Page 75 of Captive Vow (Mafia Marriages 2)

My body reacts, my cock stirring in my trousers.

“Nova!” I wave at my daughter and gesture for her to come join us.

Paige scrunches her nose like a little kid, and I try not to laugh. Nova is rubbing off on Paige as much as Paige is on Nova. It’s endearing, mostly.

Nova flies down the slide and stumbles, tripping over her feet. She waits for a second, realizing she isn’t hurt, and then stands and finishes her sprint over to us.

“Come have lunch,” I say.

Paige stares at me.

She probably knows what I’m doing—avoiding the conversation that she wants to have. Like I told her, that’s not how this works. I’m not going to answer her questions about the mafia. Certainly not out in public, and not while she could be wearing a wire.

I trust Paige, but that doesn’t mean someone else might not have gotten to her before we met.

It’s a leap for sure, but not everyone can be trusted, and she was brought into the family and hired as my daughter’s nanny. She doesn’t need to know anything about the business or my position in it.

Nova plops herself down between us, and I unwrap a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her from a plastic baggie.

She sits criss-cross and quietly munches on her lunch. Not that I expect her to speak. I’ve grown accustomed to her silence. That’s not to say that I don’t want her to speak. I’m not a monster. But if she did start talking about what happened, I’m not sure how to deal with it, the trauma, any of what she may have witnessed.

“Is that good?” I smile weakly at Nova.

She glances up with wide eyes and takes another bite. She’s got strawberry jelly on her fingers and a smidgeon on her cheek.

Thankfully, I remembered an extra pack of wipes and many napkins to help clean her up before leaving.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Nova bursts into tears and jumps into Paige’s lap.

Shit.

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