafia King's Secret Baby
I collapse into his arms, sobbing. I can’t even say his name.
All I can do is cry.
Eventually, I run out of tears. It’s a little darker, the edges of twilight creeping up around the cusp of the sky.
“Why are you here?” I whisper.
“Gia found me,” Sal murmurs back.
I pull back, wiping my eyes. I study my brother. My heart crumples. “What happened to you?”
He’s a mess.
Sal’s clothes hang off of his body like he hasn’t eaten in weeks. The tatters of them are stained, red and brown and other colors that look somewhere in between, but aren’t quite either of those.
His right eye is swollen shut, and his lip is bleeding.
“Sal…”
He shakes his head. “Gia found me. Marco had me… It’s been a long few weeks, Kit-kat.”
My lips tuck up at the old nickname. “Are you okay?”
“I am now. I think.”
“And Dino?”
He shakes his head. “Let’s get some food, please. Gia and I will tell you everything.”
“You’ll tell me everything now,” Elio rumbles.
My eyes snap to his.
He’s furious.
I’ve never seen Elio radiate menace like this.
Even when he sat down with my brothers and me to negotiate this sham of a marriage, he didn’t look likethis.
Like with every breath, he promises death.
Before I can get up to intervene, Gia is on her feet. “Shut the fuck up, Elio. You have no idea what we’ve been through. You have no idea what Sal and I have done to be here. So no. You’re going to wait, for the first time in your life, until we’ve had a shower, and motherfucking dinner.”
Elio couldn’t have looked more shocked if Gia had slapped him. He opened his mouth to speak, but a shrill scream of childish joy cut him off.
“Uncle Sal!”
Luna hit Sal like a wrecking ball. “Luna!” I tried to pull her off, not knowing how badly Sal was hurt.
He winces when she wraps her arms around his waist.
Big time.
“Hi munchkin,” Sal manages a smile around what is clearly a lot of pain. I turn to Elio while Luna chirps merrily, updating Sal and Gia on everything that’s happened so far.
“Get them a doctor,” I whisper.
He braces. “Caterina…”