Page 71 of Corrupted Heir (Mafia Kings: Corrupted 1)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Fallon

Following Leo to the kitchen took a while. The house seemed like a maze to a person who had never stepped foot in it before.

When I entered, I cleared my throat to let her know I was there. She looked up at me with a smile. Maria looked angelic, with the light streaming through the lace kitchen curtains. She wore a white dress tight around the bust that flowed down to her ankles. She looked like a model, with her dark and silvery hair clipped up into a messy bun. She stood at the sink, peeling some fruit, setting them aside in a large bowl. Maria had peeled perhaps a dozen apples already.

“Ah,nuora.” She pulled the gloves off of her hands and threw them down on the table.

“Nuora?” I said. “What does that mean?”

She gave me a smile. “Daughter-in-law.”

I leaned against the counter. “Things are crazy here. Are Dominic and Vincent planning something dangerous?”

“Don’t you know?” She tilted her head at me.

“Dominic doesn’t tell me much.”

“Hmm. Strange.” She gave me another warm smile. “Yes. Of course, they are. Danger is a prerequisite of our lifestyle. If you ever want to ask that question, assume the answer is always yes.”

“How can you…”

“Go ahead,” she said, nodding for me to continue.

“How can you live a normal life doing normal things, like peeling apples at the kitchen sink, knowing your husband and sons are doing dangerous things?” I fiddled with the hem of my shirt. “I mean, Dom and I aren’t that close, but it still makes me so nervous knowing he’s going into the fray.”

Maria peeled the last apple, setting it in the bowl, filled it with water, and added salt to it. “To keep the apples fresh,” she answered without me asking. “You soak them in salt and water. I’m making apple pie for later.”

Maria untied her apron and hung it on a hook. “Come with me,cara mia. Let me show you what I do when I’m not making pie.”

She took me to a stairwell landing, and we descended the stairs. The basement was bright, not like a typical cellar or the dungeon-like basement I’d pictured beneath this house. The floor coverings and the furniture was just as elegant as the stuff upstairs, but when I got closer to the bottom, I froze. If it had been anyone other than Maria leading me down here, I would have been quaking in my boots.

At least a dozen antique-looking swords hung on the wall opposite the stairs, each one of them with decorative hilts, inlaid with gemstones. Ornate knives and daggers, some small and almost dainty looking, while others were long and curved with jagged teeth. And in the middle of the large room was an elaborate workout center. Mats all over the floor, hand weights of all different sizes, punching dummies—many of them with holes through their heads and chests.

“Don’t look so shocked,cara mia,”Maria said with a smile. “The Luca women are more than just pretty faces.”

Well, that certainly explained why the woman looked as fit as any twenty-year-old.

She crossed the room to the wall with all the weapons, selected one of the knives, and carried it back with one hand beneath the hilt and the other beneath the tip. It wasn’t until she held it out to me that I saw the delicate etching along the handle and blade. A bird in flight. A flower letting loose its seeds in the breeze. And by the proud light in Maria’s eyes, it was clear she’d done the etching personally.

“It’s beautiful,” I breathed, for the first time in my life, truly fascinated with a weapon.

“All of our weapons are etched in a similar manner—my way of sending a small piece of me with my husband and my sons wherever they go.”

“That’s…” I trailed off. “Beautiful” seemed redundant, but what other word was there for it?

“I do this because I love my family. And I put up with worrying that they won’t come home, because I love them. I trust my boys, I trust my husband will do everything in their power to come home alive. If I didn’t put that faith in them, they wouldn’t be where they are today. I give them the support and the love they need in order to keep going. We’re just like any other family, really.” She paused. “Barring all the crime, of course,” she added with a sly smile.

“I don’t know how you do it.”

“Because we’re loyal to one another to the very end. We will always be there for each other. I love my lifestyle, and honestly, a little bit of danger here and there is healthy for the mind.”

“My father told me everything. He reminded me of something,” I said lightly. “I remember you.”

“I was wondering when all the puzzle pieces would fall into place.” She set down the container.

“I remember spending time with a boy a little older than me when you guys started showing up at the house. Was that Dominic?” I asked.

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