Page 93 of Secret Baby for the Italian Mafia Don

“What’s happening?” I ask, staring at Thaddeus, shocked by the state of him.

“Ava,” Marcel snaps, “get over here.”

The fact that he has his pistol drawn at his side isn’t subtle, even if he tries to hide it behind his suit jacket. I hold my ground, bewildered, begging someone to explain as Emma wails in my arms.

“But what—”

“Bring my daughter over here, now,” Salvatore says, so furiously that the frightened little girl I used to be responds. I go skittering to him, easing Emma into his arms. Salvatore takes her and steps behind Marcel, letting his second-in-command take point with the gun in his grip.

“He didn’t do anything,” I say.

“He tried to kill Thaddeus,” Marcel answers, shoving me behind him so that he has a clear shot.

I look Thaddeus over and take in the pathetic state of him.

“Bullshit,” I whisper furiously. “If Nico tried to kill Thaddeus, then he’d bedead.”

Nico gives me a half-grin, but the happiness doesn’t reach his eyes. It’s a grim and resigned look, as if his fate is already sealed. I can sense it in the air. Salvatore is just reading the charges—the verdict has already been decided. I don’t understand what happened, everything happening too suddenly. Nico was withme. How could he have done anything to Thaddeus?

But looking at Nico, he isn’t denying it. He isn’t confused.

He knows what happened.

“You attacked a member of our family,” Salvatore says to him. “You almost choked the life out of him, and then with his blood on your hands, you had the audacity to come here and put those same hands on mydaughter.”

My heart burns, emotions thundering. It’s not fair. I know what Salvatore is like, I know that he’s protective of those closest to him, and that his protectiveness is only amplified where his daughter is concerned—butit’s not fair. He’s painting the picture all wrong. I don’t know what happened between Nico and Thaddeus, but I know more than anything that Nico wasn’t going to hurt Emma.

“He was just trying to help—” I try to interject for him, but Salvatore rounds on me so fast, it makes me jump.

“And you! You’ll be lucky if you ever touch her again, either. I asked you to help Tessa look after her because I trusted you, and that trust was betrayed.”

I swallow hard, my heart racing.

I glance to Marcel, but his glare is only on Nico. He doesn’t turn to look my way or speak up to defend me. Through his silence, I know he agrees with Salvatore. The world feels like it’s shrinking in around me. There’s nowhere left to go, no more second chances to beg for.

“Ava, you need to get out of here,” Nico says calmly.

“No,” I whimper.

This can’t happen.

I have exactly one card left, and I’m terrified to play it.

Would it save him, if they knew? Or would they dig Nico’s grave just a little bit deeper, so he wouldn’t claw his way back to the living just to get to me and his child? I hold the truth under my tongue, debating ifthisis the moment—and how the high-strung, already emotional men in this room are going to react to it. The gun in Marcel’s grip looks too ready, as if it already knows the answer.

My stomach lurches.

Does the truth make it better or worse?

Suddenly, Marcel steps forward and leverages the gun between Nico’s eyes.

“Marcel, don’t!” I beg him.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t, Nico,” he says lowly. “You’ve practically beenbeggingfor it. I should just put you out of your fucking misery.”

Nico doesn’t flinch, but his voice is black with hate when he says,

“Shoot me if you want, but don’t you dare do it in front of her.” His gaze slides to me again as he says, more firmly, “Ava,go.”

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