Page 39 of Sandro

“Of course,” he told me. I stood, and after I picked up my plate, I took it over to where I’d seen the others leaving theirs. There was a bin that was full of other dishes, and after adding mine to it, Sandro and I left the dining room.

“From there, this is the quickest way out to the gardens. There are several exterior doors that lead to them, and they’re all connected to one another, but certain fountains are easier to access from specific doors.”

I didn’t quite understand what Sandro meant until he opened a door that led out to a beautiful terrazza. There was a lovely area to take a meal, and this morning would have been a great opportunity to do so. The breeze was perfect, and immediately, I could see why Abel loved the gardens so much.

“This is beautiful,” I told Sandro. “We do not have anything such as this at the house in Rome. We have to go to one of the parks in the city, but there is nothing near the pride house.”

“Master Vincent enjoys the gardens. There are safety issues at times, and having a place such as this helps make the villa feel less like a confined place. There are secured fences on the other side of the hedges, and there are men that you will see randomly patrolling the area just to be extra cautious, but you are perfectly safe here and are welcome to enjoy the gardens whenever you’d like.”

I nodded. I knew what talk like that meant. Sandro was about to give me some not-so-wonderful news, and he was hoping that dangling the gorgeous garden in front of my nose was going to soften the news. He was probably right. I loved being outside. I think a lot of it had to do with my shifter side.

“You’re going to give me bad news, aren’t you?” I asked.

Sandro stopped walking, gave me a look that was pure surprise, and then sighed. “That depends on how open you are to news. It changes a lot of things for you, and although nothing between us will change, it might impact other aspects of our lives.”

We had made it to a fountain that had a gorgeous set of benches around it. I walked over and plopped down, and if I were able to shift into my leopard at the moment, I would do so. He would love this spot. It called to me already, and I could see myself lying out here sunning myself in my feline form.

“All right. Just spit it out. You say it won’t change anything between us but might. That doesn’t exactly make sense. What happened in that meeting that you’re being weird with your explanation?”

Sandro sighed again before he sat down beside me. “It’s nothing terrible, in my opinion, other than the fact that you’ve been lied to your entire life.”

I looked over at my mate, confused. “Huh? How? Shifters can’t lie. Well, they can lie, but we can detect it. Who lied?”

Sandro’s expression turned serious. “At a minimum, your parents. Most likely, everyone around you. I refuse to keep this information from you, therefore the lies stop here.”

“Should I be worried?” I asked, suddenly just that. He was causing my anxiety to spike, and I didn’t exactly care for that. I’d been so content with my tea and the breakfast I’d managed to eat and keep down. Now it was suddenly sitting like a brick in my stomach.

“You shouldn’t, no. I apologize for making you worry. That is not what I intended. I’ve been trying to figure out how to share with you what I’ve been told.”

“Bluntly. Just blurt it out, Sandro. If you feel that I should know these things, then just say them.” That worked, right? The phrase was ripping off the Band-Aid, and that’s what he was doing by telling me all at once.

“Your parents,” he started. “They obviously loved you very much and went to great lengths to protect you.” Immediately, I wanted to know from whom. I kept quiet though, waiting for him to continue. “When you gave me your surname, I thought it sounded familiar. Turns out I was correct in my assumption. Your father belonged to a family, much as this one, actually, from Sicily.”

“Huh?” That was…what? “What do you mean?”

“The Mosca family. I’m quite surprised your father didn’t take your mother’s last name, but it seems that wouldn’t have been much help as they were officially married in Sicily in front of your father’s family. The Mosca family is a very active family in Sicily. Your grandfather is Alfio Mosca, the head of it, just as Master Vincent is the head of this one.”

I blinked at Sandro several times. “You’re telling me that my grandfather is the head of a mafia family?”

Sandro nodded. “There’s more.”

“Of course there is. What else are you going to drop on me?” I placed my hand on my stomach, and after a couple of deep breaths, my stomach seemed to calm some. “I’m not upset with you. This is just something that I never would have imagined.”

“I would think not,” Sandro said. He placed his hand on my back and started rubbing up and down. “If you need, I can get Rio out here to help. He can do some magic, and your stomach will calm. Possibly.”

It was tempting, but honestly, I think this was more anxiety than it was anything to do with me being pregnant. Then again, that might not be helping things. “I’m good. I just never thought that my dad was from an organized crime family. He was…boring. He loved my mom something fierce, and they were incredibly happy.” I smiled, thinking about the way they used to look at each other. I would give anything to have Sandro look at me the way that Dad used to look at Mom. “What other deep secrets have been revealed to you?”

“Your mom wasn’t Italian,” Sandro said.

I shook my head. “All right. That is difficult to believe. She was all things Italian.”

“Possibly. She has had at least two decades, possibly longer, to immerse herself in the country. She’s actually from a pack just outside of Moscow,” Sandro told me.

I continued to blink at my mate because I didn’t know what else to do. “Is anything about my life true?” I asked finally.

Sandro reached for me, and I sighed before I stood and moved over and crawled onto his lap. Thankfully, the bench had a back, and Sandro was able to hold me here with my feet resting on the bench beside us.

“Why, Sandro? I don’t understand that.” I felt him kiss my hair. I loved it when he did that. I loved everything about the man. I was in love with my mate, but I couldn’t tell him. It was the shittiest position to be in because I knew he didn’t love me back. He cared for me. I knew that, and I was content with that for now, but it really sucked that I loved the man and he didn’t return my feelings. But Sandro was complicated. His life had been completely messed up when I met him. He hadn’t even wanted to continue living, and I understood he needed to work through the rest of those demons before he could allow himself to be open to loving me.