Page 88 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

“Mommy, Daddy!” Callum shouted, rushing toward us with open arms.

Relief like I’d never felt before slammed into me as Callum’s little arms wrapped around my neck.

“Uppy!” he screamed as he clung to me. I lifted him and squeezed, meeting Matteo’s eyes. The warmth turned the onyx color of them a slightly lighter shade of brown, and my shoulders softened. Matteo moved forward and rested a hand on Callum’s back as our boy bounced up and down in my arms.

“Okay, Mommy?” he asked, placing a hand over the darkened bruise on my cheek.

“I’m okay, baby.”

Callum turned quickly to look at Matteo before launching himself toward him.

Matteo caught him with open arms. “Okay, Daddy?”

Callum stared at Matteo for a long moment before I spoke. “He’s asking if you’re okay,” I translated with a wide grin.

Matteo immediately met our son’s eyes. “I am now, buddy.”

He spoke to Callum like he was grown—like Matteo would respect whatever came out of Callum’s mouth next. The feeling of utter happiness I achieved from watching them was unlike anything I’d ever felt in the past. Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them away and forced myself to take a deep breath as they hugged.

We’d stayed away for an evening, ensuring both that we weren’t followed, and that the person next in line to take over wouldn’t immediately put a hit on us. The moment the Petrovs were dead, we’d called an immediate ceasefire.

With Anthony and Marcus monitoring the conflict, we’d all waited in one of Matteo’s luxury hotels for the news. A doctor in Matteo’s employ had come to patch our wounds—mine first per Matteo’s request.

I supposed it wasn’t a request at all. Not when he threatened to kill the doctor and find a new one if I wasn’t the first person to be tended to. I’d been checked out and given an icepack for my bruises, but beyond that, there was little to do. Matteo’s arm, on the other hand, had a through-and-through bullet wound that required both stitches and bandaging.

And the moment the doctor left—the moment we thought we’d have a free second to talk—news came quickly.

Three of Matteo’s men were traitors.

Six of my men had sworn themselves to both me and the Petrovs.

But when the Petrov’s men learned of what happened to their leaders at our hands, they’d seemed to entirely disband as everyone rushed to find new leadership. The most likely candidate, as Marcus informed us, was Victor Petrov, a distant cousin who had previously worked as a soldier. That was the best-case scenario, as our family had never had a personal vendetta against him the way we had with Vlad.

We weren’t sure about the trajectory of that situation, but even the worst-case scenarios were better than Vlad’s rule.

A new Don would need support, and waging an immediate war wouldn’t get it.

I glanced at where Sophie stood across the room, smiling at Matteo and Callum, and I walked over to her. “Hi,” she greeted me with a genuine smile.

“Thank you,” I told her, stepping in and gathering the woman in my arms.

She seemed hesitant at first, but after a moment, she loosened up and returned the gesture.

“Thank you for caring for him when I couldn’t.”

“He’s family.” I pulled back and examined her expression. “Matteo informed me when he brought us here. He told me that if anything happened to his heir…well, I’m sure you can imagine what he told me.”

I didn’t want to imagine the threats he’d given to his cousin while he was stressed. With me missing and Callum in danger, Matteo’s emotional state would have been unpredictable at best.

“I need you to keep him for a couple more hours as we do one more thing,” I told her, glancing at where Callum and Matteo sat together. Matteo had dropped to the floor in front of him, entirely fixated on Callum as our son showed off some sort of small collection of cars. I heard him emphasize the word “fire truck” as Matteo nodded and listened intently.

I never realized how much Callum was missing without Matteo in the picture, but now that I saw them together, I knew I’d never let them lose this relationship.

“I’m always happy to keep him.”

I smiled and strode forward.

We had one more thing to take care of, and then Matteo could spend all the time in the world with Callum.

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