Page 1 of Mafia Billionaire's Surprise Baby

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GIA

“Elio. Stop. I’m fine.”

I’m grateful that the phone, and about a million miles, separates me from my brother.

Otherwise, he would probably be able to tell that I am not, in fact, fine.

Or maybe he wouldn’t. I haven’t been fine in a long time, and Elio doesn’t seem to have noticed much.

The bitterness in that realization makes me take another long sip of the vodka that I’ve been slowly working through for the better part of an hour.

“Gia,” Elio grumbles, my twin’s voice as familiar to me as my own. “The Russians are not our friends.”

“They’re not your friends,” I say, emphasizing the word ‘your.’ “But that doesn’t mean they aren’t mine.”

They better be, after I rescued their boss’ idiot daughter Stassi from the Irish in Belarus.

I drink more vodka to chase the memory.

Because with memories of Belarus, come memories of Sal.

And forgetting Sal is the whole point right now.

“The Russians have a long history with our family.”

I sigh. “So do all of the crime families, Elio. That doesn’t mean we can’t make new alliances.”

“That they will eventually betray.”

“So?”

I kind of like the thrill of it all. The fact that there are alliances, favors, and obligations we all have to each other. Being part of a world that has no rules means we adhere to our own, despite what the normal boundaries of society seem to think.

It’s called organized crime for a reason.

I’ve always loved the dance of it, even more than Elio has. That love made my mother and father absolutely crazy, but Elio isn’t as locked into old prejudices as they are.

While he’s out on paternity leave, I’m in charge of the Rossi family.

And I love him deeply, but I’m hopeful to make the move permanent.

Elio curses in Italian, and I smile. Usually, that means that he’s annoyed with me, but he’s not annoyed enough to back down.

That’s perfect.

Out of the two of us, I know exactly how stubborn I need to be in order to get what I want.

“Fine. But I am sending you some backup.”

“Did you finally decide who to promote to Nico’s position?”

I’m genuinely curious about that. Nico betrayed Elio and me, allowing an Irish mob leader to capture Elio’s wife Caterina. Well, ‘allowed’ is a nice term.

I’m pretty sure he sold her for a healthy payout.

“Yes,” Elio says without any follow-up.

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