Page 36 of Secret Babies for the Italian Mafia Boss

I swallow and nod, watching as he leaves, and that’s when I let out a breath.

I’m lightheaded. I’m starting to think he might be bad for my health.

“Mommy! Where did your friend go? He’s so cool,” Oliver yells from the back.

“He just…” I try to wet my mouth from how dry it is and grab a plastic cup. Filling it with ice-cold water, I chug it. “He had to go.”

He might be able to fool others, but he can’t fool me.

My father’s fortune is the most wanted treasure in the criminal world, and I know Luca wants it. Playing with me in order to get it is one thing, but my kids?

No one uses my kids as a pawn in their chess game.

Chapter Ten

Luca

The picture I stole from Taylor is sitting proudly on my desk in a new frame, but the longer I look at it, the angrier I become. Taylor isn’t trustworthy, but right now, all it looks like is me becoming unstable and obsessed with Camilla instead of the man who is trying to protect her from someone who has ulterior motives.

She trusts Taylor more than she trusts me. My instincts are never wrong, and while I want Camilla to myself, the first thing I want is her safety and security.

Taylor infringes on that plan.

I don’t know what he is up to, but I will find out.

“I did the background check as you requested.” Alvize comes into the room, shutting the door to give us privacy from the club.

“I don’t like how skinny that folder looks.” I take a sip of whiskey, the burn adding to the determination I have to make Camilla mine.

“There’s nothing on Taylor, Luca.” He tosses the folder onto my desk.

“Nothing? Impossible. Someone always has something hiding in their closet.”

He takes a seat in front of my desk and exhales, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket.

“Hey, there’s no smoking in this room,” I remind him. “I don’t want my personals smelling like smoke.”

He tucks it away. “You got it, Boss.”

“Don’t call me that. I don’t like it.” I flip through the file, and all it tells me is how old he is and when he was born. It doesn’t tell me where he went to school, his old girlfriends, not even a speeding ticket. “It’s too clean,” I say with realization.

“My thoughts exactly. He’s had a recent identity change. No one is that clean. I couldn’t even find an old report card on him. It’s like he appeared out of thin air,” Alvize states with more exuberance than I ever expected of him.

I close the file and throw it in the trash. An alert on my phone blinks on my desktop since I have them connected. It’s a notification from Camilla’s apartment. Clicking the button, a video appears of a package being delivered, and I breathe a sigh of relief when the UPS worker leaves.

I am curious about what she ordered. It’s probably nothing, but I want to know everything she does, everything she likes, and everything that makes her happy.

Maybe I am a little obsessed, but can she blame me? She gave me the best night of my life and disappeared for years.

Alvize raises a brow, a question in his glance when I click out of the video.

“What?”

“You’re invested. You don’t invest in people. It isn’t what you do.”

“What I do and who I am are completely two different versions of me,” I answer, leaning back in my chair. “I don’t invest in anything that doesn’t pique my curiosity.”

“You need to be careful. She is the daughter of your former rival. She can’t be trusted.”

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