Page 5 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

I froze, turning toward it with every ounce of unrestrained fury I’d felt since the first shot was fired. I saw Lilianna dive atop a small child, using her body as a shield.

I didn’t think. I didn’t even hesitate before sprinting toward them, gun raised.

The man who stood over them looked almost cocky in his resolve as he pointed his gun toward Lilianna, but I was faster. I pulled the trigger without missing a beat, and he fell to the ground. He wasn’t dead from the shot, but he was no longer conscious.

I’d take care of him later.

I finally stopped when I stood over her, and she peeked over her shoulder, eyes flashing in surprise when she saw me there. I could see her tears—proof that she’d seen what had happened to both her father and brother. But right now, that didn’t matter.

“Get up,” I demanded, glancing around the room. Everyone was engaged in either a fight or otherwise distracted, but that could end any second.

Lilianna’s chest rose and fell quickly, but she didn’t hesitate. She stood and cradled the screaming child in her arms.

“Give him to me,” I demanded. I expected her to argue, but she didn’t. She handed him over, and I swung him onto my back. “Lili, I know you can fight your way out of here. Fucking fight.”

She nodded quickly and pulled her sleeves up to her elbows as she began following me toward the door both Vlad and Aelita had used to escape. I’d get her out first. I had to save her first. If not for her sake, for Silas’s.

He’d haunt my ass into an early grave if I didn’t protect his sister.

Someone came from the left, and another man came from the right simultaneously. I turned to the man with the gun and pulled the trigger. By the time I turned to the other man, I watched Lilianna easily disarm him with a swift blow. She lifted a leg in an immaculate kick that caught him in the midsection, and I pulled the trigger as he slumped forward.

That was the woman I remembered. Not a defenseless mafia princess. Lilianna had never been that. Her father and brother had trained her as well as my father had trained me, and wherever she’d been over the past three years, I knew she’d never let those skills go.

“Go,” I told her, shoving her out the open door and following behind her. The trembling boy clung to my neck tight enough that I coughed, but I didn’t ask him to let go. Not yet.

I scanned the open area for any proof of the Petrovs who had killed my best friend, but the only motion was a car in the distance, speeding away.

I glanced at my watch and used the speed dial to call Anthony, my second-hand man.

“You need us?”

He and a team of men were on call just in case, and I knew they’d be here in moments.

“The Genoveses are dead,” I told him. “Send a car to follow the silver SUV that’s turning off Belmont Road. I need everyone else here. Take as many men alive as you can.”

“Are you still there?” he asked, and I heard the telltale sign of tires skidding in the distance. He’d be here any moment.

I glanced at where Lili stood shaking. “I have something else to attend to. Bring any captives to the cellar.”

I ended the call before he could say anything more, and I pointed to the black sports car Silas and I had driven here. Not much room for a kid, but it would do for now. “Get in. I need to get you both out of here.”

She nodded and grabbed the boy around the waist, bringing him into her chest as we made our way to the car. She tucked him in the back.

I had to get her out of here.

Lilianna and the boy. Their safety was more important than immediate vengeance.

I peeled out of the driveway and onto the main road, heading back into the city where we could blend into the traffic and find a way to fix this.

I found my attention constantly drawn to her. The same light green eyes that had once keenly watched me were scanning the roadway for threats. Her silky dark hair hung just above her shoulders, unlike when we were growing up, and it had been long and billowing. The uncertain way she’d previously carried herself was gone, replaced with a confidence that suited her.

Everything about her felt foreign.

The youth that had clung to her previously was gone, replaced by the trappings of much a more mature woman.

I’d been attracted to her when we were both young and immature, but this new side of her had my heart racing in anticipation. The memory of our night together clung to my mind, and I couldn’t stop glancing her way.

If it were anybody else in that room, I wouldn’t have hesitated to chase the Don and his heir. There were three known Dons in the city, and the other two hadn’t dared to fuck with me since I took over for my late father. Not until today. Until one of them had been killed by the other.

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