Chapter 2 - The Interrogation
The air in the restaurant dining room turned instantly brittle.
Dante didn't break eye contact for a single second. The terror in Alina’s eyes wasn't the generic fear of a civilian recognizing a mobster from the morning newspapers. It was personal, old, and buried deep.
Dante raised one broad, tattooed hand, signaling his bodyguards to step back. "Clear the dining room," he ordered softly. "Close the front doors."
Within thirty seconds, his men had politely but forcefully ushered the remaining patrons out of L’Orso D’Oro, flipping the entrance sign to Closed and locking the heavy glass doors.
Alina backed up until her spine hit the mahogany service counter, clutching her order notepad against her chest like a shield.
Dante walked slowly toward her, holding nine-month-old Leo securely against his chest. The baby was quiet now, his bright eyes locked onto Alina, reaching out a tiny fist toward her blue shirt.
"Your mother," Dante said, stopping three feet in front of her. His baritone was quiet, measured, and terrifyingly intense. "What was her name?"
Alina swallowed hard, a tear spilling over her dark eyelashes. "Elena. Elena Valdez."
Dante froze. The subtle scar along his left cheekbone seemed to tighten. The dragon tattoo on his neck—a unique crest worn only by the absolute head of the Rosselli syndicate—seemed to darken under the warm restaurant lighting.
"Elena Valdez died twenty years ago in a house fire in the North District," Dante said slowly, his sharp jawline set into pure granite. "She had a seven-year-old daughter who vanished from state records."
"She didn't die in a fire!" Alina blurted out, her voice trembling with anger through her fear. "She ran away! She spent the rest of her life hiding in small towns, moving us every six months because she said the man with the dragon on his neck would come to take me!"
Dante stared at her, his dark eyes searching every detail of her face—the long dark hair, the sharp hazel eyes, the stubborn set of her chin.
"She lied to you, Lena," Dante said softly, his voice dropping into a quiet register that shocked even his chief lieutenant standing near the door.
Alina let out a bitter, shaky laugh. "My mother didn't lie to me about mobsters!"
May you like
"She lied about why she ran," Dante corrected firmly. He looked down at his baby son, then back to her. "She didn't run because I wanted to hurt you. She ran because twenty years ago, my enemies targeted my inner circle. I sent her into protective hiding... and she cut off contact so you would grow up clean."
He took another step closer, holding Leo out slightly toward her. "And more importantly... she never told you that your mother was my sister."
