Page 60 of Betraying the Mafia Boss

Elena smiles. “He wanted Dominic’s place as head of the Cosa Nostra and when he found out about me and my son, he kidnapped me and tried to kidnap Lucas after funding my company for a project.”

“That’s sick,” I hear myself say.

“The mafia is way sicker and darker than you think, Isabella. I spent years trying to bring down the Italian mafia.”

A lady enters the kitchen and she’s holding the hand of a little girl who looks exactly like Elena. The little girl giggles when she sees her mother. “Momma.” She runs to Elena and raises her arms for Elena to pick her up.

Elena obliges, lifting the little girl to her lap. “How are you, baby?”

The girl smiles. “I’m fine,” she says enthusiastically. “I missed you, Momma.”

Her words aren’t very clear yet, but I can understand them having worked with kids for years. “Your daughter looks so much like you. She’s pretty.”

“Thank you.” Elena looks at her daughter with love. “Everyone says she looks like me. I really wanted her to look like Dominic. Her name is Sophia.”

Maria serves our food. Apples pancakes with blueberries and raspberries. She serves Elena and Jane a cup of coffee each and serves me a glass of fresh orange juice. She insists I can’t have coffee because I’m pregnant and I don’t argue with her.

After breakfast, Elena, accompanied by her bodyguards, drives Sophia to kindergarten, while Jane shows me around and introduces me to my bodyguards.

They’re both as tall and big as mountains. Nico has long, dark, curly hair and a thick beard that covers most of his neck. Abramo is on the slimmer side. His hair is trimmed and he doesn’t have a beard but he’s really tall.

How are they supposed to be my bodyguards when they scare me?

“No, I refuse to let these men follow me around,” I say sharply. “I don’t need bodyguards.”

“You can’t refuse. Vincent picked them out himself.” Jane walks up to Nico and pokes his belly. Nico doesn’t even shake or laugh. His face is unreadable, but his eyes are murderous. “See? He’s as sturdy as a rock.”

I fake a smile. “Thanks, that helps. But I can’t let that mountain of a man be my bodyguard. He looks like he’ll snap my neck and kill me if I dare piss him off.”

Jane chuckles. “He wouldn’t dare. He’d be dead the minute he does. Don’t worry.”

I glance at Abramo. He glances back at me. I smile at him but he doesn’t smile back. His hands are hovering on the butt of the gun tucked in his holster. “This is crazy.”

“Tell me about it. After Elio almost killed me, Marcus wouldn’t even let me go alone to the bathroom.” Her eyes widen as if she’s just remembered something important. “You’ll be trained as soon as the guys have some time to spare.”

I lift my brow. “Trained to do what.”

“To fight.” She turns her back to Nico and I keep an eye out for her sake. I don’t trust these guys. “It’s nothing too serious. Just basic self-defense and how to shoot.”

“I’ll get to hold a gun?” Funny how I just went from holding syringes to save lives to holding guns to defend myself. How was that for a contradiction?

Jane nods. “If it makes you feel any better, I went from catching criminals to working with them.” She starts for the door and I follow her. When we’re inside, she says, “Dominic will train you, or Marcus. You pick.”

My blood curdles. “I’m okay with Vincent being my trainer.”

She laughs in a way that makes it sound like she’s mocking me. “Vincent will go too easy on you. Your enemy won’t. That is why one of the men you fear will be your trainer. Plus, they’re good at it.”

“What if I refuse?” I ask.

She looks me dead in the eye, her laughter fading until the only thing I can hear is the sound of my blood buzzing in my ear. “Dominic rules the Cosa Nostra and Vincent is part of the Cosa Nostra. Do you know what that means if you’re to be Vincent’s partner?”

I don’t answer. I don’t know what that means. But I know the tone in her voice is scaring the shit out of me. She sounds too damn serious. I haven’t heard her be this serious since I first met her.

“It means Dominic is your Capo too. You can’t tell him no from now on.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Vincent

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