Page 65 of Their Princess

ADELINA

Everyonein their so-called business meeting was an idiot, which I already knew. As I listened to the church conversation from the powder room off the sitting area by the front door, they made their incompetence uber clear.

I wanted to scream, “Just take my father’s money already!” so many times, but I had kept my mouth shut. If the MC wouldn’t listen to Rafe, they wouldn’t listen to me. Let them die for all I cared. It would save me from being a constant prisoner.

And from a loveless marriage.

Maybe it would even keep my withering cherry intact. Not that I’d wanted that when I finally fell asleep last night after taking care of myself. I’d come dangerously close to asking Rafe to stay with me last night, no matter how much it would damn my soul.

For all their pointless bickering, the church meeting was over as soon as there was a bang at the door at the same time, my cell phone beeped. I reached into the pocket of my yoga pants for the phone. The bang on the door reverberated across the warehouse, followed by some tinkling chimes. That had me pausing to shakemy head, unable to reconcile the delicate sound with the brutes discussing drugs, wars, and death around a dining room table.

Those topics were nothing new to me, but Papà’s men seemed a little more able to agree on strategies and tactics. They also seemed more aligned in their problem solving.

I swiped my screen, looking through the social media notifications—the other capos’ daughters who lived out loud on Insta and TikTok, probably posting selfies from the bars last night. I didn’t really care enough to click into them. To be honest, after high school, they would’ve probably unfriended me if I wasn’t the Don’s daughter. So I kept scrolling to find the alert that my package had been delivered.

Overnight shipping for the win!

I didn’t care about exorbitant shipping prices. As I had mentioned to the MC, my father had the money, and when I went to college, he had set me up with a bank account that I couldn’t drain no matter how hard I tried. That, and a platinum credit card with no limit.

I walked in a circle in the tiny room, chewing on a thumbnail. No one had known I slipped in here while they were all waiting for the Prez to arrive, and surfacing now would mean I’d been caught eavesdropping.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I hissed.

No more voices littered the air. No footsteps. None of the screechy music Graff had been playing last night. In fact, there were no sounds whatsoever.

I cursed again and reached for the door, throwing it wide open. When I stepped outside, I came face to chest with an ugly dude with long black hair, a white streak, and a scar that sliced through his eyebrow and lid. It made his left eye look droopy, like he was always crying. Based on my father’s intelligence, this was the dude shacking up with the former DA. He looked at me off the tip of his nose, and I smiled up at him.

The picture of innocence, something that had worked with my father’s men.

“Angel, right?” I asked, holding out my hand.

He glared at me but stepped out of my way without so much as a word.

“Thanks,” I mumbled and walked past him.

Unfortunately, all the guns pointed in my direction brought me up short.

“What the hell?” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder toward the front door. “Just a delivery. No need to get panties in a bunch.”

“And you know this because?” one of the bikers asked.

I didn’t see who, but I shot my brows up and waggled my phone in the air. “Notifications. Duh.”

As the guns lowered and went back into their homes, I flipped my hair over one shoulder. “That’s better.”

All the members stared at me like a piece of meat, including my uncle and the pregnant lady. I tried not to shrink under their scrutiny. I was, after all, Adelina Parisi, a tried-and-true Mafia princess.

“What the shit?!” Sas marched in my direction. “You’re supposed to be locked in your room. That’s the second time?—”

He reached for me, and I spun out of his reach. Jutting my chin, I retorted, “I’m not going to be held in my chamber by an ogre.”

I still wasn’t giving away my escape route. It wasn’t like it should take a rocket scientist or brain surgeon to figure it out. Turning on my heel, I headed for the front door, but Sas caught up and leaped in front of me, holding out his hand.

“What?” I asked. “You think I’m going to make a run for it?”

He smirked down at me like I was silly, but I didn’t miss how his eyes flicked back to the group around the table and back to me.

“Let me get it for you,” he said, his voice tight.

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