Page 41 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

I watched as a young girl ran by them and flung herself into the arms of a caretaker a few feet away. Matteo still adjusted the scope of his gun, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from the innocent people all around. The ones who would be permanently scarred by watching a stranger die.

Nobody here deserved to see this. Especially not a little girl who wasn’t much older than Callum. How hard had I worked to keep Callum away from the carnage of the mafia life? Why would I let someone else’s child endure this?

Nobody should be taking part in this war. It was ridiculous to kill one another so openly like this. I didn’t want to be a part of this, but it felt unavoidable. How could I let someone like Vlad and Aelita get away with killing my family?

I couldn’t help but be torn. I didn’t want blood on my hands, but it was necessary.

My mind raced over all the reasons we shouldn’t do this. My family’s bodies. The innocents standing around cluelessly.

But there was another reason.

It had been my fault that Jeremy had been killed. Aelita’s brother and Vlad’s son had been killed because of my choices. I might not have pulled the trigger, but I could have stopped this. If I went through with this right now—if I didn’t give them a chance to talk—they would never get closure. It wasn’t fair. Every part of this life was unfair, but I knew Aelita’s pain. I knew how it felt to lose a brother.

I’d never forgive her for pulling the trigger on my brother, and I wanted to see her suffer. I wanted that so damn badly, but I couldn’t do it here. Not like this. Not when she wouldn’t even know it was us behind the gun.

“Stop,” I told Matteo.

He pulled his head back slightly and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “If I don’t do it now, they’re going to make it inside.”

“Just wait,” I demanded again.

“We might not get another clear shot,” he argued.

“I know.”

Matteo surprised me by straightening and unloading the rifle. He turned to face me fully. “We’re here to end this, Lili. If you’re getting cold feet—”

“It’s not cold feet,” I assured him as they walked into the shop together, the door closing behind them. “There are children. We can’t do it in front of them. Not in front of all these innocent people.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not going to let them leave here, Lilianna. Not when your safety is on the line. Not for the sake of a few people.”

“I don’t have my family’s bodies yet, and they’ll know where I can find them.”

“I don’t care!” Matteo’s voice boomed out as he ground his teeth. “I don’t care that people will see. I don’t care about their bodies. They are gone, and we won’t get them back. But we can avenge them, and this is how we do that.”

“Matteo—”

“You’re only here to get revenge. You’ve told me that time and time again. You’re going to leave after you get the revenge you’re owed. You’ve been abundantly clear about that. I’m going to get that revenge today.”

“I need to talk to them first,” I finally shouted back.

Matteo’s mouth fell open. “Why the fuck would you need to talk to them?”

I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart. “They’re only coming after me because I indirectly caused Jeremy’s death. I’m the reason they lost their loved one, and I owe them an explanation for that.”

“They killed your family.”

“And I want them to pay for that, but not before they understand. This isn’t as black and white as it seems. I caused them pain, too. I’m not blind to that.”

“Your soft heart is going to get you killed,” Matteo growled, shaking his head in disappointment. “You care too much about the innocent people here. You care about the people who killed your family. I thought you wanted them dead?”

“I do!”

“Then show me that. Let me kill them.”

I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. “We have them in our sights, and we can follow them. It doesn’t feel right to kill them like this when they’re not expecting it.”

“That’s how they killed your brother and father.”

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