Page 67 of Mafia King's Surprise Baby

“I loved her, you know.”

I’d never told this to anyone except my father. I said it once, and then we never spoke about it. Letting it out today, to someone who matters so much to me and who also loved her, it calms something in me, a storm abating somewhat.

“That’s why you went ape-shit crazy when she disappeared.”

I nod. “I wanted to tell the world I loved her, that I was hers whether she’d take me or not. I’d hoped she would, but…”

“But you never got to find out,” he finishes for me.

And I never will. I gulp against the pang eating up the entirety of my chest right now.

“I should’ve listened to you,” he adds.

I blink at him. “What?”

“I shouldn’t have given up. You never did.”

“Except I did. My drive, my despair, it was eating you all up. I’m sorry I caused you so much pain.”

“Is that the whiskey still talking?”

I smile a little. “I’ve had half a pizza already. You know me.”

It’s like I didn’t even ingest one drop of that Scotch at this point. I’m stone-cold sober, fully rational and thinking clearly.

Mattia nods. “There’s something you need to know.”

Everything inside me tenses up. I don’t like the tone he’s just used. It sounds ominous, like he’s about to reveal a deep, dark secret, and I’ll be the one taking the hit. My gut instinct is back in full force, and I heed it.

“What?” I ask.

“Let me show you,” he says, and exits the kitchen.

Chapter 19

Bianca

These walls aren’t paper-thin, but sounds carry, especially in the dead quiet of the night in this secluded neighborhood. The guest room I’m occupying sits right on top of the front door, and the loud knocking shook me out of the light dozing that’d taken over me as I sat in bed thinking about the evening, how my family took my return.

Hana has terrible jet lag and took a sleeping pill. Enzo sleeps like the dead, only waking if there are loud voices nearby. Mattia and I, we heard the loud pounding. He came to my room, told me it’s Leo outside—he must’ve seen the footage on the doorcam app on his phone.

When the knocks grew louder, I panicked. Does Leo know I’m back, and this is why he’s intent on breaking Mattia’s door? My brother told me to stay put—it sounds to him like Leo’s just super-drunk. He’ll deal with him, and how do I feel about meeting him tonight itself?

My gulp then my subsequent nod gave him my answer. The more I dally with this matter, the worse it’s going to be. Leo’s here, so we might as well get on with it and reveal my presence. I’m not sure about Enzo yet, if Leo will be in the right mind to be introduced to a ghost first and then a son he never knew he had, so I’m playing it by ear right now.

The voices grew really loud and vociferous outside for a moment. I checked my boy, and he didn’t stir. The trip must’ve exhausted him. Then the sounds died down, picking up again inside the house this time. My door opens right onto the landing of the stairs leading down and just around the open kitchen, so the sound is making it up through my ajar door. I can pick up every other word so the conversation doesn’t really make sense, but I can feel a vibe of peace below, of things settling down.

When silence settles again, I stand up, and meet with Mattia on the threshold of my door.

He nods at the first floor. “He’s below. I haven’t told him you’re here, though he knows to expect something big.”

I glance at Enzo on the big bed. I don’t want to leave him alone; what if he wakes up in a room he doesn’t know, without me there?

Mattia’s hand lands on my shoulder. “I’ll stay with him. You need to do this.”

I bite my lip and nod, though the courage is draining out of me suddenly. I’ve forbidden myself to think of this moment all this time I was away, of how it would feel when—if—I ever saw Leo Pellegrini again. And now, the time has come.

“How…how is he?” I murmur.

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