Riccardo by Elle Raven, Aimie Jennison Page B

when I was five,” Dante explained.
    “I assume you’re here visiting his grave then?”
    “Well, I wouldn't be here visiting his arsehole of a brother’s grave, would I?” Dante spat out viciously. He heard my intake of breath and apologised. “ Mi dispiace , I forget he's your grandfather.”
    I shouldn't be surprised. I knew my grandfather was not a well-liked man. My father hated him. It made me wonder what he had done to Dante’s family and why he was so full of hate towards him.
    “Why don't we all talk about this over dinner tonight, Dante, since it's our last evening here in Messina?” Raphael interrupted. “Don Sebastiano will be very happy to know we bumped into you here in Sicily. He would expect us to get together, as a family.”
    “I'd love to. I fly out to New York tomorrow to attend to some family business and I was anticipating a night of rest, but there's no way I can pass up catching up with famiglia .”
    Dante was a charmer, and a damn fine hot one too. “I can't wait to catch up with you this evening,” I said, leaning up and kissing his cheek. “You know you remind me a lot of my father. Have the two of you ever met?”
    “Yes, several times. We communicate all the time because of the family business. I travel a lot, looking after things for him here in Sicily and in the U.S.A. I'd love to get out to Australia one day soon. It's been on my agenda for a few years now.”
    “You have to come out to Australia, Dante. My father would love it. The entire famiglia would love it.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    LORENA
    From the moment we landed in Sydney, Raphael was on the phone to my father. He was probably dying to hand me over to someone else. He should consider himself lucky because I was on my best behaviour. Raphael was seated at the front of the limo while I shared the backseat with Paulie.
    I sat there with mixed emotions and my heart was erratic. I couldn’t help the excited thrill that swept through me at the prospect of seeing my family again. My nerves—which I could swear I didn’t have—kicked in, making me anxious at the thought of confronting Riccardo again.
    While in Europe, the last several weeks, Raphael was my constant shadow. He never left me unattended, unless I was with Paulie of course. Paulie became one of my closest friends. We’d talked way into the evenings about anything and everything. He even shared things with me that I'd hold dear to my heart, things that shocked me. I believed we bonded because I didn't have Riccardo hovering around me or chasing Paulie away.
    I knew Riccardo was jealous of Paulie, so I played on it every chance I got. I was quite surprised he never caused a ruckus over Paulie accompanying me, alongside Raphael to Europe. However, after Paulie's revelation, I expected things to be a little different once we were home.
    “Yeah, Boss, all good, I told ya,” Raphael croaked into the phone. “No probs. We should be there in thirty to forty minutes.” There was a long silence and I noticed Raphael glance toward me with an intense stare and then went back to speak to my father about some business. It made me wonder what my father had said or perhaps asked. Raphael answered him with a clipped ‘No,’ and the conversation quickly ended.
    “So what did my father have to say?” What I really wanted to ask was why the hell he didn't want to talk to his daughter? I hadn't spoken to him in over two days. I wanted to ask him questions. Those questions were of course mainly about Riccardo. I desperately wanted to know if he'd be at the house or anywhere near me for that matter. I needed to know. I had to prepare myself. Prepare for the all-consuming confrontation with Riccardo.
    “Boss wants everyone over for a family dinner,” Raphael announced.
    “Oh, that's all? Daddy didn’t say anything else?” I delved, hoping to get more information out of him. I briefly looked at Paulie to gauge his reaction, but he merely shrugged.
    “That's it, doll. Family