Page 82 of Mafia King's Surprise Baby

Something strikes me in the way he said ‘our’ guys, and I gasp. “You’ve swornOmertàto Leo!”

“Of course.” He shrugs.

What else did I expect? These two have been thick as thieves for all their lives.

They were always supposed to be the next generation of our world. Except, this wasn’t supposed to happen before they reached their forties, at least, when our respective fathers would’ve retired or bowed out of the game entirely. Don Eduardo being killed, it changed things. It gave Leo a seat at the table of a syndicate still boasting a majority of old men set in their ways. Their kind doesn’t like much less welcome new blood.

It dawns on me suddenly what a mess I’ve actually created by coming back. There’s no way we can keep my identity secret, no way I can use my cover name here. The ruse will be up at one point, and the longer we dally with revealing the truth, the worseit’ll be.

I wrap my arms around myself as a shiver wracks through me.

“What now?” I ask Mattia.

“We’ll have to inform the syndicate.”

I nod.

“How do you want to go public?” he asks.

I realize he’s giving me a lifeline. By having control over the narrative of my disappearance then my return, I’ll have some strings in my hand, at least.

However, I did this once, and look at the predicament we’re in now. Or if not, the clusterfuck we’ll be in soon once the other Dons come to know I’m still alive.

This reminds me I have a way to help Leo out, and ultimately, Mattia and my father, too. It’s one of the reasons I decided to come back. It’s a given they’ll keep me and more importantly, Enzo, safe, but I can also help them out.

“Can you take me in town today?” I ask my brother.

“Why?”

“There’s something I have that might help. It’s in a safe deposit box at the Kontar Bank.”

He frowns. “Do I want to know about this?”

“It’s for Leo.”

“Okay,” he replies. “But…put on your disguise.”

I didn’t apply any makeup on this morning. As such, I don’t look like Bérénice so much. That look fooled both my father and brother; no one’s going to recognize me as the missing-presumed-dead Bianca Bonucci.

“I’ll look after Koji,” Hana says with a smile.

I get up. “No time like the present. Let me get ready, then we can go.”

Mattia nods, and I meet him next to his car ten minutes later. He ushers me into the back seat of his SUV, and I frown when a big, burly man slides into the front passenger seat. Right, security. Guess we’ll have a bodyguard with us.

It takes us about half an hour to get to the financial district with the mid-afternoon traffic. I’m in and out of the bank in as much time. One of the reasons I chose this place is the strict confidentiality regarding its clients. No one here signaled a safe deposit box in Bianca Bonucci’s name all this time, and the prestige manager-slash-concierge who attended to me today didn’t blink an eye at my reappearance. Security wasn’t flagged, so we were good—the retinal scan wasn’t affected by my makeup and clearly recognized my iris.

The USB stick now in my possession, we returned to Lenox Hill, where I asked Mattia to call Leo over, letting him know he should bring a laptop with him. I’ll need a phone since mine still has a Japanese SIM card in—I’ll let Mattia and Leo decide about this. Dons usually have special devices they dole out to their crews and people.

Leo replies, asking if he can come over for dinner. Hana and I start preparing food as we wait for him to arrive in the early evening.

Enzo is a little ball of energy when he wakes up from his longer-than-usual nap. Guess the time difference and jet lag is also affecting him despite us having gone west, which should’ve made it all less harsh. He’s a rocket who propels himself into Leo’s legs when the latter steps into the house shortly after seven.

Leo laughs and catches his son in his arms, pulling him in for a long hug before settling the kid onto his hip. I can’t help the goofy smile on my face as I watch them. When Leo comes up to me and presses a kiss to the side of my head, a part of me sighs inside. This, the domestic picture we present right now, it’s what I’ve always wanted. Alas, it’s not a given for us, not at the moment.

Everything inside me sobers, and I bite my lip. We have our biggest hurdle still ahead of us.

“You brought a laptop?” I ask him.

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