Page 48 of Sinful Mafia Prince

Dom jerked away from the hand that had just landed on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried. I just… I didn’t realize you had another sister.”

“I don’t.” Dom clenched his teeth as he looked out into the vastness of the lake. What had appeared beautiful only minutes ago now felt empty and cold. “She died—was killed—years ago.”

Luca gasped. “Oh my God. Dom, I had no idea.”

“Why would you?”

“I…” Luca shook his head, his eyes wide and a little glassy. “I don’t know.”

“Or maybe you did know. After all, your father’s the one who did it.” Dom wasn’t sure why he said that. He knew full well that Luca didn’t know anything about why his family was warring with the Fiores. But as the old memories continued to flood in, so did the old anger.

“My…my father killed your sister?”

Dom pinned Luca with a cold stare. “Yes, and that’s why he is going to die.”

“EW, IT SMELLS all gross and fishy in here, papà. Can Dom take me outside?”

Dom laughed as his ten-year-old sister Caterina screwed her nose up at the large bins of ice propped up to display the rows of red snapper.

It was Sunday, family day, and that meant a trip to the local fish markets. It didn’t matter where in the world the Rossettis were—Lake Como or Manhattan—if they were together, it was a day for church, food markets, and family dinner.

“What do I always tell you, my dear Caterina? What you’re smelling isn’t fishyorgross. It is nature’s bounty and man’s—”

“Hard work!” Dom and Caterina chorused, the speech a familiar one.

“That’s right.” Their father walked up between them and placed his hands on their shoulders. “And if you work hard, good things will come to you, too.”

Dom rolled his eyes. This wasanotherfamiliar speech of their father’s. One he took very seriously. Dom didn’t know of any other kid bagging groceries like he was after school. But then again, they didn’t have a father who was always talking about “when I was fifteen, I was outonthe fishing boats with my father.”

Dom supposed he should be lucky that bagging groceries was his first job. His parents were friends with the family who owned the little bodega, and it gave his father a good excuse to stop in once a week to pick up the weekly special put aside just for him.

Actually, it was like that all around the city. No matter where they went, it seemed someone knew Dom’s father and had something to offer, and the markets were no different.

“Vincenzo!” A big, burly guy behind one of the fish stands greeted Dom’s father the way he did every Sunday, with a smile and his arms held out like they were long-lost friends.

“Mario!”

Vincenzo headed over to the end of the stand, and Dom was about to go with him when a light hand on his shoulder made him stop.

“You wait here with me and the girls,” his mother said, as she handed Dom a wipe and gestured to his baby sister Giuliana’s grinning face. Dom crouched down and chuckled when he saw blueberries smeared all over her hands and face.

“You’re supposed to eat them, picciriella, not paint with them.” As he wiped off her hands, she giggled and reached out to draw a blueberry line down his cheek.

“Pretty,” she said as Dom did his best to move out of her reach.

“Stop.”

Giuliana picked up a couple more of the berries on her tray and squished them between her fingers. When they popped open, she laughed with delight, and her bright blue eyes—just like their mother’s—shone up at him. “It’s sticky.”

Dom sighed and took her hand again, wiping it clean. “Then stop popping them.”

He was just about to ask for some more wipes when Caterina shrieked behind them. He jumped to his feet, and his mother quickly turned to see what all the commotion was about.

Dom’s heart raced as an irrational sense of fear gripped him and he scanned the markets, starting to think of ways to get to his sister. But when he spotted a man dangling an octopus in front of her face, he immediately let out a sigh of relief.

Why did he think something would be wrong? Caterina was just being a silly girl. She hated coming to the fish markets; he knew that. But when he turned around to see his father back by his mother’s side with a protective arm around her shoulders, something in Dom’s stomach twisted.

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