Page 7 of The Godfather’s Christmas Twins

I shake my head. “I don’t know. The number is blocked.”

“Speaker,” Nic commands.

I poke the speaker button. "Hello?"

"Those twins of yours sure look sweet in their matching school uniforms." A digitally altered voice sends chills through me.

"Who are you?"

"Someone who knows the truth.” They pause. "The school's letting out soon. Maybe I'll introduce myself to Daniella and Dario."

"Stay away from my children." The words rip from my throat.

He laughs, and the line goes dead.

I look up into Nic’s eyes and I see murder in them. I’m glad to see it because this person needs to die for threatening my children.

Nic picks up his phone and starts barking orders to get some of his men to the school. “I need eyes on the school now. No one touches those kids."

When he hangs up, his jaw tightens as it does when he’s thinking, planning. Finally, he looks up at me. “You and the kids need to lay low. Leave town?—”

“We can’t. The kids are in school. They love it. I don’t want to upset their?—”

“It will be worse if you’re dead. Or them.”

His words reverberate through me. They feel cruel even if he’s right.

Nic's eyes narrow as if he knows I’m going to argue. "This isn't up for discussion."

“Dario has a soccer game this weekend and Daniella has a sleepover." I really don’t want to upend their lives.

"None of that matters if they're not safe."

“There’s nowhere more safe than with you. You said so yourself. No one can get access to your family in your house.”

“Things have changed, Gia. If this guy is following you, he knows you’re here with me and?—”

“He said he’s at the school.”

Nic steps to me. Gripping my shoulders, he gives me a shake as if he thinks I’m being dense. “Do you really think he doesn’t know you’re here? And knowing that, he called you. In front of me. This guy is either really stupid or he has balls the size of Everest. I’m going with the latter. He’s taunting me as well as stalking you.”

Fear nearly paralyzes me. If this man is willing to taunt Nic, he really is dangerous. Nic has spent the last year instilling fear in or causing death to the men who dare to defy him.

“So you and the kids are going somewhere safe, and I’m going to hunt this mother fucker down and kill him.”

I try to take a calming breath so I can think. “Where would we go?”

He picks up his phone again. “You’re going to Vegas. You’ll live with Max.”

3

MAX

Ilean back in my leather chair at my desk, scanning the article on my tablet, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction. These journalists love to proclaim the death of the Mob in Nevada, painting us as relics while hyping up the Russians and street gangs as the new kings of Las Vegas crime.

A smirk crosses my face as I finish the piece and set my tablet on my desk. If they only knew how wrong they were. Through my office window, the Vegas strip sparkles in the late afternoon sun. Two casinos, an online gambling app, five restaurants, two construction companies, and various other ventures operate under my careful management. Each one generates clean money while concealing the flow of darker profits.

The FBI hasn't sniffed around our operations in over two years. My MBA wasn't just for show. I've structured everything through layers of shell companies and offshore accounts that would make their heads spin. The street gangs fight over scraps while we quietly control the real moneymakers.

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