Page 29 of Defiant Devotion

“A Mafia princess?” I asked knowingly.

She tipped her chin up. “Yeah. And I’ll never need help. Like my daddy says, I’ll never want for anything.”

“Oh?” I didn’t care that my hood fell back a bit. I wanted to see her fully, and I wanted her to see me while I set her straight. Someone had to explain how things worked in our world. “Is that what you think?”

“That’s what I know,” the girl sassed.

“Then as one Mafia princess to another, take this advice freely.” I licked my dried lips then cleared my raw throat. “You’ll want for freedom.”

She furrowed her brow.

“You’ll be forced to marry a horrible man. You’ll be arranged in marriage to some asshole stranger. And you will never be able to make a choice of your own.”

“That’s…” She frowned and shook her head. “That’s not true. My daddy says I’ll always be his little girl.”

I shook my head. “You’re a pawn. Just like me, like all of us daughters in the Mafia, you are athingto be used and sold and traded off.”

“I don’t…” She lowered her head more. As she seemed to absorb what I said, her spirits sank and her expression turned moretroubled. “I thought that was just something people say to scare me into obedience.”

Yeah, obedience that your husband will expect one day.

I hated to give her such a blunt reality check, but she would do well to be informed sooner than later. “It’s true.”

“How do you know?” She scowled, getting defensive and doubtful.

“Because I’m a Mafia princess too.”

She studied me the best she could with my hood still partially on. “I don’t recognize you. You’re not from the Family.”

“Not this one.” I tapped my finger on the tabletop, indicating the Petrov-owned diner. “But the Baranovs.”

She lowered her gaze again, seeming puzzled instead of shocked. This girl was too young to be aware that one of the Baranovs had been taken so long ago. She couldn’t possibly understand my return to the city, and that was why I felt safe to divulge my name. If she were to tell her daddy that I was here, he probably wouldn’t believe her.

I watched her, letting her sit with this advice, but I disliked the pain I felt for her to accept the truth. All of us women suffered the same ugly fate.

Married off. Bred. And dismissed. That was how most Mafia families operated, but not the Baranovs.

Because being owned like that was no life.

Even though most of my family was gone, I refused to let Eva be trapped in a hopeless existence. And it wasn’t the life I wanted for the baby in my belly, either.

I huffed. “I wish I could’ve been around to act like a big sister to my sister,” I mumbled to her, knowing this spoiled girl wouldn’t care.

“Has she been forced away to a horrible man?” the girl asked.

“I haven’t been in the city lately, but I plan to make sure Eva will never be?—”

Her brows shot up. “Eva?”

Shit.I didn’t like that spark of recognition that showed on her face. I felt safe enough to tell her who I was because I doubted she’d understand the significance behind my presence. But she clearly had heard of Eva.

“Eva Baranov is already married,” the girl stated.

I frowned, instantly suspicious that she was messing with me.

“She chose her husband,” she added.

Eva’s already married?It was too far of a stretch of the imagination to believe it. “Eva Baranov is married?” I asked.

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