Sold To the Grizzly Don (Alcee and Bruno) novel Chapter 134

Sorch To the Gazety Don

Chapter 134

“You think it makes you a bad parent?” Susana asked quietly.

“I know I’m a good mom, but a break would be fucking fantastic.”

Susana gave a laugh, “girl, I’m tired and I only help you part time.”

“You know who else is tired?” she tilted her chin in the direction of Antero. His footsteps were completely stopped now, and he was simply passing the lead from hand to hand so the dog could circle around. They turned their heads to the creaking of the rooftop door and Torq emerged with a frown. His eyes immediately went to Antero, and they could see the sigh coming from his puffed–out cheeks. He shot a sad look to Alcee and walked towards her and Susana.

“Susana, can you give us a minute?”

“Sure.” She nodded before pressing a kiss to Alcee’s cheek. “I’ll be downstairs to help get him into bed. Do you think he’ll want to eat?”

“Yeah but cereal and toast will be what he’s wanting. Nothing complicated.”

She walked away as Torq sat down next to Alcee on the block and exhaled loudly.

“I sent Raniero and Bastiano home.”

“Good.”

“We need to talk about what happened.”

“Torq, your tone already has an accusatory feel to it and I’m not vibing with it right now. I’m desperately trying to keep my shit together so I can deal with the upcoming battle over bedtime.”

“He hit you. He hit Raniero.”

“He accidentally hit me in the mouth because I was manhandling him and when he’s stressed he doesn’t like being touched. Hell, he doesn’t like being touched when he’s not stressed. He was flailing to try to get away from me and Amal as we pinned him down in the car. I let go of his hand and it caught me in the mouth and my tooth went through my lip. Accident. Raniero though, that fucker is lucky it was Ant who punched him in the balls after his comment and not me.” She gave Torq a glare, “I’ll never be mad at my son for defending me. He did what his father failed to do.”

“You don’t know the whole story.”

“I don’t care about the whole story.” She admitted cutting him off. “Your brother is a twat. He was good at being your spy on Corrado because he’s a sneaky snake who enjoys being manipulative and it’s clear he’s the worst parts of both his parents.”

“Alcee,” Torq whispered softly, “please let me speak.”

“Unless the words from your mouth include an apology for not stepping up and being a father, for putting your son ahead of your brother and his bitch of a mother, then there is nothing I want to hear.”

“You’re not being fair.”

“I sat here with Susana telling her how I felt I was failing as a mother, but you don’t feel it, do you, that parental guilt? Your son is hurting. You caused it.”

“Look, let’s just get him to bed and we can talk this out.”

“Mercurio offered me a place to go.” She saw the shock on his face at the comment.

“You called him?”

“Nope. He said he heard what happened at dinner. My guess is he has someone watching me and Ant. He offered to give us a safe place to be. I want to go. As much as I don’t trust the bastard, I want to go because the thought of going back downstairs with you and having to live with you makes me want to wretch. Instead, my son will need the familiarity of his bedroom tonight. He’ll need his dog. He’ll need me to sit and stand guard. So, I’m going to do the hard thing and I’m going to take him down and I’m going to pretend everything is okay and get him fed and get him to bed. Then I’m going to allow myself a good cry and then I’m going to sleep. You and I will not be having a single discussion tonight on anything.”

Chapter 134

“I think

“Torq, do you hear yourself. Mc. 1. As a parent, there is no me or 1. It is boy. It is child. It is Antero. You failed him tonight. Grasp that, could you for a moment? You have been a father for a very short time, and I want to cut you slack but the level of your failure today is a depth I cannot calculate. Sit in it. Stew in it. Think on it. Think of how you failed. You. You, the great Torquato Lozano, failed at being a parent today and you’re still failing because all you’re thinking about is you and your face and your family name. Do you know what he is thinking about?” She looked at

Antero.

“No.”

“Me either.” Alcee answered with a sneer. “Because he doesn’t know how to communicate it. All the complex feelings he cannot regulate the way an adult can are roaming his little body and the only way he can express them is an outburst or to shut down because it’s too frustrating for him to try. The fact he broke through for a moment to punch your asshole of a brother in the sack, tells me Antero has made some gains since his last episode. I’m proud of him for expressing a feeling, his thoughts and his dislike for a man who insulted me in my own home. My home, Torq. Do you get that?”

“I gave him shit.”

“My father would have put a bullet in his brother’s head for disrespecting my mother like that and he was fucking Edgardo Mariani and a giant dick. What does that make you? You want to make me your wife, and you let a man disrespect me more than once today.” She rose up on her feet Jand walked to Antero. “I think Avalanche needs to drink some water. We’ll make her some rice and chicken to help settle her belly.”

Antero didn’t respond in any way, simply allowing Alcee to take his hand and lead him to the door, not once even looking in Torq’s direction. The sound of the Torq’s footsteps approaching behind them made the boy tense and Alcee wondered if he was going to melt down again.

Antero looked at Alcee his bottom lip pushed out, his eyes narrowed. “No elevator with Torq.”

“That’s okay buddy. He can wait for the next one or take the stairs.” She saw the hurt on Torq’s face at Antero’s words and felt grim satisfaction from it.

These are the consequences of his actions. He was going to have to do a lot of work to fix this shit.

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