Page 35 of Mafia Boss's Baby Surprise

“Maybe it’s a good thing if Marcello becomes the mayor of his city or whatever,” I say.

“How? That would make everything more difficult. He’d double his protection, and all eyes would be on him. Going against him would—”

“But we’d know exactly where he is and where he’s going to be. I could sneak past his guards, point a gun at him, and kill him while he’s holding a speech or whatever. I’d go down for it, but so what? Marcello would be dead.” And I’d have the satisfaction of knowing that it was me who pulled the trigger.

“Are you out of your mind?” Theo shakes his head at me. “I know you hate Marcello, but you can’t let him ruin your life. Will you finally tell me how the whole feud started and why your father killed his brother?”

“No.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

“Yeah, I think I heard that exact same sentence before.”

“We’re gathering info, and we’ll have something soon.”

“We need to do more than that,” I say. “We can’t just wait. Set me up a meeting with Cole Icardi.”

Theo gapes at me. “What? Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The Icardis’ territory is now the only thing between Marcello and me.” I don’t like the idea of striking a deal with the Icardis, especially since they’re my competition and my less significant enemy, but Marcello and Marya are my priorities.

I have to sacrifice something to get something.

“Well, yeah. But Cole doesn’t like you, and I thought you didn’t want to make a deal with him.”

“I don’t like him either, but business is business. If he doesn’t partner up with someone, he’s going to get squashed between Marcello and me. Marcello will keep expanding his territory, and he’ll want the Icardis’ too. He’s too power-thirsty to ever want to stop. It’ll never be enough for him, even if he became the president of the whole damn country. It’s just who he is, and everyone knows it. I don’t care about the Icardis’ territory. That should be enough for Cole to get over his dislike of me.”

“But what do we get out of it?”

“If I start a war with Marcello, it’ll be easier if it happens in the Icardis’ territory. If Cole works with us, we’ll be able to use his resources and forces.”

Theo frowns. “But you have your cousins for that. Alessandro and Brando will lend you their forces and everything you might need. Let Marcello destroy the Icardis and lose some of his men, and when he comes to you, you and your cousins will take care of him.”

“I don’t want my cousins to get involved. Marcello is my enemy, not theirs.”

“He’ll become theirs too if he gets even closer to us.”

“Alessandro and Brando have their families to think about and their own enemies too. I don’t want to weaken them. We don’t know how many alliances Marcello has made, and since Marya is with him, something’s about to happen. That’s why I have to confront him on my own first if I don’t find a way to kill him. Then we’ll know exactly what he’s capable of, and Alessandro and Brando will know what to do. If we all just rush into war, there’ll be chaos.”

“What if Marcello already made a deal with the Icardis?”

“Then we’re going to find out about it.” I shrug. “Just get it done.”

Theo gives me a nod.

I grab my jacket and head out. Now there’s only one thing on my mind.

Aurora.

When I get to the club, I look for her everywhere. Where is she? I can’t see her. The thought that she might’ve gone off with someone else makes my blood boil.

But she’s not like that. She would’ve at least told me.

Why isn’t she coming? She said she would be here. What if something happened to her? I don’t see her friend anywhere either.

I should’ve followed her. I should’ve found out everything about her, but I wanted the mystery to last a little bit longer. Now she might be in trouble, and I can’t help her.

A blonde approaches me, batting her eyelashes at me and exposing her breasts, but I don’t feel even the tiniest twinge of desire or interest.

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