Page 2 of Mafia Billionaire's Surprise Baby

“Okay. And…?”

“He will be at your hotel within the hour.”

My eyes scrunch up. I’m in Prague, which I did not tell Elio. Elio thinks that I’m in Amsterdam, where our meeting with the Russians is going to take place in one week.

Amsterdam is like Vegas in Europe. It’s a lovely place to have a sit-down with a rival gang and get some delicious pastries at the same time.

A win-win, as I always say.

Amsterdam is for business. Paris is to impress someone that you want to date. Prague, however, is a city I prefer. It’s a little dark, a little gloomy, but people have a great sense of humor and love to get down over a beer.

And when they drink, they tell all their secrets.

“How do you know the hotel I’m staying at?”

“I don’t,” Elio says flatly. “But I trust that he will.”

My brother is so annoying. “Elio, you know no one has ever been able to find me if I don’t want to be found.”

“I know.”

“So, if this is some kind of test for you new guy, you can probably call it off.”

“It isn’t. He already passed.”

“You’re annoying.”

“Ti amo, sister mine.”

The line goes dead.

I flip the phone onto the couch and glare at it. “Insufferable asshole.”

My brother is many things, sadly, but an asshole is not one of them. Oh, he tries. He glowers and preens and does his whole mafia-king routine.

But deep down? Elio is as soft as a marshmallow and just as sweet.

He’s always wanted to be a family man. He’s cautious with his investments, he’s protective of the people he loves. He adores Caterina, and their daughter Luna, and he can’t wait for their twins to be born.

In another life, Elio would have been made for a suburban lifestyle.

He and Caterina could have hosted dinner parties for the whole block and made drinks for the neighbors while they watched their kids play in the streets. Sure, he’s played the part of a mafia don for the majority of his life, but deep down, he’s not meant for this.

Not like I am.

I fucking love it.

The politics. The intrigue. The backstabbing. All of it thrills me, and while Elio recognized quickly that I was an asset to him, I never let him see all of the things I do.

Nominally, he runs the Rossi family.

But I’ve been doing it for him for years.

I tell myself that I don’t mind, that the thrill of it all is what I enjoy. But lately, I’ve noticed that I’m a little less… inclined to believe that.

I’m thirty-five years old. I’m finally starting to feel like I need to make an impact that people can see.

And I’m also kind of fed up with the bullshit that living in a world of men and machismo brings me.

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