Page 3 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

I chuckled lightly and turned to him. “No, baby. Uncle Silas is getting married.”

“Done,” he repeated a bit more loudly, and I gritted my teeth, praying he’d stay calm long enough for the wedding to happen. I didn’t want to miss this. Not when I’d missed the last three years.

I glanced back to where Vlad and Aelita stood at the bottom of the stairwell. Silas took one step forward on the platform, reaching out his hand for her. His toe hovered over the top step, almost as if he couldn’t wait another moment for his new bride to reach him. It seemed to take everything in his power to keep from striding down the dais steps toward her.

A loud bang exploded through the room, and Silas took a step back, hand on his chest. The look in his eyes had my heart skipping a beat. Something was very wrong. The sudden motion around the room had my attention beelining to the aisles around me. A handful of Aelita’s friends and family stood abruptly, including the man beside us.

I shot my attention back to my family, unable to fully comprehend what I was seeing.

Dad stood, reaching for his hip, and another boom exploded through the church.

Dad’s head slammed backward, and his body crumbled to the floor.

“What…” I whispered as Callum began screaming.

My body felt frozen to the spot as I watched what was happening on the other side of the room. My father couldn’t possibly be dead. He was the Don of one of the strongest alliances in the world. It felt like an out-of-body experience as his body rested motionless on the floor. Everything around me moved in slow motion as I realized that the man who had raised me was gone.

On instinct, I pulled Callum into my arms and turned him away from what was unfolding before us. I pressed his face into my chest as I watched Silas drop to a knee with a cough.

Blood spewed from his lips.

He was on his knees, staring at the woman before him. His tux darkened beneath his hand, and red blood began dripping through his fingers.

Betrayal.

That was the expression in his eyes.

“Silas!” I shouted, standing and reaching for him as if I could do something from the other side of the room.

Chaos erupted, gunfire exploding and men brawling. But none of it could draw my attention from my brother as he stared at Aelita Petrov from the top step of the altar. From the bottom step, she stood just below eye level as he mouthed something to her.

Her bouquet fell to the floor and revealed a concealed pistol.

“No!” I screamed.

My voice was lost in the commotion as she pulled the trigger, and Silas fell to the floor. No. No. This couldn’t be happening. I was here to witness a happy moment, not a mass execution. Silas looked so happy. He hadn’t expected this.

I hadn’t expected this.

But now he lay, eyes closed and chest eerily still. My brother. My best friend.

The sound that came from my throat sounded animalistic even to my ears.

I glanced back toward where my father had fallen in the front row, his sightless eyes raised to the ceiling.

This couldn’t be happening. Not to my brother. Not to my best friend and the boy who had been an integral part of all my best memories. Not now. I’d brought Callum here, believing it would be safe. Now, we were both in danger. I swore I’d never put him in this position, but here we were.

I had to get him out.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, and my hands shook vigorously as I tightened my grip on Callum. He couldn’t see this. He couldn’t watch everyone around him die.

We have to go, I said to myself, rushing toward the exit with my head down. Shots and screams surrounded us, and Callum cried harder as I stumbled over a fallen body. I didn’t allow myself to look at the woman’s face. I kept myself upright as I reached the door and pushed. It didn’t budge, so I pushed again.

The doors were locked from the outside.

No, this couldn’t be happening!

I’d escaped this life. I’d gotten away, and I was only supposed to be back for a day—not long enough to be dragged back into the danger I’d grown up around.

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