Page 2 of Daddy's Claim

Twenty minutes later, we rolled through the gates of the Romano estate. Though smaller than the sprawling DeCosta estate, it still boasted of wealth. Old money, though the Romanos didn’t have quite the same standing in the community as Cole, considering they made no secret ofwheretheir “family money” came from.

Cole, on the other hand, had an impeachable public façade. His mother had dropped the DeCosta name when Cole’s father had gone to prison, opting for both of them to use her maiden name. As far as the general public was concerned, there was zero connection between Cole Porter and the DeCosta crime family. All evidence to the contrary had been scrubbed long ago, and it was part of my job to make sure it stayed that way.

Carlos Romano greeted us at the front door, a short weasel of a man. And when he smiled, I was reminded of why Cole hadn’t wanted Adele to come. The odds of Romano bloodying his own home were low, but they weren’t nil.

“Ah, the new Mrs. Cole Porter. How lovely to finally meet you.” Grasping Adele’s hands in his own, Romano leaned in for the customary cheek kiss. “The rumors of your extraordinary beauty have been rather understated, it seems.”

“You flatter me, Mr. Romano.” With a subtle tug and a polite smile, Adele extracted her hands from his grasp and moved closer to her husband.

Smart girl.

Slipping an arm around Adele’s waist, Cole pulled her into his side and held out his opposite hand to our host. “Good to see you again, Carlos. How is Leonora these days?”

“I’m excellent.”

My gaze shifted instinctively from the elder Romano to the stairs, and for a moment, it was as if I’d forgotten how to breathe. The last time I’d seen little Nora Romano, she’d been a bright-eyed schoolgirl.

But apparently my brother Luca had been telling the truth when he’d said she was all grown up. Petite, but with curves like an old country back road, she stood on a step halfway down the curved staircase, obviously posing for everyone’s benefit. An explosion of curls framed her heart-shaped face, and I couldn’t decide if it was the makeup that made her look like some kind of goddess of pleasure and decadence, or if that was just… her.

When she finally resumed her descent, her hips swaying in the too-tight dress she’d squeezed herself into, all I could think of was what she would look like kicking and crying over my knee as I turned her ass red before I fucked us both into oblivion.

Giving myself a mental shake, I forced my attention back to Carlos, who was watching me with a small, knowing smile. Great, I’d just been caught ogling the man’s daughter, right before we were supposed to negotiate a stronger alliance with his family.

Some right-hand man I was shaping up to be. God, I missed my too-small office and my computer. Part of me wished I’d given Cole a polite “thanks but no thanks” when he’d asked me to step up. But he’d needed me, and I loved him too much to turn him down, a fact I was beginning to suspect he’d exploited to get me to take a more active role in the family.

My faux pas hadn’t gone unnoticed by Adele, either, who glanced over and narrowed her eyes at me. The subtle shakeof her head spoke volumes:Get it together, Mikey. We have business.

The situation wasn’t helped any when Leonora stepped neatly into place at her father’s side and made a show of raking her gaze down my body before fixing me with a fuck-me smile. “Well, hello, Mr. DeCosta. I haven’t seen you inages.”

Carlos himself saved me from answering. “Leave the poor man alone, Nora. We have business to discuss.”

“I’ll leave you to it then, Papa.” Leaning in, she brushed a kiss across her father’s cheek. “I have lunch plans, anyway.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to cancel. I want you to join us.”

The proverbial pin would have sounded like a clanging gong in the silence that followed his pronouncement. And nobody in the room looked more shocked by it than Leonora.

“I can’t cancel. I’m having lunch with Rissa in ten minutes.”

“Cancel,” Carlos repeated, in a tone that clearly said he expected to be obeyed.

Leonora rolled her eyes. “I’m not canceling my plans to sit and listen to you make nice with other criminals.”

My palm physically itched with the urge to spank the sass out of the little brat.

“You can cancel, or I can have your accounts frozen. Your choice.”

“Papa!” Her shocked voice rang out in the otherwise silent room, and I couldn’t help but imagine what she might sound like crying “Daddy” instead, begging for mercy before getting her bratty ass paddled red.

I’d obviously been spending too much time with Cole.

“I mean it, Leonora. Cancel.”

“Fine.” Pulling her phone from the no-doubt ridiculously expensive handbag she was holding, she flounced into the other room.

“You’ll have to excuse my Nora.” Carlos’s smile was strained at the edges, the first real emotion I could remember seeing in the man in all the years I’d known him. “I’m afraid I’ve spoiled her a bit.”

“A father’s prerogative,” Cole assured him, smooth as silk.

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