Page 138 of Mafia Billionaire's Surprise Baby

Gia, who is the sun to me, the only star in my life that I orbit around…

She’s been taken.

It doesn’t feel like the words Gia’s been kidnapped work to describe how terrifying this is for me.

My mouth opens. Closes. Marco leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. “Well fuckin’ say it,” he barks.

“Gia’s been kidnapped,” I finally manage.

It’s woefully short of the terror that I feel when I think of that, but it’s factual. There is something to it, and it’s the best I can do without getting too deeply into how I feel for her.

“Okay,” Marco says.

I blink. His casual reaction is making me feel like I’m losing my mind. “Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay. Did Elio send you to get her or something?”

“No…”

I see understanding flash across Marco’s eyes. “Oh. I see. Elio didn’t send you. which means that you’re here of your own volition. Which means that, in a truly stupid move, you’ve gone and fallen for Gia Rossi.”

“I can’t look out for my sister-in-law?”

He snorts. “Gia Rossi will never be anyone’s kin like that. She’s fucking feral, Sal. That’s never going to change.”

“You don’t know her.”

He sits back in his chair, his eyebrows pinching together in surprise. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Sal. It’s bad, is it?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I say quietly.

He sighs. “Look. Gia’s a fun girl. I’ve always known that. She’s a hell of a soldier, and makes an even more effective capo. But she’s not… she’s Gia,” he says by way of explanation.

Everything that he’s saying is making my skin prickle. “So?”

“So, she’s kidnapped. She’s going to fuck or fight her way out of it and turn up in a couple of weeks with a great story and a new set of Jimmy Choo’s. She’s Gia. She doesn’t get stuck. She doesn’t need rescuing. She doesn’t need anyone, actually, and she’s pretty clear about that.”

I growl. “This time, she needs me.”

The emphasis on the word me makes Marco pay attention to me in an alarming way. He puts his elbows on the table, leaning over them as she studies me. “She needs you, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Did she lose her tongue or something?”

“Marco…”

He throws his hands up and leans back again. “Fine. Whatever. No Gia trash talk. But what I still don’t get is how you play into this.”

“She needs me,” I say again.

He shakes his head. “Gia Rossi needs nothing and no one.”

“She does.”

He tilts his head. “Does she need you, Sal? Or does she want you?”

I don’t answer that.

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