Page 96 of Assassin's Obsession

"He's the top enforcer for the new godfather." Mom's never been part of the mafia life, but a New Yorker would have to be living under a rock not to know what that means.

"Why didn't you tell me that?"

The easy answer is because I didn't want her to worry, but mom doesn't want easy. She wants truth.

So, I give it to her. "I didn't want you to think it was like it was with mom and Stefano."

"How is it different?" Mom gives the look that says she thinks I don't have an answer for that. "You're a dancer like Bonbon was. He's in the mafia like Stefano."

"Both of those things are true, but they aren't everything."

"Stefano wouldn't have bought your grandmother a scooter to get around more easily, that's for sure."

Not that he ever met my grandmother, but then neither had I. Mommy grew up in and out of foster care until she ran away at fifteen. Her mom never got sober and died before I became an adult and might have gone looking for her.

If mommy ever knew who her dad was, she never mentioned it. I might have been only ten when she died, but she shared pretty much everything with me.

Some would say she was guilty of oversharing, but I would say she did her best. She loved me and tried like hell to be a better parent than her own mom.

"For starters, Angelo is not married to another woman. That's a pretty big difference. For another, Angelo is not paying me to have sex with him." I don't look down on my mom for turning tricks, but the fact my dad paid her for sex and treated her like a commodity even after she gave birth to his child?

That makes him the douchebag my sister called him.

"But you twoarehaving sex?" Mom doesn't try to soft pedal the question.

It's not her way.

My answer is just as direct. "Yes. Not that it is any of your business because Iaman adult."

She says a little prayer in Polish. "I am very worried for you, Kathleen."

Kathleen? Okay, this is serious. She's really worried.

I don't know how to fix that. All I can give her is the truth. "I have never felt as safe as I do when Angelo is nearby."

Not even when I'm at home, but I leave that left unsaid. Mom would understand it. It's hard to feel completely safe when you're a few busted locks away from a break-in.

I wonder if Angelo would be willing to install a steel door for the apartment? Even if he's serious about us all coming here to live, it can't happen overnight.

"How can that be?" mom asks, sounding bewildered. "He's a mafia enforcer. He's no better than a killer for hire."

"I am top enforcer for the godfather." So much for Angelo leaving me and my mom to talk privately.

Mom glares at him disapprovingly. "You said you would give us a few moments alone."

Angelo nods, his expression serious. "I thought that if you were going to discuss what Bianchi told you about me, I should be here."

To defend himself?

Mom looks at me like this should upset me. "Is this what you want from your life? A man who won't respect your boundaries?"

"It's not my boundaries he's imposing on. I didn't ask for time alone.Youdid." I had said I wanted Angelo to be here.

I've never liked the game of telephone and didn't want to play go-between with my mom and lover.

Lover.

I have a lover.

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