Page 23 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

They’d run. They hadn’t bothered to fight.

What the fuck was I missing? Vlad wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t risk his men for a fool’s mission. He’d been clear that if I didn’t give him Lilianna, he’d come after me next, but this attack didn’t matter.

It meant nothing, and he had to know it.

“How many died?” I asked.

“Just the two,” Anthony said, striding back across the room and gesturing to the two men. “Harlow Scuito and Bill Combs. Both were low-level soldiers. Both newer recruits.”

“Trustworthy?” I asked. “Were they connected to Vlad in any way?”

“No.”

I stared at the men at my feet and exhaled deeply. All he wanted was Lilianna, and I wouldn’t give her up—not as long as I lived. If he was drawing me out to kill me, why hadn’t he done it?

My phone chimed, and I glanced down at a text from Lilianna.

My heart sank as I read the four terse words and finally understood the reason for this attack.

He wasn’t drawing me out to kill me.

He drew me out to kill Lilianna.

I should have seen this coming.

I didn’t bother telling Anthony where I was going as I charged from the room and toward my car. It had barely started before I squealed down the road, imagining the state I might find her in. Lilianna could defend herself to a point. She had a gun, and she had someone to protect. She wouldn’t let them get to Callum, and I knew she’d fight hard to see her son was safe.

Lilianna had to be alive.

I swerved in and out of traffic, not bothering to adhere to a single traffic law along the way.

“Fuck!” I shouted, slamming my fist on my horn as a car didn’t bother getting into the other lane.

They intentionally slowed down.

I slammed into their bumper, and when they skidded to the side, I passed the car and pressed the gas.

He’d planned the attack to take place as far from my house as possible, and he’d done it so I wouldn’t have time to stop them.

He didn’t know me.

It took half the usual time for me to return home, and I stormed to the elevator, loading both firearms and preparing them for use. I tucked one back into my ankle holster and carried the other as the elevator doors swung open and revealed my front door wide open. One guard lay half inside and half outside in a pool of his own blood.

I pulled my gun upright as I found a second guard on the ground in front of the side door.

I stormed inside without hesitation.

The sound of a struggle caught my attention first, and I quickened my steps. Immediately inside the door stood a short man who shifted impatiently from foot to foot. He stared at the scene unfolding before him.

A rage unlike any I’d ever experienced filled me, and I didn’t hesitate before lifting the gun and firing. He glanced up just in time to meet my eyes before the bullet ripped through his chest. Fear flashed there before I lifted the gun, fired through his skull, and tucked it away in my holster.

I launched my body at the man who had Lilianna in a headlock, and he hardly had time to release her before I took him to the ground. His head slammed into the hardwood, and I found my way atop him, balling my fists and using my entire body to put force behind each punch.

The first one made contact, and he groaned.

I heard only my racing heart thumping in my ears as I threw punch after punch at the man. The image of Lilianna’s kicking feet gave me the strength to continue. There was barely a pause between my punches. I felt his hand rise to my face, but I kept swinging. Kept making contact with his bleeding face.

Nobody would touch her.

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