Page 56 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

Behind the kind eyes, though, I saw the monster. He may have been kind toward me, but he’d killed people with his bare hands. He’d been the third in command to my father, and everyone here knew what that entailed.

“I appreciate your support today,” I announced.

“He shouldn’t be supporting you. It’s his right to take over,” one of the most outwardly resentful men said. “We don’t accept women as our superiors, and you know it. It’s why your father never gave you a title.”

“Yet he still intended to use me to unite our people with the Russians, did he not?”

“Through marriage,” he retorted. “Only through marriage will our people accept you. It’s the traditions we’ve always followed, and nothing is changing now.”

Jay exhaled a long breath and turned to the men behind him. The men my father had trusted. “I back her. I trusted her father, and our practices have always put blood first. She is his last full-blooded heir.”

“Then she should marry and give us a new Don,” the second outwardly resentful man said with a scoff. “The proper place for a woman is in the fucking bedroom, and we all know it.”

I withheld a gasp at the outright challenge.

“I’m Alessio’s last heir—”

“Last daughter. That isn’t the same thing, and our people know it,” he interrupted again.

Part of me wondered how my father had dealt with men like this under his command, but the other part of me understood. They were just like he had been. Hell, Dad had planned on marrying me off to a Russian. It was the only way he’d ever considered using me. My brother was his underboss. Silas was the one who was meant to lead, not me.

Never his daughter.

Matteo stepped forward. “I’ve heard enough,” Matteo said coldly. “I’m backing Lilianna Genovese as the new Don of Alessio’s territory. If you disagree, you’ll be directly challenging me.”

One of the men scoffed. “Are you going to marry her and act as Don in her stead? Because we won’t follow her. Not when fucking her is—”

Matteo drew his gun quickly enough that nobody flinched until he fired. The man who made the comment fell back, bleeding from a wound between his eyes. Matteo glanced at the man beside him. “What do you have to say?”

The other man clenched his jaw for a moment before speaking. “I nominate Jay as Don. I’ll follow him.”

“Karr, I’m not going to be Don of this territory. Lilianna has my backing, and you’d be wise to give her yours, too,” Jay spoke, shaking his head and looking around the room. “Frankly, all of you would be wise to choose her. She has the backing of Matteo Costello, and without her, he’s more likely to become an enemy than an ally.”

Matteo made a sound of confirmation that had the Geneveses looking amongst themselves.

“Then let her marry him. It’s the way things have always been, and now is not the time for a change like this. We have enough conflict. Don’t let this be a part of it.”

He chose his words carefully, not insulting either Matteo or me. This man didn’t want one of Matteo’s bullets between his eyes. But he wasn’t concerned about me. I could see in the way his eyes danced around me that I wasn’t a threat to him. He thought Matteo was the only one to fear here.

He was wrong.

“I will be uniting nobody through marriage. I was born into this, and only through death will I leave.” The official words felt like a declaration coming from my lips. They were official words, and I knew that with them, I’d sealed my fate. I was announcing myself as a part of this mafia, and I would seal my fate today one way or another. “I am going to be Don, and I don’t accept challenges.”

“You can’t refuse a challenge,” Karr retorted.

“Then challenge me.” The declaration silenced the room.

“You won’t have Costello protecting you if I declare an official challenge.”

There was only one way I would earn the respect of these people, and I knew it. I had to prove myself. They wouldn’t follow me blindly. To these men, I was nothing more than a woman who should be married off to the best alliance.

I had to prove otherwise.

“Fine,” I replied, stepping forward. I took mental note of the weapons on my body. The two knives and the gun. “I challenge you, Karr. Beat me, and take my blood right.”

“Lili,” Matteo growled behind me.

He hadn’t been expecting this. Hell, I hadn’t fully expected it either. But I had equipped myself, knowing that there would likely be some kind of conflict. I had mentally prepared for this, and I knew it had to be done. If I didn’t do something to prove myself, I wouldn’t be respected.

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