Page 47 of The Mafia Princess

“My, you are a pretty thing.”

She felt herself blush. “Thank you. I’m thrilled to meet you all.”

“Something sure smells good. I hope it’s one of my favorites,” he said.

“It might be.” The woman got a strange look on her face.

“What?” Remington asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I keep forgetting what I was doing. It’s age. I can’t help it. You better go in to see your father. He’s been pacing all morning.”

Remington led her through several hallways and then into a large room with all four walls packed with books and a large desk by the back window. It had a few brown leather sofas and chairs. The rug on the floor was expensive. Everything in the room was.

An older man stood up from his desk chair.

“There’s my boy,” he yelled, then walked over and pulled his son into his arms. They held each other for a long time, making tears pool in her eyes.

They pounded on each other’s back a few times before they separated. Remington pulled her into his arms.

“I’d like you to meet your new daughter, Anna.”

He looked down at her. “This is my father, James.”

She reached out a hand.

“What’s that?” James said and then yanked her into his arms. She felt like she was going to smother at one point when he finally released her. “I’m very pleased to have a daughter. I’ve been praying for one since this one turned three. The kid was a hellion.”

Aryanna laughed.

Remington grunted. “I was not. I was just an active boy.”

James sniffed and then grinned. “Come, come, have a seat, and tell me how the trip was.”

James walked over to a chair, and she and Remington sat on the sofa. They talked for over an hour about the trip they had, the business Remington had in the States, and a honeymoon they were putting off for the time being.

James looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Stop being a baby and come here.”

Aryanna turned to see who he was talking to and thought she saw a ghost. “Mama?”

The woman, Aleah, came and stood by James’s chair. “Yes, honey. I’m so sorry about so many things.”

“I thought you were dead. How can you be alive and not want to see me?”

Remington tightened his grip on her. She looked at him and saw confusion also. “You didn’t know?”

He shook his head. “No, Love. I thought you resembled someone, but I couldn’t place who. Now I see it. You two could well be sisters.”

James pulled Aleah down to sit on the arm of the chair.

Aleah cleared her throat. “Your father tried a few times to kill me. Even with guards around, he got close. When I got shot, the Master Guard, Camden, and later the doctor declared I was dead. They managed to hit my shoulder, but it looked like the bullet hit my chest. There was so much blood he fell for it. They got me to Scotland, and James has been taking care of me ever since.”

“How did you know him?” Remington asked.

His father spoke up. “We had known each other for a long time. We actually wanted to get married, but her father forbade it and made her marry Antonio. But we never lost touch.”

“Was I ever going to know you were still alive?” Aryanna asked.

“Yes, of course. We’ve been working to get enough evidence against your father to take to the council.”

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