Page 16 of Secret Baby for the Italian Mafia Don

“It’s true,” she confirms, avoiding his gaze.

He utters his thanks like it tears him apart to say it, like it’s made of barbed wire and razor blades.

I grin at just how much this man fuckinghatesme.

“I’m not going to fight you, Nico,” Salvatore says. “I know what you’re owed, and I wouldn’t deny you that. We’ll see what arrangement we can come to. Let’s let it sit for a night. Get you settled back into the house properly. We can figure out the rest tomorrow.”

“At a formal meeting of the family,” I say. “Theactualfamily.”

Salvatore and Marcel exchange glances.

Softly, overhead, a baby starts to cry. My eyes trail toward the ceiling. We all realize it in the same moment. A grin pulls at the corner of my lips. I’d heard that Salvatore has a wife and kid now. A proper little heir. Our gazes meet again, and for the first time, I see a hint of worry there in the shadows of those guarded eyes.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” I ask, soft and low.

“Absolutely not,” Sal says, more a growl than a sentence, for the first time showing a hint of hisrealself under all that decorum. “You go anywhere near my child, and I won’t bury you like a dog, I’ll feed you to them. Now go, Nico. Before I decide not to be so generous with you.”

I grin.

Therehe is.

There’s the man that’s been able to captain this ship the whole time. I knew he’d be in there somewhere under that sharp suit.

Maybe Salvatore and I can have a second start after all. A new age for the family. A promising tomorrow. When I leave the office, I overhear the low order given—keep an eye on him.As if they have to worry aboutthat.

I pass by Ava, giving her a wink.

I’m finally home, and they’re not getting rid of me that easily.

If Salvatore wanted me gone, he should have found a more permanent solution all those years ago.

5

Ava

“Of all the people to be stepping out of line and getting into trouble, I never thought I would have to worry aboutyou.”

A low headache throbs at my temple and pulses behind my eyebrows. The kind of pain you want to rub away, but it just keeps coming back. While Salvatore goes to make arrangements for Nico, Marcel takes the opportunity to corner me alone.

I can barely listen to him.

When I was driving home with Nico, I never thought what it would be like when he got here. Marcel’s position within the family has always been so solid, a sure thing. I never questioned it. I never imagined a world where anyone would.

My anger boils.

Nico sat next to me, dragged me along with him for hours, and never told me what he was planning at the end of it all. That he was going to pull my life up by the roots.

Bastard.

“Ava,” Marcel says, drawing my gaze back to him. “Answer me. What were you doing there?”

“I just thought it would be nice to get out of the house for a little while.”

Marcel glares in the face of that half-answer.

We both know I could have gone anywhere, but goingtherewas a deliberate, reckless choice. A bad idea in motion. And it turned out just like it was always going to. A disaster. My lip has started to throb now, a constant pulse that I want to run my tongue against to taste the copper. It’s easier to focus on that than the disappointment in Marcel’s eyes.

“I want you to imagine fortwo secondswhat a night like this is like for me,” he continues, on and on. “When you pull one of your disappearing acts, I have to wonder if the next call is going to be the worst one. To only hear about your whereabouts through rumors and hearsay, IDing you in one of the most dangerous places, withhimof all people—”

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