Page 159 of Mafia Don's Secret Twins

Dino stares at me.

I take a deep breath. “Dino, if you want to take over that role, you should do it. For yourself. But not for me. The girls and I just needyou,” my voice breaks.

I feel like I’m begging him.

Just to be with me.

That thought makes my jaw snap shut.

I will not beg anyone to be with me.

I won’t.

Dino looks at me. “Come with me.”

“What?”

“Come with me. To Greece.”

“Dino. No,” I blurt out. “The girls, they just got settled here, we can’t…”

“Okay,” Dino says quietly.

There’s nothing left to say.

I stand up, the swing creaking as I step away. I take two steps, then look back.

Dino is staring at me so intensely, it makes my heart ache.

But I won’t beg him to be with me. To choose me.

Choose us.

I tuck my shoulders, keeping my head high.

And I go back into the house.

When I wake up, Dino is gone.

The house is quiet. The girls are asleep in their beds, where I spent the night as well. They had questions about Dino, but I dodged the answers.

I didn’t sleep.

Not even a little.

I’m making coffee when my mother comes into the kitchen. “Morning, Mãe,” I murmur.

“Do you mean to tell me you let the girls’ father walk away?”

I turn.

She’s in her pajamas, her hair in rollers. She has on an eye mask, and she’s glaring at me through it.

“I’m not going to beg him to be withme.”

“I didn’t tell you to do that,” she snaps. “I asked, did you just let him walk away?”

“Yes.”

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