Page 72 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

They both nodded, defeated by my ministrations. I didn’t think I’d ever broken someone so efficiently, and I’d tortured my fair share of people. This was the first time they’d ever begged for death.

“Tell me what Vlad has planned. Rumors. Facts. Tell me anything, and I’ll end this. What’s his endgame?”

Neither spoke. They had likely only ever met the big boss once, when they swore themselves into the mafia. But I knew how quickly rumors spread. It wasn’t hard to glean at least an ounce of information.

“There’s a rumor,” one man said. “He’s sick of the turf wars and battles that have been waged by you and your men, and he plans on coming to the source. I don’t know if it was just other soldiers talking shit or if it came from Vlad himself.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s nothing else,” he moaned, a tear falling from his eyes and mingling with the blood there. “It’s just a rumor, and I don’t know any more information. They know where you live with your family. They know everything, and rumor has it, they’re going to take you out when you least expect it. At home.”

At home. I considered the ample guards and cutting-edge security system that protected my home. It would be next to impossible to infiltrate. They would be much better off striking elsewhere.

But all rumors were based on some level of truth.

If Vlad planned to come into my home, I’d make sure it wasn’t easy for him.

The crying man shook his head. “They’re all rumors. I haven’t heard anything else. I swear.”

I holstered my gun and turned toward the door, meeting Anthony’s eyes. His face had gone pale, but he still stood guard.

“Take care of it,” I demanded before striding past him and leaving him alone with the three survivors.

I was nearly down the hall when three shots rang out, muffled by the brick walls and thick cement of the basement. The heavy metal door swung shut behind me as I stepped into the awaiting car and pulled a handkerchief from my pocket. I wiped the blood from my knuckles with a deep exhale. I pulled my phone up to my ear and called the lead guard on assignment at the penthouse, and he answered on the first ring.

“Boss?”

“Everyone is on shift, correct?” I asked.

“Everyone, sir. We all finished our rounds five minutes ago, and everything is looking good.”

I nodded to myself. “I want everyone doubled up until I say otherwise. Bring in more people and make sure everyone’s armed.”

I ended the call and leaned back as the driver took a vicious left turn. Honks arose from outside, but we continued forward. On the street stood a young boy, maybe five or six years old, holding a man’s hand as he crossed the street.

My mind circled back to the same place it had been for days. No matter how I distracted myself, nothing could fully take my attention off the issue at hand. From what Lilianna had done.

I’d trusted her. I would have done anything for that woman, and she had still kept a secret like this from me. Lilianna was more than a good fuck. She was everything to me, and I could have seen myself staying by her side indefinitely. We could have had a partnership that would have conquered empires. We’d finally be a united Italian mafia in New York, and we’d have the world at our fingertips. We would have one another, and nothing could have changed that.

I would have loved the boy as my own and raised him to be a leader.

Knowing that he was mine changed nothing about those plans, yet somehow… everything felt like it was collapsing around me.

I’d always wanted a child. I’d wanted an heir. Not right now, and maybe not soon, but it had been something I’d always planned to have one day.

I huffed as the driver pulled into the garage of my penthouse.

I was out of time to think. She’d done what was best for her and Callum, and I saw that. Lilianna had made the best decision for them, but she hadn’t bothered considering me. I would have never done her such a disservice.

But I’d also never been a father, and I didn’t have that perspective yet.

I guessed I was now, though.

I moved through the lobby, examining each of the guards on all sides of the room as I made my way to the elevator and hit the button for the top level, inserting my individualized PIN for security.

It was dark and silent when I walked inside. Lilianna and Callum must have gone to bed early for the night.

A bit of relief filled me as I realized I had some extra time to consider what to say. I needed to talk to her before I went to bed. She’d been pushing me to talk to her for days, and I’d ignored her. I’d pushed her away and refused to talk. I hadn’t been ready to have a conversation. If we had spoken about it immediately, I knew my carefully leashed temper would have gotten the better of me.

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