Page 70 of Mafia Don's Secret Twins

Andrei is the safer choice. He will definitely be able to get me out of here, and he won’t mistreat me.

He’s already said so.

Dino hasn’t promised me any of that.

I open my mouth to sayyes of course, I’d love to go to the beach with you, but there’s a moment’s worth of hesitation.

And it’s just long enough that the door to the small room next to the kitchen slams open.

“Marisol!” my father yells.

I cringe. “I’m right here.”

“Come,” he commands.

Both Andrei and I watch him go. I turn to Andrei with a rueful smile. “Rain check?”

He looks confused.

“It’s an English phrase. It means that we’ll have to reschedule our… beach day to another time.”

The worddatehad been on the tip of my tongue.

But this is not a date. It absolutely can’t be a date.

I don’t want to date him.

I can’t ‘date’ him, not in the conventional sense. I need him to protect me.

And that fact alone makes me so angry that I have to take a minute to breathe before I get up to follow my father.

I hate this.

I follow my father out the door that leads to the garden. The irony of this isn’t lost on me. For a split second, I wonder if whoever it is that sent the note knew about this… whatever’s going on.

It’s not possible. I didn’t even know what was happening in the garden until now.

However, there’s not really much time to think.

All six competitors are in the garden. There’s kind of a big space, marked with crushed stone and benches, that marks the entry into the winding pathways that the garden contains. In this space, they’re all gathered.

My father gives me a glare, and I walk over to him. He’s seated in a patio chair next to a small iron table, and gestures for me to have a seat. I do, but not before Andrei takes out the chair so that I can sit as well.

Once I scoot in, I can see Dino’s eyes are glued on Andrei.

The violence promised in them makes my skin pebble.

“Well, it is probably no secret that the… six of you,” my father sends a nasty glare toward Dino, “are here to show me that you are strong enough to have a place in my organization. Part of that, of course, is that you must actually be strong enough.”

Oh no.

I know where this is going.

I cast a look back at Andrei, whose face is completely impassive.

Turning back to the gathered contestants, I pick at the edges of my sundress.

This is not going to be good.

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