Page 18 of Mafia Billionaire's Surprise Baby

“Pity.” This place has a great version of a French 75 that will lay you flat on your ass if you drink enough of them.

There’s a knock at the door and Sal goes to clear the entry. He opens it and the Russians file in, one by one.

Three of them.

I stare at them until they sit. Nikolai and Anatoly take their seats at the table, and Damien, their muscle, hovers behind.

The air is tense.

Until Nikolai breaks out in a huge smile. “Sestryonka. How good to see you.”

I wait for Sal’s sharp intake of breath and I smirk at the implication. Yeah. That’s right. Elio isn’t the only one who can build alliances.

“Hello, Zio Nikolai.”

“How have you been?”

I sigh and study my nails. “Bored, Zio. Bored to death.”

“I hear you have a new niece and nephew on the way.”

Ah. I see. We’re firing shots. “I do. Such a blessing, you know? Well. You will know when you have grandchildren, I guess.”

He laughs. “Always with the claws, sestryonka.”

“You know it.”

We make some small talk, each of us sizing the other one up. Finally, I lean back and get to it. “We need some information.”

“Oh? Gia, you know that anything I know, you know.”

I tap my fingers on the stone tabletop. “What did the Irish do with my brother-in-law?”

There’s a flicker of unease on Nikolai’s face. “I don’t know, darling.”

“I think you do.”

He sighs. “Gia…”

“You want to tell me, Niko.”

“And why’s that?”

I smirk at him.

His daughter, the sweet but altogether too oblivious Anastasia, has been busy. She texted me pictures of who she was hooking up with recently in Ibiza, and Daddy Dearest is absolutely going to lose his shit once he knows.

“How’s Stassie’s vacation going?”

He blinks. “You knew?”

“Zio. You know I always know.”

He looks over at Anatoly. “May we have the room, sestryonka?”

“Of course.”

We rise and Sal and I exit the building. I stop outside, but Sal grabs my elbow and moves me closer to the canal.

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