Page 10 of The Godfather’s Christmas Twins

Wait. What?“Las Vegas? Not Chicago?”

There’s a long pause. “Why would I send her to Chicago? You’re her godfather. You made the vow to her mother like I did.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I pinch the bridge of my nose, wishing I could figure a way out of this. “How soon?” I ask, knowing there is no way out. Regardless of how I feel about Gia, of how difficult it is to be around her and not want her to the depths of my soul, I swore to protect her.

“She and the kids are with me tonight. We’ll fly out tomorrow. I won’t take chances.”

He’s right, of course. If not him, I’m the man for this job. It’s not that I don’t want to. I’ll lay down my life for Gia, and not because of a promise I made to her mother when I was barely an adult. It’s because of her.

"Max?" Nic's tone sharpens. "You there?"

I realize my attention drifted away. "Yeah." I swallow hard. "Just… thinking logistics."

But really, I'm thinking about soft green eyes and stolen moments. About guilt and duty and promises I made.

"Send me your flight details. I'll handle everything on this end."

“I knew I could count on you. I trust you with her life, Max.”

“I won’t let you down.”

The call ends and I sink into my chair, a feeling of doom falling over me. Nearly a year ago, I was forced into her world and it nearly crumbled the carefully maintained control I’d built to protect myself from the only person who's ever been able to slip past my defenses. Now she’ll be in my house, living in my space. Heaven help me if I fail this time.

4

GIA

One minute, I’m living my life in New York, taking my kids to school and then working from home, and the next, I’m on a private plane running with my children to Las Vegas. This isn’t the first time Nic has shipped me off “for my own good”.

The last time he sent me away was to boarding school. He escorted me there on a plane as well. I was thirteen, and the memory of standing in my dorm room hits me fresh. I didn’t know anyone and I was a world away in Europe.

"It's safer this way,Piccola," Nic had said, but safety felt a lot like abandonment.

Then there was the summer program in Switzerland at sixteen. Each time, Nic wrapped his decisions in velvet words about protection. It’s not that I doubt Nic. I know who my father is… or was. And I know he was likely behind my mother's disappearance. I know about the vow Nic made to my mother and how hard he’s worked to keep it. But I’m tired of being at Nic’s whims. It’s one thing when I was a child. But I’m a grown woman with two children, for goodness’ sake.

My coffee has gone cold. I push it away, my stomach churning at the thought of Vegas. Of Max. The last time I lived in close quarters with Max, everything imploded. Nic had arranged that for my safety as well. At the time, I was happy to hear Max was returning. Maybe I could finally tell him the truth about the twins. Maybe we’d… well, I suppose my fairy tale dreams lingered even then.

But it didn’t take long to realize that Max was different, at least around me. He treated me differently, like I was just a duty to fulfill for Nic. No matter how I tried to reconnect with him as a friend like we’d been before, he’d brushed me off.

I tried to talk Nic out of sending me to Max since it was clear Max had more important things to do than babysit me and my kids.

"You'll be safe there," Nic had said earlier, as if safety was all that mattered. As if my heart wasn't still scarred from the last time Max was tasked with protecting me.

“Mama, look at those!” Dario bounces in his seat, his face pressed against the window.

“What?” Daniella perks up from where she’d been coloring to look out the window as well.

Their wonder pulls a genuine smile from me. I haven't seen them this animated since I told them we were taking a "special vacation" to Las Vegas. They'd peppered me with questions about the flight and things to do in Las Vegas.

“Those are the Rocky Mountains,” Nic says, glancing out as well.

“Are they the biggest in the world?” Dario asks

“Not the biggest. Maybe the prettiest, though,” Nic says. He’s been a wonderful father-figure to my kids, but now he has his own family.

“You know you didn’t need to escort us. Bella is going to have her hands full with the triplets while you’re gone,” I say, feelinga little guilty that Nic has to take time away for me. Then again, it’s his doing, not mine.

The smile at the mention of Bella and the kids lights up his face in a way I’ve never seen before. It’s sweet, and I’m so happy he’s found true love and happiness.

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