Page 49 of Deadly Don's Baby Contract

He has good intentions, but I know how this works.

“Please, Franco.” He is seeing red, and if I could just get him to calm down, he would know that he can’t save me from my own mistakes.

“Aria,” his voice softens, “I love you and my child. I will talk to Marco.” He’s gone in the same cloud of anger he arrived in. I know what I have to do—I need to fix this.

“Luca,” I call, “are you still here?” He comes into the room from the kitchen.

“That was less volatile than expected.”

I don’t have time for this shit. “I need you to help me take care of something.”

“Someone, you mean.”

“Luca, you can help me, or you can explain to Franco how I died later on when he gets back.”

“I’ll help,” he says, not fully understanding what I am about to do or how horribly wrong it could go.

Chapter 19

Franco

My brother is still stewing over the loss at the horses and then Vito’s attack—now is probably not a good time to go to him with this. But if I wait, he will find out, and it will be a thousand times worse for all of us.

I know where to find him. When he’s this upset, he day-drinks. He will be at Donatello’s having a drink or ten. At least if I catch him, it is public enough that he will have to contain his outburst. Remaining civil is not something he’d do if we had this conversation behind closed doors.

I park in the back of the building. They might as well put our family names on the spots—no one else parks in them. Before us, my father always parked where I do now. I push open the back door with my elbow, looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t followed. Marco’s men hover around in corners and watch the patrons for signs of trouble.

The bar stinks of stale smoke and old beer. Marco is sitting in his usual spot at the end of the bar, where he can see all the exits.

“I found Vito’s cousin.” I sit down next to him. “You were right about the connection.” I loathe staying he is right about anything. There’s a grin on his face. He loves having one over me. This time, I especially wish he had been wrong.

“Something wasn’t right,” he says.

It’s true. There has been chaos since Aria arrived in our lives.

He continues, “No such thing as coincidence.” Clicking his fingers at the barman to get me a drink, Marco asks, “What did his cousin say?”

This is where shit hits the fan. The pause right before I blow up my own life. Maybe I should wait for my drink first.

“Vito has a contract out on us.” I start with the part where Vito is the problem. He was the one who wanted her to kill us.

“So why is he trying to kill us himself?” Marco looks confused. “You don’t have a dog and bark yourself.”

“His dog wasn’t loyal,” I say, glad to have a cognac put down in front of me. “She bit the hand that fed her, and instead of killing me, she married me.” I watch his expression change as what I have said slowly sinks in. “Aria’s job was to kill us both. She was working for Vito.” It still hurts when I say it, even if she didn’t follow through.

“Get rid of her,” he says. “If she didn’t have your bastard fucking child in her belly, I’d do this myself. Get her out of my city, Franco, so help me God or I will kill her. I should have killed her when she married you.” Exile. She told me this would be his answer, and I promised her I wouldn’t let that happen.

“If she goes, I go.” I’m determined not to let her down.

“Oh, no.” Marco glares at me. “This isn’t how it works, Franco. You can’t save her by saying you’ll leave. You will stay here and will rip her from your life if I have to. But Aria is no longer welcome here.”

Family first, Mafia first—always Cosa above all else. He knows I cannot disobey him and go, so I need to force his hand to allow her to stay. “She knew what she was doing and what would happen once we found out.”

“Marco.”

I am so tired of him and his superiority complex. “She is my wife. She broke the contract and stayed loyal to us.” She chose our side.

“I don’t care,” he says, downing his drink. “If she stays, I look like a fool welcoming a killer into my house. Franco, this is not a fight you can win.”

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