Page 92 of Mafia King's Surprise Baby

It takes us a little under half an hour to reach the island. I take a gun from the trunk, check the magazine and grab a spare, then Mattia and I make it on foot through the park toward thelighthouse structure.

Something feels off, though. It’s a warm early summer afternoon. There should’ve been people crawling over this space. Instead, we’re sharing the esplanade near the lighthouse with a brace of green-headed ducks.

Mattia’s step slows next to mine. I bet he’s also felt it, this chill in the air that has nothing to do with the gentle wind blowing around us.

We’re near the lighthouse when a sudden instinct makes me spin around to check the side of the structure, opposite the doorway and facing the water, making it a total blind spot from where we’re coming from.

A glint of metal catches my eye. Something slashes at my opened hand at the same time my fist closes on a wrist sheathed by the cuff of a shirt. Ignoring the lancing pain, I tug hard and slam the moving mass into the stone structure of the lighthouse.

A grunt resounds, and as I rear back and slam the wrist forcefully again, a metallic ping clatters on the ground. By this point, Mattia has circled around behind me, and the butt of his gun smacks into the back of the head of the person I’m holding by the arm.

The body drops like dead weight. I glance down, noticing a young man with fair skin and dark hair. Next to him lies a shiv glinting where it’s not covered by blood. By my blood. My palm is smarting, a long gash in the middle. Damn. This will require a tetanus shot, and I hate shots.

“Ambush,” Mattia says softly.

I hiss in a breath and nod. “Bring him.”

We’re entirely exposed as we hot-foot it back to the car, with me on lookout and Mattia dragging the body. The very lack of people that would’ve made it possible for me to get shivved works in our favor as there’s no one to witness our retreat.

Pano is quick to judge the situation. He pulls zip ties from the glove compartment to hand to Mattia and a first aid kit from underneath his seat to wrap a bandage around my bleeding hand.

We’re already on our way back to my house when I get my phone—it’s awkward one-handed—to call Luigi.

“It was a setup,” I tell my enforcer when he picks up.

“Boss, you okay?”

“Fine. But I need to know who these fuckers—”

“Stop the car!” Mattia yells.

Pano checks with me for confirmation, and I nod. Mattia’s not given to expressive displays like this. We may have been followed, but I trust my best friend, even though I do want to know what’s going on with him.

“What’s the matter?” I ask, noticing only then he’s also on his phone.

His face is as white as a sheet, and something in my gut stirs.

He puts the device on speaker, and I hear Hana on the other end. She’s speaking so quickly, I can’t make out what she’s saying.

“Hana,” I say, voice low but hard. “Slow down. What’s wrong?”

She takes in a long, heaving breath audible on the line.

“Dino’s dead. I came home from the gym to find his body on the deck. As are the others.”

My heart speeds up. “Bianca? Enzo?”

“Koji’s here. Shaken, and he’s crying. I found him alone in the living room, on the rug in front of cartoons.”

This time, my heart stops.

“He was asking for hismaman, Leo. Bianca, she’s…”

“Where is she?” I bite out, having no idea how the words came out, how I could even say them as no more blood is pumping in my body anymore.

“She’s been taken,” Hana whispers.

That’s why she hasn’t replied my text. It’s the only thing I can think of right now…until this thought explodes and merges with others that flood in, bombarding me.

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