Page 158 of Mafia Don's Secret Twins

Seeing my mom mourn my father, while also hating him, has created an energy that galvanizes me to move forward.

I have to know if Dino wants to have a life with me.

I have to know if he will be with me, or the girls.

Or, if I need to start mourning the loss of him, in addition to the father I wonder if I could have had.

After making small talk with Elio, Caterina, Gia, and Sal, who are all more or less completely charmed by Nico, I look at Caterina. “Where is he?” I ask.

She sighs, and points to the patio.

I walk outside.

The air isn’t cold, but it also isn’t warm, exactly. My skin prickles at the chill, but it could also be goosebumps from the conversation I’m about to have.

The conversation that needs to happen.

Which could either be the beginning of everything…

Or the end.

I head out onto the porch, then walk into the yard. Dino is sitting on a swing that’s attached to one of the huge trees out back. There are so many toys in the backyard, it’s like a minefield.

I sit next to Dino, looking at the giant playhouse that’s sitting in front of us. “That’s new.”

“I’m not shocked. Elio probably jumped at the chance to get a new toy for the kids.”

“He definitely seems to be a family man,” I say.

Good. At least we know what we’re here to talk about.

Dino looks at me, and I sit on the swing next to him.

“We need to talk,” I say quietly.

His silence is the confirmation that I need to keep going.

“I need to know if there’s a future with us. With the girls. If you don’t have a future with us Dino, then…”

“I want you, Marisol. I do,” he says, cutting me off.

I look at him.

“My whole life I didn’t think I belonged in my family. I spent my childhood fighting everyone. My dad. Marco. Sal. Every fucking body that I could. I was angry, all the time. I don’t know what it means to be part of a family like you are. That you want to make. I don’t know how to be a dad,” he rasps.

My heart sinks.

“I don’t… Nico, he said that he wants me to take over. To be the head of the Drakos family.”

My jaw drops. “Dino. Do you want that?”

“I don’t know. I know that if I build that empire, then I’ll have something to give you and the girls.”

“Dino, you don’t?—”

“I need to know that I can give you something, Marisol. Something more than how I feel about you. If I think about myself as a father, as a partner, then I need to be able to provide. Protect. I need to…”

“I don’t need you to do that!” I yell.

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