Page 37 of Texting My Mafia Savior

“It couldn’t hurt to take a brief trip,” Mom murmurs, looking at Dad. “I trust you, Rocco. I know if you thought we were in danger, you’d leave. You wouldn’t put your job before your family.”

Dad clenches his jaw. That sounded almost like a jab to me, like Mom was subtly putting Dad in his place for doing just that—worrying about his career before worrying about us.

“What if I don’t want to leave?” Dad says.

“Arria,” Mom and Nico say in the same urgent tone.

Dad gives me another look.Still want to pretend nothing’s happening? I look down at the table, chipping at the wood with my thumbnail.

“We can take a trip. Perhaps we could visit that lake house in Maine we were always talking about, Arria? In the cold, there will be so many chances for amazing photographs. By the time we come home, everything will have returned to normal.

“Your mother’s right,” Nico says. “It’ll be better if you’re outside the city…”

“And,” Dad goes on. “If only two of you are gone, it looks less suspicious than if I suddenly leave work. If the Carusos get word that I’ve abandoned work, it looks like running. But if a mother and daughter decide to take a trip—especially one that affords a chance for photographs—that’s more believable. It will trigger less panic.”

Nico nods reluctantly. “Yeah, that’s right. Overall, this is the best path forward. We don’t want to spook Dominic.”

“When you get back,” Dad says. “Things will be normal. You can go back to looking for a job, Arria. Maybe you’ll find a nice man at your new job. A man your own age. A man who isn’t married to your aunt.”

The entire situation is such a mess. I bite back on so many responses I could hurl at Dad. He wants to act all high andmighty, buthe lied. It’s like he’s forgetting that. But I can’t help but think how impossible any relationship with Nico could be.

As if everything else wasn’t bad enough, Dad has forbidden us to be together.

Mom touches my hand and stands. “Let’s look at trips, Arria. We don’t have to think of it as a bad thing. It can be fun.”

I stand as well, nodding. Nico and Dad remain seated as if they have more they want to discuss. But I don’t want to leave the room. I’m afraid they’ll get into a fight if I step away.

CHAPTER 16

NICO

“I’m not blind,” Rocco barks, staring at me across the table. “I know what I saw between you and my daughter.”

Somehow, I hadn’t even stopped to think what her father’s response to us would be. I’ve been so concerned with the mob, so worried about putting her in danger. This layer of impossibility didn’t even occur to me. Talk about misguided… But it’s hit me now, and I have to accept it.

Arria and I will never work. She needs to let hersaviorgo.

“You don’t need to confirm it,” he snaps. “I can see you want to tell me, but I guess Arria doesn’t want to. I bet she thinks it’s not real if you don’t bring it out into the open. But itisreal. Whatever. I meant what I said. It ends now, understand?”

I take another sip of coffee, then nod. That’s enough for Rocco. I’ve just agreed to end things with his daughter, my niece. It’s for the best, anyway. Hell, notthe best. It’s the only course of action that makes any goddamn sense. It’s the only path we have out of this.

“It’s clear something’s happening, anyway,” he says. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have overreacted and told us to leave.”

“You can’t call it an overreaction,” I growl. “You’re right. Dominic wouldn’tusuallyrisk doing something drastic like going after a civilian woman. But that was before he thought I stole Lucy from him. He’s unhinged.”

“How are you going to stop him?” Rocco snaps. When I don’t answer right away, he says, “It seems to me that the only actual course of action is to go on like everything’s normal. It’s making sure he believes in you and Lucy. It’s making sure that he never, not even for a second, suspects anything’s happening between you and my daughter.”

“He made me do a lie detector tonight test, Rocco,” I say.

He closes his eyes. “Fuck.”

“I cheated the test. I made myself so full of adrenaline that he couldn’t confirm or deny anything. But you’re a good example of why a man doesn’t need to confirm or deny anything to show what the truth is.”

“You think he knows, then?”

“We didn’t leave things on good terms. Don’t you get it? That’s why you have to leave.”

“Don’tyouget it?” he barks. “What I said is true. If I leave, it’s obvious. It’s suspicious. Less so if the ladies go on a trip together.”

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