“That bitch tried to kill me,” she whimpers.
Gavino doesn’t say anything, but I watch as his gaze flicks over to mine, his lips twitching into a small smile before he dips his chin and winks at me.
“I’m sure she did. You’ve been stalking her, or maybe it wasn’t you? Maybe you were just the messenger?”
Erin’s head jerks and that’s when I know that Gavino has hit the nail on the head. Erin’s gaze shifts over to us, then moves back to Gavino. Obviously he’s much better at looking at the bigger picture than we are.
“What will you do if I give you the man behind it?”
Gavino laughs softly. “What do you want?”
She licks her lips, then I watch as her lips curl up and she leans forward as if she’s going to tell him some kind of secret. I hold my breath, waiting to see what she’s going to say and wondering just how fucked up it all is.
Chapter Thirty-Six
MASSIMO
Pippa should be at home, tucked into bed, or at the very least she should be asleep in one of the rooms here, but she’s not. Instead, she’s standing in front of me while this cunt stares at Gavino and we all wait for her to tell us what the fuck is going on.
“Roman didn’t want to pay you any money. His bakery was the most popular in the area and he shouldn’t have to pay you people a dime. You should have been paying him to stay in the neighborhood.”
“So you’re fucking Roman for free? His wife know about that?” I ask.
Erin snorts. “His wife is worthless,” she snaps, jerking her chin up in the air.
I wait for her to tell us what exactly she is to him. She doesn’t say anything for a while, her eyes shifting from one person to another, then finally they find Mia’s.
“Mia, you know about Roman, don’t you?”
Something flashes in Mia’s gaze, she looks down at her feet, then slowly lifts her eyes up to meet Erin’s. “I know exactly who Roman is,” Mia grinds out.
“Care to educate the class?” Gavino asks, straightening his legs and standing to his feet.
I watch as he puts his hand behind his back, his chest open and seemingly his mind as well, but I know the truth. He is on the fucking edge right now, seconds away from losing his shit on the whole room.
There’s a moment of silence. Then Mia lets out a sigh before she speaks. “Roman is around ten years older than me. He’s not Made, but he used to be a friend of the famiglia. So much so, that he used to hang around a bit.”
Mia clears her throat. We’re all holding our breath, knowing that whatever she’s going to say, it’s going to be massive. Mia has a look of disgust on her face.
“Antonio Rossi was in charge back then, naturally,” Mia whispers. “Roman came to a few parties, not family parties.”
“But you were there? How old were you, cara?” I ask.
Mia’s body jerks. “Fifteen.”
“Roman?”
Mia nods. “He’s the reason no Made Man wanted me, not to keep anyway.”
“He’s the reason you became a comaré?” Arlo asks.
Mia’s eyes water, but not a single teardrop falls. She’s probably the strongest woman I have ever met. My Pippa is strong, but Mia personifies the word. I watch as she inhales through her nose before she lets the breath out with a long sigh.
“He’s the reason I felt like I had no choice but to become a comaré. He raped me. Took my self-worth, because when you’re the daughter of a Made Man, your self-worth is your virginity. So, I turned to a different life when I felt like the one I had been groomed for was over.”
Pippa gasps, obviously unknowing of this part of Mia’s past. Vino, Arlo, and I aren’t as shocked. We knew there was a reason why Mia is the way that she is. Though, Vino may actually have known the reason all along since he and Mia have dabbled in bed play together over the years.
“He rape you too, Erin?” Vino asks.
She laughs. “Absolutely not and I highly doubt that he did that to you, that he did anything you didn’t want. Roman is a good man. He’s saved me.”
“Saved?” Brando asks, speaking for the first time in a while.
Erin’s eyes flick over to him, her lips curve up into a small smile. “Saved,” she purrs. “Roman is a good man. But more importantly, he is a man who stands up for what he wants in life.”
Mia snorts. “Let me guess, he wants you? He’s going to make it all wonderful? You’ll be shitting rainbows as soon as you give him what he wants?”
“What?” Erin whispers.
“I mean that’s it, right? I don’t know how you met him, how you became involved with him. I know now that you’re from the city and not Ireland. And I know Roman’s MO He wants women to fall at his feet, to feel like they can’t breathe without him because he has some fucking special relationship with them that he couldn’t possibly have with someone else. He’s manipulating you, Erin. It’s what he does.”
She shakes her head. “I’ve known him my whole life,” she whispers before she licks her lips. “He was my neighbor.”
“The truth comes out,” Gavino mutters. “This man has been in your life, he’s how you got connected with the famiglia, with this profession, but to what end? It wasn’t to get a Made Man, what was it?”
Erin jerks her chin toward Mia. “He’s always been obsessed with her. Always. Nothing has changed, you know he calls his wife Mia when he comes? He calls me Mia. But I don’t mind it, because I know that
