Page 54 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

I meant it. I stared at the stone for a long moment before giving it one more pat.

This time, it felt warmer beneath my touch. Maybe it was from the pain of the cut, or maybe the sun had warmed it in the short time I stood there. But I couldn’t help but feel like it was Silas approving of my words.

I turned and met Matteo’s eyes as I put my bleeding hand in my pocket and stepped away. My eagerness to return to him had me moving quicker than I typically would. After a few steps, I finally glanced upward and took in his expression. His eyes were lighter than usual as he looked at me and extended a hand for me, palm up. Matteo so rarely had an open expression. Darkness always lingered behind his gaze, but this moment was different. With only the two of us here, I saw behind the mask of the Don.

I saw the potential for our future.

I couldn’t believe I’d waited so long for him.

Something exploded, and my ears rang immediately as my body was thrust to the ground. Instinctively, I covered my head and balled my body up tightly. My head spun, even with my eyes closed. Whatever had happened had been big enough that the earth beneath me felt unsteady.

The silence of the cemetery morphed into chaos. Distant voices shouted things that I couldn't make out through the ringing in my ears. My attention turned to the crackling of flames that engulfed the nearest tree. The fire grew with each second, and I could only stare in shock.

“Fuck,” I heard through the ringing. “Lilianna!”

My full name on Matteo’s lips had me scanning his panicked face. He crouched beside me.

“Are you okay?” he bellowed.

Was I? I tried to assess my injuries. Every part of my body felt muddled. My vision remained unsteady, but I had a feeling my balance would be just as wobbly as my limbs.

Matteo didn’t wait for me to respond as he swept me into his arms as if I weighed nothing. He broke into a run as he carried me up the sharp incline of the hill and toward where the driver had parked the car.

I only had a chance to glance back once, and I gasped at what I saw.

The ground around my family’s graves had been decimated. The grass and dirt that had been neatly groomed lay in clumps of mud, and the headstones that I’d had engraved were shattered. Small chunks of rock lay everywhere with no hope of them ever being pieced back together. I could see where my body had been flung, as no debris rested on that small patch of grass. Other than that, though, the surrounding area had been obliterated.

I should have been obliterated, judging by the wreckage around where my body had been. I’d only taken a handful of steps away from the graves before they’d exploded, but I’d been walking quickly. More quickly than usual.

My quick pace was likely the reason I hadn’t been killed.

“Go!” Matteo shouted at the driver.

Before the door had fully closed, Matteo’s driver took off with a squeal of tires.

I stared at the decimated spot in the grass until it was out of sight.

“Where are you hurt?” Matteo asked, immediately checking every part of my body. He checked my legs and arms, and he finally focused on my face, running a thumb under my nose and bringing back a small bit of blood.

I didn’t reply, as he lifted my shirt and sucked in a sharp breath. My back felt the most raw, and he spent extra attention on it, running his fingers over a few spots that had me hissing through my teeth.

“It doesn’t look like there’s anything lodged in your skin,” he said. “but we’re going to the hospital.”

“No, we’re not,” I said.

Emotions finally began bubbling up around the fear and shock that had previously masked them. Anger. Resentment. Vengeance. All of it coursed through my blood.

“You hit your head on the ground, and any of these could get infected,” he said, concern lacing his tone.

The Don of the New York Italian mafia sounded concerned for my well-being.

But even that couldn’t break me from the cool rage I now allowed to consume me.

“Mafia members don’t go to the hospital. You know that.” His concern for me had blinded him, and a flash of frustration in his eyes told me that he realized what I said was true. “Plus, if we go to the hospital, they’ll find us. If they set this trap, that’s probably all in the plan.”

“Then I’ll have the family doctor come and check you out.”

I nodded, but it didn’t matter whether I was checked out or not. None of it mattered. All that mattered was what had just happened, and the person I knew was responsible. The Petrovs hadn’t only killed my family and kept their bodies. Now, they’d defiled their graves. They’d destroyed the only hope at a resting place Silas and my father had.

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