Page 18 of King

I clear my throat loudly and force my eyes away from her.

I’m horrified with myself. How can I still be attracted to her?

Especially now, when she’s manipulated her way into my home, the last thing I want is for her to realize she has any power of me.

“Zina, I suggest you stay on your side of the mansion. Keep away from my sons. I don’t want you interacting with them unnecessarily. And Guido should do the same. We eat dinner as a family. But that is it. The rest of the time I don’t want to see you.”

She turns to me with a sly smile. “We’ll see.” She says casually.

I knot my brows. “What does that mean?”

“This is our home now, Gio.” She shrugs. “Nothing should be off limits.”

“I have set boundaries in place, Zina and I expect you to follow them.” I say, glaring at her.

She tilts her head to the side, her eyes glittering with something I can’t read.

Her expression stirs my cock and fires my anger.

I need to leave before I’m the one crossing boundaries.

I march out of the room, angry with myself more than her.

In the living room of the living room near the front of the house I sit down heavily on the sofa, pressing my hand over my face as I try to calm those inappropriate thoughts.

When I open my eyes my son is standing in front of me, his eyes fixed on with me disbelief.

“You’ve lost your mind.” Santino says. “Dante isn’t even close to dealing with our mother’s death, and what do you do - you move your mistress into our home. Romeo wants to kill her. You expect me to hold them all together and keep everyone happy - but I don’t agree with you. I think you’ve gone insane.”

“Santino, you’re old enough to understand.” I sigh.

“Am I? Is that because I’m almost as old as you were when you cheated on mom?” he snarls.

“Don’t you ever talk like that again.” I growl, standing up and glaring down at him. “I am your father, and you will respect me.”

He shakes his head.

“I respect you. But right now I’m questioning your judgement.” He says with malice in his voice. “I think you lost your mind when mom died.”

“I am grieving your mother as deeply as you and your brothers are, Santino. Don’t question my love for her.” I mutter, angrily.

“But you betrayed her. For that slut.”

My chest tightens when he insults Zina. She isn’t a slut. What happened between her and I wasn’t like that - it was real. It was genuine.

But I press my lips together biting back my words because I can’t defend her to my son.

I can’t expect him to accept that I could love them both at the same time. Bella and Zina.

In different ways. Two different kinds of love.

My face softens as I watch my son.

“I’m sorry, kid.” I say with a deep sigh.

“I’m not a fucking kid anymore. Just make them leave.” He pleads.

“I can’t. They have to be here - for our family. I need to do whatever I can to keep this quiet.”

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