Page 21 of Secret Baby for the Mafia Don

Enzo blows out a breath. “I think the best solution is for you to work for us for now. You can earn your keep by cleaning and helping the staff out with odd jobs around here. I will make sure Mateo has a good time with my children and that he’s kept safe.”

“How long are you going to use me for indentured labor?” I inquire.

His full mouth curves into a half-smile. “Until Elio decides to give in.”

“And why would he do that?” I shoot back. These Baldinis must not know much about Elio La Rosa.

There is no one on earth who tells Elio what to do. He doesn’t care about anyone or anything enough to let Enzo and Luca Baldini order him around.

Enzo smiles broadly. “Because by now, my brother has told him that Mateo is his son.”

My blood runs cold at this. Oh no. They could not do this to me and to Mateo.

I feel sick, and the world spins around me a little. I catch myself against the wall, my fingertips pricking with pins and needles as I try to catch my breath.

“Oh my God,” I whisper. “Oh my God, what have you done?”

Enzo makes an annoyed noise. “What are you fussing about now?”

I turn wide eyes onto his face. “You have eliminated any chance of my son and I ever living in safety again. How could you do this to us?”

“Come here,” he says to me, gesturing for me to follow him over to the window at the end of the hall.

I grudgingly follow him and look where he is pointing.

“See that?” he says.

He sounds almost proud. “That concertina wire on the fence above the wall of the compound? See them?” He points to the armed guards by the front gate. “There are many more men where they came from, all guarding this family day and night. There is nowhere safer than this compound. No one has ever gotten through our defenses, and believe me, plenty of people have tried.”

I swallow down the bile in my throat and look away from the military-grade wall and the guards. My voice is shaking as I say, “You arrogant fool. You have welcomed the devil himself into your home. Those walls and guards will not stop him. Nothing on earth will stop Elio La Rosa from getting what he wants.”

Chapter Nine

Elio

I let the hot water comb its way through my thick hair, soothing the ache that radiates from where Enzo hit me to knock me out.

The plane ride home was a blur because I immediately fell asleep as soon as we took off. My head of security had told me we should go to a hospital to get me checked out, but I didn’t listen. I just wanted to get back home to regroup.

However, the instant flood of motion sickness caused by the movement of the plane had been unexpected and unpleasant. I had taken some painkillers and laid down, only to fall right asleep.

Before I knew it, we were landing. At least I felt less like a corpse now that I had rested a little bit.

I gently start to wash my hair as I pondered the situation that I have been presented with.

I found Kate, but I wasn’t able to convince her to come home with me. I see now that it should have occurred to me that she might not be missing me the way that I have missed her.

When I learned about Marco and Grazia’s wedding, I immediately made a plan to get access to Kate, but I hadn’t thought any further than being able to see her.

The fear and pain in her eyes when she saw me had felt like a knife to my heart. However, I hadn’t missed the way she had looked at me when our eyes first met.

She still wanted me on a primal level, of that much, I was sure. Whether that would be enough to convince her to come with me of her own volition, I wasn’t sure.

I have a son. The thought caused a fierce rush of pride to flood through me, followed closely by a pang of worry.

If I had known about Mateo, I would never have left him unprotected in Mexico. The firstborn son of any family in our business is immensely valuable, and not just because they are the heir to the family fortune.

No, the symbolism of a firstborn son still holds a lot of sway in mob circles.

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