Page 14 of Surprise Baby for the Mafia Boss

“No excuses, Pedro, just solutions,” I say quickly. “I admit, I’ve fucked up, but it was a family emergency that unfortunately required my full attention. You know how important family is.”

“Yes, and mi familia is important too, but I answer your phone calls even when you call me at estúpido hours of the day!”

I sigh, his frustration is not what I want to be dealing with now, but I push through.

“That’s why you’re the boss, Pedro!” Buttering these guys up is always the secret ingredient to deals with them. Their egos are so fragile it’s almost funny.

“Mmm…”

His lack of a reply is all I need to launch right into my plan for exactly how we’re going to make this deal work for the both of us. And why getting someone else to do it would be the biggest mistake of his life.

He’s only partly convinced when we hang up, but it’s enough to allow me to get some sleep—something I’ve been lacking sorely ever since Mexico. I don’t function well on very little sleep. I’ll continue working on him tomorrow, and the next day, and the next if I have to.

There’s just too much riding on this deal for me to allow any of the distractions here at home to come in between me and my work.

My thoughts rest on Emelia for a moment as I lay down on my bed, and they’re pleasant thoughts for sure. I chase them away, though, so that I can get some uninterrupted rest without a sex dream keeping my mind busy when it should be asleep.

Chapter Eight

Emelia

“ Buongiorno,” Grazia’s voice comes through the phone.

She sounds hesitant, and it’s probably because she’s unsure where we stand after she backed up her brothers when they chased me away from helping them. But after last night with Luca, I’m over the anger I felt towards all of them.

"Buongiorno,” I say back, as cheerily as I can.

“Could you come over in a bit?” she asks, and for a second, I worry that maybe Luca told her what happened. But that wouldn’t make sense, I realize, and the worry disappears.

“Sure, is everything okay?” I try to keep my tone as casual as I can, but my heart is racing slightly.

“Everything’s fine,” she replies. “We’re just going through Nonna’s wishes and there’s some of it that we need you for.”

“Oh! Okay, yeah. I’ll be over in about an hour. Ciao.” I get out of bed, because that’s a good start to getting ready.

“Great, see you soon. Ciao.” She hangs up the phone and I start the shower. I had just slipped off my dress last night and slept in my underwear. I was tired, but I also wasn’t ready to wash off all the remnants of Luca's smell just yet.

Once I’m dressed and ready, I head over to the Baldini house. Our houses are only five minutes away from each other, and there were many times as teenagers that Grazia and I would just run between her house and mine to spend time together.

I enter the mansion to a very different scene than the one I left the night before. Everything has been cleaned up. The casket is gone, the black lilies are nowhere to be seen either, and there’s an airy mood to the home, compared to the heaviness that has been hanging over us for the past week.

Grazia comes bounding down the stairs. “Morning!” she calls to me. “Follow me, please.” I follow her into Ginny’s room, where staff members are sifting through items and putting them into piles.

“Nonna wanted you to have something special, Em. She left specific instructions that you were to be given her pearls.”

Grazia is holding the string of pearls that Ginny had owned for most of her life. I feel tears welling up in my eyes at the thought of Ginny leaving me something so special.

“Oh wow, thank you.” I smile sadly as I take them.

These pearls had hung around Ginny’s neck every day, without fail, and I had always admired them. I’m a little surprised she left them to me and not her own granddaughter, but then again, Grazia was not really a pearls kind of girl.

“She left you a letter, as well. If you want to read it in private, I’m going to make some coffee and breakfast and you’re welcome to join me after.” Grazia hands me a piece of paper and leaves the room.

I look down at the words that Ginny wrote for me, and then up at the staff members all around the room. I decide to take the letter out into the garden, a fitting place to feel close to Ginny one last time.

The letter makes me cry, as I expected it would, but it also gives me quite good standing with this family, if I were to use it. It reads:

Dearest Emelia,

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