Page 115 of Sin & Sapphire

When I looked over my shoulder to see her serving Angelo and Valentin, Valentin’s eyes were locked on me, warmer than I’d ever seen them before. I blushed, and his gaze softened, flicking down to the baby and back to my face.

The infant calmed, finally, and I adjusted him in my arms before sitting.

“Oh, let me,” Maria said, reaching for him. “You shouldn’t have to be on baby duty.”

“He’s quiet now,” I said, overwhelmed by the emotions flooding through me. “And I don’t mind.”

“You look good with a baby in your arms,” Valentin murmured into my ear, so quietly no one else could hear.

I hummed, squashing the thought, content to be squeezed on the couch between the two large men who didn’t hesitate to drop their arms behind my back or set a hand on my thigh to visibly claim me.

“I’m so sorry about Fred,” I said.

Maria brushed a tear out of her eye. “Funeral’s this weekend,” she muttered.

“And she doesn’t have a way to pay for it,” Michael interjected from the door.

“Hush,” she said. “That’s not—” She pressed her palms to her red-rimmed eyes, to stem a burgeoning tide of tears. “Thank you for coming. It means a lot that you’re here to pay your respects.”

She was the first because she would be the easiest. Fred was new, without a long history with my family. She couldn’t make recriminations because she didn’t have the right to, not according to our strict codes. She was a woman, and she’d married into the family, so what did she count for?

But Angelo should have been here anyway, right away. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and set it on the coffee table that separated us from Maria. One of her toddlers reached for it, and she smacked his hand away.

“I don’t want your charity.”

Angelo frowned. “It’s his pension and his last paycheck,” he lied smoothly. “Nothing you wouldn’t have the right to anyway.”

“Take it,” Michael said from the doorway.

“Please,” I added, adjusting the baby against my shoulder. “It’s the least we can do.”

Maria nodded and wrapped her fingers around the envelope slowly before snatching it and tucking it into her shirt. It wasn’t a lot—it wasn’t enough—but it would hold her over until I could figure out a job situation for her. And childcare.Christ.

Not for the first time, I cursed my fucked-up relationship with my father and wished I’d paid more attention to the actual mechanics of how he ran his businesses.

Charm men? Let him use me so he could close business deals? Act every inch a mafia princess when required? Rebuild relationships with our people when his inevitable cruelty ruined them? Easy. Actually run his empire?

Tendrils of fear took root at the base of my spine, curling through me until my audacity took my breath away.

Angelo’s fingers wrapped around my knee. “Thank you for seeing us today, Mrs. Ferrari. My sincere condolences for your loss.”

Her watery eyes met mine. “Are you visiting the other widows too?”

“As many as we can find.”

She looked toward the door. “Michael, would you please get me a pen and paper?”

We left the apartment with a longer list of names than I’d expected, my heart lighter for having made the visit.

Michael stopped us before we could walk into the elevator, focusing on Angelo. “Why didn’t you reach out to us sooner?”

Angelo stared at him with hard eyes. “I’m here now.”

“You don’t need this territory,” Michael continued. He gestured at Valentin. “He’s worth billions, and your father’s got his operation in Italy. Why are you really here?”

Angelo wrapped his fingers around my waist, tightening them until I thought they’d bruise. “She deserves better.”

Butterflies erupted in my stomach.

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