Page 66 of Mafia King's Surprise Baby

His eyebrows lift slightly, which I know is the cue for me to proceed. His body language still says he’s closed up, but at least he’s willing to listen.

“I’m sorry I’ve been behaving like an absolute asshole with you lately. You mean well, and more importantly, you have my back. I don’t acknowledge this enough. Blame it on my pride, on this need I have to live up to my father’s legacy, to show the other Dons I can hold my own. In doing so, I’ve forgotten that no man is an island. I need people I can trust, and more importantly, I need you, Mattia.”

He ducks his head slightly. “I hear you.”

“And?”

I know I’d fucked up, but this bad? He’s making me grovel, and for once, I don’t take it the wrong way. I owe him this much.

“I do have your back, Leo. But do you have mine?”

I frown. What is he talking about? I shake my head, and he sighs.

“I accept your apology, but that’s not the real apology you need to give me, is it?”

“I don’t follow,” I say slowly.

“Don’t you?” He pauses, as if for emphasis. “Have you been keeping a secret from me the whole time I’ve been married?”

What is he talking about? Since he got married? Nothing’s happened since— Realization drops on me like one those cartoon anvils, leaving me a splattered mess on his doorstep. He knows about me and Bianca?

I blink, and it seems like the sign Mattia was waiting for to explode. His hand lands flat against my chest, pushing me, and I’m so stunned, I backtrack a couple of steps instead of anchoring tight in my core and on my feet.

“You fucker!” he hisses. “I trusted you to keep her safe.”

He’s going to turn that table on me? He should look at himself first before casting stones. “Like you were doing such a great job at it, eh?”

Mattia pushes my shoulder this time, though I’m not taken by surprise so don’t budge.

“You fucked my sister, Leo. In my wedding bed, no less. And what was it for you, a quick lay? She was a virgin, for God’s sake.”

I was already formulating my response when his last words cut the wind in my sails. “It…was her first time?”

Mattia curses. “Even better, you didn’t even know!”

“I didn’t,” I mutter. “She didn’t say…”

“Why do you think she’s the only one who could make this alliance happen?”

I’m stunned speechless. I was Bianca’s first. How did I not notice any blood on the bed? The bedspread was red, that’s why. And we were rushing to not get caught.

Mattia sighs, which prompts me to look at him. There’s tension around his eyes, at the corners of his mouth.

“There’s a lot we need to talk about, Leo,” he says, and opens the door. “Sober up first, okay?”

I nod and follow him silently into the quiet house. At the kitchen counter, he waves for me to sit, and I park myself on a stool, an eyebrow lifting when he slides half a pepperoni pizza in front of me. Nothing like cold, greasy pizza to soak up the acidic mix that’s accumulated in the stomach after a bender. I’m on my second slice when he pushes a mug of strong black coffee in front of me.

I nod in thanks, this moment reminding me of our college days. Most of the time, it was Mattia taking care of me this way after a night out drinking, but I’ve also had my fair share of tending to his hangovers, too. It warms my heart, this fleeting complicity between us.

It prompts me to open up, to tell him the truth.

“I don’t think either of us saw it coming, me and Bianca, the day of your wedding,” I start. “I saw her when she came in to check on us, and I was a goner, man. Just like that.”

“Still, to fuck her in my wedding bed.”

I wince. “Sorry for that.”

I go through another slice of pizza then take a sip of coffee. Already, I can feel the roiling in my stomach calming, the clarity returning to my mind. This forces something to the forefront, and it spills out.

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