Page 77 of Mafia King's Surprise Baby

“When you’ve all woken up?” he continues.

When Enzo’s awake… Leo needs to meet his son. We also need to see each other under the clear light of day, talk things through, make a plan for the future. This better be done with other people around us, and I can count on Mattia and Hana being here at breakfast, or brunch the way things stand, with the jet lag and the time difference we need to adjust to.

However, all I can do is nod, my vocal chords still under the thrall of the raging fire Leo lit up in me just now.

It seems to be all the answer he was looking for, though. He bids me goodnight then leaves, closing the front door softly behind him.

I take a minute to gather my breath, then start up the stairs. Mattia brushes past me on the threshold of my room, and I think I can detect a small smile on his lips. Heat burns my cheeks—did my brother just see me and Leo making out like cats in heat in his foyer?

My breathing is still erratic, and I know there’s no way I can calm down without attending to the arousal surging through me. After a quick glance to make sure Enzo is sleeping soundly, I duck into the ensuite bathroom and sit on the edge of the tub. My fingers find their way between my legs, and as suspected, my panties are drenched, my pussy soaking wet. After being in Leo’s embrace, this is not how my body wants its completion to happen, but it will have to accept my ministrations tonight because I won’t function without release right now.

So I stroke and caress, imaging Leo’s hand on me, his long, thick fingers doing the taking, dipping in and slowly fucking me, his thumb pressing against my clit long and hard then swift and light as I bring myself to a shattering orgasm.

I get into bed, my eyes tracking the yellow-orange-pink stars the nightlight is casting on the ceiling. A sigh leaves my body, my weight sinking into the mattress as I let go of the tension that’d been holding my muscles hostage all through the evening. I’m here in New York now, with my family, and Leo knows I’m alive. He knows he has a son, and he and I, we seem to be on the same page where our feelings are concerned, at least bodily-speaking. Can there be more? I don’t know, but that’s not for me to tell. Not just yet. For now, I’ll let time do its job.

Sleep finds me, though it’s erratic and fitful. When I wake up, the sun is already high in the sky, as evidenced by the amount of light making it into the room from the gap I left in the curtains last night when I checked the window after someone started knocking loudly.

Enzo’s still asleep. It’s not unusual for him to be out for twelve or more hours. It worried me at first—did this need for extra sleep mean he was lacking something developmentally? But it turns out I just have a kid whose internal dynamo powers at full throttle and he thus needs to rest a lot to recharge it back to full.

I clean the ravages of sleep from me and get changed, then start out of the room, the baby monitor in my hand. I’ve opened the curtains a bit, so Enzo won’t panic when he awakens. It’s nighttime that’s full of monsters for my little one, though with all thekaijumyths Hiro has told him, he’s not afraid of the creatures themselves. Just the dark.

I’m halfway down the stairs when I hear male voices drifting from below. My step falters for a second. Leo’s already here. Silently, I make it down, peeking into the kitchen. Indeed, he’s here, sitting on a stool with Mattia standing across him at the island.

“We need to announce this,” Mattia’s saying.

I pause to listen, though I don’t make myself conspicuous. I don’t want them to think I’m eavesdropping. Engrossed as they are in their conversation, they haven’t noticed me yet.

“The syndicate won’t be happy,” Leo says with a sigh. “I’m thinking how to broach the subject.”

“But you’re coming up blank,” my brother replies. “Same here.”

Leo straightens then, and he turns my way, as if some sixth sense of his figured out I’m in his periphery.

“Bianca,” he says.

I give him a small smile. “Good morning.”

He smiles, and it softens his harsh face. I realize now I met a boy all these years ago at my brother’s wedding. Now, Leo is a man. Fully so. A Don.

“Slept well?” he asks.

I shake my head softly. I don’t want to make small talk. Not after what I just heard them discussing. I’m the reason Leo killed Ardian Abrashi, because he thought I was dead. Hana and I made it look like my fiancé had gotten rid of me, down to the last detail. I was carrying a pouch of my own blood the night I ran away, using it to make it appear like a left-handed personhad cut me with a knife near the entrance of the alley and then letting the blade drip-drip-drip droplets until an intersection of dark alleys farther in the darkness. I stopped the trail by stashing the plastic pocket and the weapon in my handbag that I later abandoned in the car that took me to the airport.

Thinking of the spot Leo now finds himself in because of me, between a rock and a hard place, I recall one of the reasons why I came back.

“I have something that might help you with the other Dons,” I tell him.

His eyebrows meet as he frowns, and I know he’s weighing his words before he speaks. It’s something he used to do, even more so now in his position of power. It’s only with me that the barrier between his brain and his mouth seems to short-circuit usually. With me, he’s impulsive and spontaneous.

He’s about to speak—I saw the inhale, the soft nod as his lips pursed—when a sound catches all our attention.

“Maman?” a small voice asks. Then comes the sound of little feet rushing down the carpeted stairs toward where I stand at the bottom. “Maman!”

I laugh as he throws himself at me, his arms wrapping somewhere around my hips as he’s still on the last step. I catch him and pull him into my arms. “Bonjour, mon cœur.”

His head lands on my shoulder, and he’s now looking toward the kitchen.

Silence has fallen in the other room, the two men still, Leo looking almost frozen.

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