Page 25 of Mafia King's Surprise Baby

“Leo, please, stop this.”

“Stop what?”

I huff. “This. Whatever it is you’re doing.”

“I’m just enjoying my cigar,” he says. “And the view.”

Argh! This man is insufferable!

“Leo, please… This is my life we’re talking about.”

Whichever way we cut it, I’m done for. If I don’t marry into the Abrashi family, my father himself will kill me, for bringing dishonor onto the family. I can’t even hope he’ll send me off to a convent somewhere.

My words seem to have leeched the playfulness from Leo’s stance—he’s still sitting in the same position, but there’s a tenseness to his arms now, a mask of terse focus on his roughlyhandsome features.

“Bianca—”

“No, you listen to me.” I sneak in a deep breath. “You’re going to leave, let me go back to my dinner, and we’re going to be civil to each other whenever we meet in public, okay?”

His mouth tightens, lips a thin white line.

“Is this what you really want?”

It’s the last thing I want, but I have no other choice.

“Yes.”

His nostrils flare. So many emotions run over his face, I can’t keep up and tag them all. I did see frustration in the way his eyes narrowed. Like I’ve hurt him, dealt a blow he might not recover from.

“This can’t be the end,” he says softly.

So he’s felt it, too, this connection between us.

I bite my lip to stave off the sob wanting to tumble out. “It has to be.”

“Bianca, we need to talk.”

“We can’t—”

“Even if just one last time.”

This. His words make me pause.

Closure. It’s all we can aspire to between us.

It has to be.

“Not here, though,” I say.

He swallows, hard, the movement of his Adam’s apple evoking so much sadness in me, I want to cry.

“Later tonight. Vince’s, in Tribeca. Can you meet me there?”

Chapter 7

Leo

It’s been two hours since I left Bianca at the Richmond Club. What’s taking her so long to get here?

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