Page 92 of Secret Baby for the Italian Mafia King

“I’m sorry, Nadia—”

“Don’t think I can’t kick your ass, too, Elijah. Answer my question and tell me what happened to my daughter.”

Elijah steels himself, works his stiff jaw up into speaking.

“Marlow was there. At the club, when I went to pick up Sincere. I think he’d caught onto what was happening. I don’t know how. It sounded like he knew you’d been there. Maybe surveillance, maybe someone told him. I don’t know. He was ready for you, but he got me instead.”

My heart sinks.

He hangs his head, rubs his hands over his face.

“What did he do, Elijah?” I demand, bracing myself for the worst.

“I tried to barter for her, for Sincere. Play it off like it was just business, but he knew what I was going to do if he hadn’t been there. I offered to pay him off, or…work out some kind of deal. I tried to make it sound like I wanted her the same way any of his other clients do, but Marlow knows what I go to the club for. Or…who. Sincere had travel plans that were already arranged and paid for, and they weren’t changing. That’s what he said.”

He chews on his next words.

“I don’t know how well you know your uncle—”

“Too well.”

“Then you know what his threats sound like. He threatened Cali. Not directly, not in so many words. But it was a threat. He told me to keep Ren out of the meeting of the families. Made me leak the time and location so he could be there himself. He said if I didn’t get control, if I didn’t make sure this went Dellucci’s way—”

His expression darkens.

“I put someone else on the job. I just said I needed a distraction to get Ren out of the meeting. Whatever it took. I never thought they would poison achild. Nadia, I swear I didn’t think it would go that far. It didn’t even…didn’t even occur to me. Christ, they could have messaged him and just lied about it, that would have done just as much—”

I know he’s trying to protect her, but there’s only one person with free access to the house that would have been able to accomplish that.

“Olivia.”

His eyes close—a certain yes.

“I guess it doesn’t matter. She’s long gone now. I gave her a head start.”

I stare out into the street, watching the occasional passing car. It’s a warm day, but my limbs feel cold. Like all the blood has drained out of me.

That bitch.

“Like I told Ren. This is my fault, whether I did it or not. I only came here because I wanted to help him. I didn’t want to betray him.” His voice almost breaks, but he clears his throat hard. “I hope you understand that I did what I had to do, Nadia. I know Ren won’t. But Ren isn’t the only one who gets to drive this family into the ground over a woman.”

Having heard the whole tale, I don’t know how to feel.

“I think Ren is right,” I finally say, “It’s better if you go for now.”

“…are you going to tell him?”

“Do you think that’s smart?”

His expression pinches and he nods in agreement with me. The less Ren knows right now, the better. Before he stops using his fists and starts using something faster and more decisive.

“Go home, Elijah. And don’t come back here until you’re told to.”

If he’s ever told to.

I sit on the steps a while longer, letting my emotions settle. Sincere is probably gone. Dead or sold off to someone. Luna hasn’t answered me, so she’s probably in just as much trouble, if not something worse. And Harper—Harper got mixed up in mob business and ended up in the hospital.

I put my head in my hands.

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