Page 42 of Mafia Billionaire's Surprise Baby

Interesting. “Let them think we’re dead.”

“Gia?”

I look over at Sal. He’s studying me, and after a while, he nods. “Yes,” he whispers.

I turn back to the phone. “Let them think we’re dead. It helps us out a little.”

“In what way?”

“Dear brother. Please never underestimate the element of surprise.”

“You are quite good at that. And with your recent public appearance, it’s also significantly harder to hide. You’re well known, Gia. You can’t exactly sneak around Europe without someone recognizing you.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I smile at Sal.

He frowns.

“Even if that’s the case, what are you going to do? What’s the purpose?”

“There’s been… some other information that we found in Prague about the Irish. All of this feels too… planned for them. They’re definitely the type to retaliate, but something else is going on. Sal and I are going to figure out what it is.”

Elio is quiet for a second. “Gia. They’re going to expect some kind of reply. If it’s not written in blood, we’re going to be seen as weak.”

I know what he’s worried about. If the world of the mafia thinks the Rossi family is weak, then they’ll come for us.

Piece by piece, they’ll carve parts of our empire off, until there’s nothing left of us. Like a whale carcass at the bottom of the ocean, everyone with a machete will come to take a piece of us.

A big part of safety in this world is the illusion of power. As long as you’re seen as powerful, the lie can be held for as long as you need to.

You can get away with a hell of a lot of people just thinking you’re going to wreak havoc on them wherever you go.

If they think they’re dead, though, Sal and I can do the scariest thing imaginable.

No one expects us to come back from the dead.

“They won’t,’ I assure him. “There’s an Irish bar in Pittsburgh that has close ties to the gang. Take it out to send a message, and Sal and I will work on some stuff here.”

“Stuff?”

“Trust me, Elio,” I murmur.

He’s silent for a minute, then sighs. “I always do.”

“Love you,” I say quickly.

“Love you too, sister.”

The line goes dead.

I look at Sal.

He’s smiling at me slightly. “Scariest thing imaginable?”

I grin. “Come on. You’ve never seen a zombie movie? If they think we can’t be killed, that kind of takes the steam out of killing us.”

“But we can be killed, Gia.”

“That’s the type of negative thinking that will get you demoted, De Luca.”

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