White Knight (Dirty Mafia Duet, #2)(58)

I wasn’t there—hell, I was just a kid—but the story spread far and wide, making it clear that the Rossettis and the Cassos couldn’t stand one another. And that existed as truth until recently when we started trying to make inroads for peace for the betterment of both families’ businesses.

Until GTR Rossetti fucked it all up.

Now we’re back to being mortal enemies, and I have to figure out how to survive this day. Because I’m not leaving Memphis. Not when she needs me more than ever, especially because I know that she’s Alessandra. You can’t look at that picture of Regina Rossetti and not see the resemblance that could only mean Memphis is her daughter.

I don’t need a DNA test to believe it. My gut has already spoken.

While my brain is rolling through all of this, I tell Cav what we know. He didn’t start working for Dom until I was already gone on my mission to become Creighton’s best friend in school. We may not have known each other in this capacity, but Cav did his time working for our father, just like I did. We all put in our time for Dom. And that’s about to come to an end.

I hadn’t decided to take over the family until this moment, but it’s the only choice I can make. I’m done with the bloodbaths and killing.

It ends today.

“What about me?” Memphis says as Cav and Benny discuss options, and I listen.

My passiveness evaporates as soon as her question hangs between us. “What do you mean, what about you?”

“What if you tell them who you think I might be and trade me for Cynthia? It might work. You can’t say it wouldn’t.”

Even as the words leave her mouth, I can see the fear in her gorgeous eyes. She may have war-time experience and been embedded with the troops to bring hard-hitting truths to the masses, but this is different, and she knows it.

“Fuck no. That’s not happening. No fucking way are you going anywhere near them. They will never know who you are.” My tone is final.

“Actually, that ain’t a bad idea,” Benny says, and I’ve never felt the urge to punch him in the face like I do right now.

“No. Fucking. Way.” I glare at him, telling him to shut the fuck up with my expression.

“That’s what your old man would do,” he adds.

“I don’t give a fuck. I’m not Dom, and I never will be.”

“That’s the damn truth.”

The gravelly voice comes from behind me, and I’m not even sure why I’m surprised that Dom is here. Of course he is.

I pivot and face my father, who, despite having the same voice, looks as though he’s aged a few years since I last saw him at the hospital. His ability to show up when I least want him to hasn’t changed at all, though.

“You checked out of the hospital against medical advice?”

He nods, his eyes narrowed. “They gave me that whole spiel while I was walking out the door. Like I need a doctor to tell me when I’m ready to go. They don’t know jack shit, and I don’t take orders from anyone.” He scans the room, his gaze landing on Memphis. “I knew you’d look better as a brunette.”

Memphis seems to be holding her breath, and I put an arm around her. I honestly don’t know how much Dom knows or overheard, but I’m not telling him shit about the fact that Memphis is likely Alessandra Rossetti. It doesn’t matter to me, and therefore it doesn’t affect him. I also don’t give a shit that he’d say the opposite, given the opportunity.

“How she looks as a brunette isn’t any of your damn business, and it sure as fuck doesn’t impact the situation we have at hand. The Rossettis have her mother, and they want to trade her for me.”

Dom’s expression doesn’t change, and it reminds me of all those times in my childhood when I thought he was a Spartan. So fucking stoic, even when all you wanted to see was a tiny bit of humanity. Since then, I’ve seen it on his face, like when he sees his granddaughter and he suddenly morphs into a human who lives and breathes and can be hurt.

But not right now.

Right now, he’s rock solid.

Dom pins me with a look that would incinerate a lesser man. “The only way they’re getting you is over my dead body.”

To say that his harsh words surprise me would be a vast understatement. I’ve never mattered much to my father, and I don’t know why he would start caring now. It would take more than a brush with death to change him, because he’s had plenty of those over the years.

“Good, because that’s what I said,” Memphis says, and Dom’s gaze dips to her face.

“You have a better idea, girl?” he asks.

“Not yet, but I’m sure we can come up with one. Why does anyone have to be traded? Why can’t the cops take them out and rescue her?”

Dom’s attention moves to me. “You got a cop who’ll get involved?”

His question shocks me, because as far as I’ve always known, Dom has avoided cops like the plague. He only kept a few on his payroll as a dire necessity.

“I might.”

“They got anyone undercover? Inside the Rossettis?”

His question is eerie, and I remember the meeting I had in the club in my office. Dom has it bugged, and he wants to see if I’ll lie to him. I don’t know it for certain, but there’s a damn good possibility that he had Primo check the tapes.