Page 81 of Mafia King's Surprise Baby

My jaw clenches. Does he know who he’s speaking to? Mattia has sworn hisOmertàto me, his vow of silence, his pledge of allegiance.

But right now, it’s not my soldier speaking to me. It’s not even my best friend. He’s my brother-in-law, the one whose sister I have designs on. And this makes me accept what his words are all about. I would’ve done the same had I had a younger sister. Bianca leaving and keeping our child a secret, I can’t say it didn’t hurt. It ripped me apart four years ago, and I was still in pieces when she reappeared last night, Enzo in tow, another dimension of my being battling for its place in the dismantled chaos I’d become.

It's the future that matters now. Enzo, Bianca, us three, and then my place as a Don at the syndicate’s table. Come what may, I will make it work. Nothing else matters but us three now.

Chapter 23

Bianca

Leo left to go back home. There are many matters to attend to, as he’s a Don now. The wholeBorgata’s operations rests on his shoulders.

He’s told me he wants hisnonnain on the secret of my reappearance and Enzo’s existence first. This thought makes me squeamish. It’s not like I didn’t think my coming back would become public, that people would know. But Leo’s grandmother is a fearsome woman. Don Eduardo had been a strong and powerful man, but he’d never been intimidating. His mother, on the other hand? She’s the unofficial queen of the Mafia circuit in New York; all the women in the families respect and bow to her.

To have such a person in my corner will be a huge advantage, but will I actually have her in my corner? I slept with Leo when I was engaged to another man. I had a child with him out of wedlock, and worse, I kept this child a secret for so long. I’m not naïve—she won’t take a look at Enzo and her heart will melt, all grievances forgiven and even erased, like it happened with my father.

It's quiet inside the house. Enzo tired himself out in the pool after breakfast, Leo going in with him. I’d had to avert my gaze more than once at the sight of him in nothing but tight briefs, the water clinging to the dark hairs on his well-built chest and strong legs, his arms bulging with honed muscle. I rememberLeo being hard and fit—oh, how I remember this, the memory of our time together a film I sometimes allowed to play in my head when alone in my bed at night. But this man? He is fine, and I found myself salivating more than once as he splashed in the pool with our son.

Enzo had the time of his life in the water. Leo isn’t reckless, but he is way more carefree than I am around our boy. I’m what is called a mother hen—Hiro loved to tease me about it, and Leo has thrown the description out a time or two already. I laughed softly, because he’s right. Watching him with his son, though, I could see how much of a balance he’ll bring to the kid’s life. Relenting where I’m too careful, indulgent where I’m strict, yet also forceful in just the right degree when it matters.

Together, they laughed, and that’s the memory I will keep of this morning, the sound of their joyful glee as they bonded for the first time. No, the first time was when Enzo climbed into Leo’s lap when he saw his father putting peanut butter on his blueberry pancakes. The look of wonder on Leo’s face as Enzo parked his little butt in his lap—priceless. My heart squeezed almost to the point of breaking when he bent his head to kiss his son’s hair.

All this is running in my head, yet I know there are more things I need to address. Starting with where I’m going to stay now that I’m back.

I glance up when Mattia and Hana return home after their brunch. It seems there’s a bit of tension between them. I frown. This is all because of me, because Hana kept my secret. Still, a surge of hope flares in my chest when she turns to him with an almost pleading look on her face, and he doesn’t turn away from her, like he did last night. He’s not smiling, but the nod he givesher, it’s a start.

“Leo’s gone?” my brother asks as he comes sit across from me.

“Business to attend to,” I reply.

“Koji?” Hana asks as she settles next to me.

“Napping.” I turn to Mattia. “Father wants me to come stay at his place.”

His eyebrows meet in a frown. “You don’t want to.”

The way he says this makes me stare at him for a long moment. The man I knew from before I left would’ve point blank told me our father is right, that I should bow to his wishes. This Mattia, though, he asks me for my opinion, even though it wasn’t couched as a question.

The quiet force in his tone told me, more than anything else I’d witnessed so far, how much my brother has come into his own. As has Leo. They’re no longer young men flitting about life with the goal of handling their families’ affairs much farther down the line. Their time is now, and they seized it.

I can trust them. This isn’t the era of my father who spoke and his word was law.

“No,” I confirm.

Mattia’s eyes narrow on me, as if he’s weighing his words.

“You can stay here,” he finally says.

Hana grips my hand. “As long as you need.”

Mattia confirms with a nod.

A sigh of relief rushes out of me. I like it here, and Enzo’s already taken to this place like a duck to water. I don’t want to bring even more change into his life right away. I also don’t know what living arrangements Leo will want us to have—I don’t allow myself to think this far ahead. We need to take it step by step, me and him.

“Leo and I have arranged for security around this house. You’ll be safe here,” he says.

“I haven’t seen anyone around.”

He smiles. “Precisely. Our guys are good.”

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