A Touch of Sin |18+|

38

ALANI

I nodded, not saying anything and allowing him a moment to gather his thoughts.

I could tell that it was going to be a hard story for Valerio to tell and I kept his hand in mine, giving him encouraging squeezes while I waited for him.

He let out a sigh, lifting his dropped head to look at me and my face softened at the gentleness and defeat in his eyes.

I hated it. I hated that there wasn't anything I could do to get rid of the situation he was facing. The best I could do was have Valerio touching me, knowing that he enjoyed the affection and when I shifted closer to him—Valerio did the same and raised my hand to plant a brief kiss on my knuckles.

It was impossible to explain how happy I was that he wasn't pushing me away.

"I didn't kill her," he said after a short while, his voice calm and firm. "But she died while I was supposed to protect her. I guess he blames me for it."

I frowned at that, but chose to stay quiet. Alonzo lost his girlfriend and I sympathised for him, but he had no right to drop all the blame on his brother and spread lies to me with the hopes that I'd turn my back on Valerio.

That was never going to happen.

"Naomi," Valerio said softly. "She was seven months pregnant when Alonzo got locked up."

Seven months. Fuck. That sounded terrible and my heart ached for her.

Valerio took a deep breath in, sliding his thumb over my palm and I could tell that he was seeking comfort. "He got involved with the opposing gang. I don't know why my parents let that slide. He's their baby, I know. But I'll never understand it."

Wow.

"If it was me," Valerio scoffed. "I'd be dead."

"Anyway," he said, pursing his lips but it wasn't hard to notice that he was bothered by his parents favouring. "This gang used him. Fed him the notion that he could become their leader and he won't have to work underneath the Verrati's anymore. He'd be their boss. His own boss."

"So fucking stupid," Valerio whispered under his breath. "How could he think for a second that the very people we're against would want anything to do with him? The idea of finally being in power got to him, and it changed everything."

Honestly, I was surprised that Alonzo was still breathing after his betrayal. I didn't know much about the mafia business, but I knew enough to be aware that switching was never an option.

"We didn't know about this until it was too late," Valerio murmured. "We didn't know what Alonzo was up to until we found out that the opposing gang snitched on him to the authorities. Their authorities."

They have their own authorities?

"It's a thing they do," Valerio said, seeing my confused face. "People in charge of the police department are dirty, but not all of them. The ones who are dirty have to make themselves look good, and that's only possible by bringing forward a criminal they can hand over to their own bosses."

"The gang sacrifices one of their members, and the authorities accept it. This man was Alonzo, and he got sent to prison for seventeen years," Valerio explained, and I struggled to wrap my head around the entire thing.

He exhaled, and I felt his hand loosen on mine just for a second until I was back in his grip. I kept my eyes on him, listening intently.

The way I understood it is Alonzo fucked up and got sent to prison as a sacrificial lamb.