Page 20 of Secret Baby for the Mafia Don

“There’s lots of toys to play with, and during the week, you can go to school with my kids,” Enzo says to Mateo.

“Awesome!” he replies happily, hurrying across the room to open the box with the LEGOs in it. Clearly, he doesn’t need to be told twice to make himself at home.

Enzo watches Mateo for a moment as he starts digging around in the box of colorful little bricks, and then turns to look at me. There is an open look on his handsome face for a moment, and I warm to it against my will.

I smile at him, even though part of me wants to slap him as hard as I can. What was it about the charm of these powerful men that I am so susceptible to?

“Thank you,” I say softly to him, my eyes returning to the sight of my child starting to build something with the LEGOs.

Enzo nods. “Least I could do. I know you don’t want to be here, but at least he can have some fun.” He is silent for a beat, and then he says, “He needs to be around other kids.”

I scowl a little. “You don’t think I know that?” I say, hating how defensive I sound. I sigh and rub the bridge of my nose.

Enzo eyes me for a moment, then gestures toward the hallway. We step out together and I stand in front of him with my arms crossed over my breasts, uncertain of his intentions.

Now that we are here, I realize that I have no idea what he wants from me. My mind ponders if he is going to ask me to sleep with him, and I quail at the thought.

He’s handsome, but I have no interest in sleeping with any of the Baldinis. Not only are they all married, I don’t need any other trouble in my life.

The last thing I want is to be embroiled in a fight with all of the Baldini wives. I know that they won’t care if I was forced to sleep with Enzo or not. They will all gang up on me and my life will be a living hell.

“Why have you been in hiding?” he asks me.

He sounds genuinely curious, and I sigh. What to tell him?

“Did Elio hurt you or something?” he presses me. “He has a really….bad reputation.”

I nod. “I know.”

“So that’s why you went to Marco?”

A small smile twists my lips and I shake my head. “Not at all.” A sudden memory of Elio slapping me before demanding I suck his dick comes to mind unbidden. I feel a rush of heat flood through me in response to this memory.

No, I didn’t mind Elio’s penchant for violence in everything that he did. I hate to admit how much the fact that he was such a dangerous man, excited me.

“Then why?” Enzo says again.

I look him in the eye. “He was going to use me for an heir to his kingdom and then throw me away,” I say sharply.

I hope that he can understand that I see his kidnapping of myself and my son as no better than what Elio did. “He didn’t love me the way I loved him. I had to get out while I still could.”

It feels good to admit to someone else that I loved Elio. Sometimes I felt like the secret of my love would choke me to death. Because if I was being honest with myself, I loved him still, even now.

I closed my eyes as I think about seeing him at the wedding.

He had filled out and grown into himself. If he had been beautiful as a young man, he was devastatingly handsome as an adult.

The aura of danger that had made me want to throw myself at Elio over and over again as a youth had only increased in intensity.

Each calculated movement, each expression, everything about his person communicated danger. And if I hadn’t been so surprised to see him, I probably would have melted into a puddle of need immediately.

“Love,” Enzo echoes. He looks down at the toes of his dress shoes, and then back up at me. “You loved that monster?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Do you think that your wife loves you?” I counter.

He chuckles. “Touché,” he says back.

“What are you going to do with me?” I ask.

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