Page 98 of Mafia King's Surprise Baby

I’ve hardly turned to Luigi when he’s already on his phone, typing out the order to go in but not make waves.

“Don Pellegrini, I am deeply sorry and deeply ashamed of what is happening to you.” Daku hangs his head in shame. “May I offer you and your men coffee?”

“It would be an honor, Mr. Daku.”

There’s nothing I can do other than wait right now, and the last thing I want or need is to offend our host. I’ve already implied he might be behind a heinous act, so it’s best now to smooth things over. I’m also holding on to the idea it is Abrashi until I have proof. Mattia and I follow him inside to the kitchen. Mrs. Daku is there, concern in her eyes. Her husband confers with her in hushed tones, then she is welcoming us into her home.

We sit at the kitchen table, cups of strong Turkish coffee placed before us. Daku takes a tray out to the men. We don’t make small talk, each of us quietly sipping our drink, until Luigi knocks on the back door.

He shakes his head when I catch his eye.

So the crews have come up with nothing inside the usual Albanian haunts. My hand is itching to slam the cup down and smash it, but I remember my manners and stick to decorum.

I get up, thanking Mrs. Daku for her hospitality. Daku escorts us outside to our car.

“I have already asked my men to look into this,” he tells me. “Whatever we hear, I will inform you right away.”

I nod my thanks. “May I suggest you look into the Abrashi family?”

“You think…?”

“It could be revenge they want.”

He says nothing. We both know the war was in retaliation to the non-marriage into that family and the subsequent murder of one of its sons.

The rage that has been simmering all this time is now threatening to boil over, and I close my hand tight on the car door to give me some countenance.

I can’t end this night without finding Bianca! This is inconceivable. I have to locate her and bring her home. She is everything. I need her, as does our son and also her family. We’ve all just found her again, we can’t lose her so quickly.

I’m starting to slide into the backseat when a message pings on my phone. I pull it out, surprise then anger bursting through me to make me stiffen and temporarily freeze.

Unknown:My family was promised a marriage. At Remick’s Church tonight, there’ll be a wedding. Or afuneral. Or maybe both?

There’s a sinister-looking smiling emoji at the end, and this more than the words themselves infuriates me. This fucker is playing with us, with me. A wedding and a funeral? He has Bianca, and he plans to marry her. If I come, it’ll be my funeral. I have no trouble reading between the lines.

What I also figure out? The first sentence says it all. Only one family was promised a marriage. This is the proof I needed.

“Jasir Abrashi has Bianca,” I tell both Mattia and Daku.

Daku sputters. “He isnotwith us!”

I turn the screen over to Mattia who gives it a quick read.

“It’s a trap,” my best friend says.

I know. It kills me to reckon this, but I know. And it’s Bianca involved. Bianca’s life at stake, never mind mine. Enzo can live without the father he’s known for just a few days, but not the mother who’s loved him and taken care of him and put him first ever since she found out about his existence.

“What other choice do I have?” I tell him.

His resigned frown tells me everything. We’re going to stop a wedding tonight. With any hope, the funeral won’t be mine.

Chapter 29

Bianca

“I assure you, no one will look.”

I can’t believe this bastard—the same one who took me from Mattia’s house—has the nerve to chuckle after he says this. He’s come into the boxy space I’m being held captive in and thrust something at me. It’s a bundle of lace and satin, very old and fragile.

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