Chapter 3 - The Bloodline
Alina felt the room tilt beneath her feet. "What... what did you just say?"
"Elena was my younger sister," Dante stated calmly, his dark eyes unwavering. "Which means you are my niece, Alina. You are a Rosselli."
"No," Alina stammered, shaking her head violently as she backed up further against the counter. "No, that's impossible! I'm a waitress! I work sixty hours a week just to pay rent on a studio apartment! My mother was a seamstress!"
"Your mother was high syndicate royalty who chose to live in the shadows to protect her daughter," Dante countered softly. He looked down at Leo, who was happily babbling and reaching for Alina again. "Blood recognizes blood, Lena. Leo has never warmed up to a single nanny, bodyguard, or stranger in his entire life. But the moment you walked past this table, he knew who you were."
Alina looked at the little baby in his arms. Leo’s bright hazel eyes were identical to her own—the exact shade and shape as her reflection in the mirror.
Before Alina could process the revelation, the glass front doors of the restaurant rattled violently.
Marco, Dante’s head of security, stepped up to Dante’s side, his hand resting inside his tailored jacket. "Boss, we have a situation outside. Three unmarked black sedans just pulled up across the avenue. It's the Moretti crew."
Dante’s expression hardened instantly into pure, lethal ice. The gentle uncle vanished, replaced in a split second by the feared mafia lord.
"They followed my vehicle from the harbor," Dante realized quietly. He turned his gaze back to Alina, his command absolute. "You're coming with me."
"I am not going anywhere with you!" Alina protested, her fear flaring back up.
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Dante didn't argue. He shifted Leo to his left arm, reached out with his broad right hand, grabbed Alina’s forearm with an iron yet gentle grip, and pulled her toward the rear VIP exit.
"They saw you talking to me, Lena," Dante said as his men drew their suppressed weapons behind them. "If Moretti’s men think you mean anything to me, you die the second I leave this building. You come with me now, or you die tonight."
