Page 77 of Secret Babies for the Italian Mafia Boss

“Calling Flora.”

“No. No!” I pinch the bridge of my nose and take a deep breath, swerving around a car going too slow. “Cora. Call Cora.”

“Calling Tora.”

“Fucking Christ.” I stop trying and pull out my phone instead, dialing Cora.

It rings and rings.

“Come on. Come on,” I tap the wheel impatiently. “Please answer.”

“Hello?” Cora grumbles, sounding like I woke her up. “Luca?”

“Yeah, hey. I’m sorry to bother you. Can you please give the phone to Camilla? I need to talk to her. I understand if she’s upset, but I want to talk it out with her. I want to figure this out between us.”

“Camilla? She isn’t with me, Luca.”

I slam on the brakes and pull over on the side of the road. “What the hell do you mean she isn’t with you?”

“She isn’t with me, Luca. As in, she isn’t at my apartment. You don’t know where she’s at?”

“No.” I rub my eyes as panic sets in. “We got into a fight, and she took the kids. I know they are mine, Cora.”

She inhales a sharp breath. “Well, that’s good. I’ve been begging her to tell you.”

I lean my head back and chuckle, but the sound is sad and pitiful. “Thanks.”

“Have you checked her house?”

“Her apartment? She wouldn’t go there right now; it’s too dangerous.”

“No. Her house. Her home. Her dad’s house. The one she grew up in. She and her dad weren’t always on the outs. She had an amazing childhood, so that’s probably where she is.”

“Why would she go there? Isn’t it abandoned?”

“Not in the sense you’re thinking. It’s hers. Her dad left her everything. So in her mind, she just went home. It’s probably filthy, but I bet she’s cleaning to keep herself busy. She does that when she’s upset.”

“But she’s alone. It’s too dangerous for her to be alone.” I hit the steering wheel with my hand and took a peek in the mirror before making a U-turn and going in the opposite direction to where I met her father for the first time. “Taylor is the one behind all this, Cora. Don’t ask how I know. I don’t have time for that right now.”

“I knew he was up to no good,” she grumbles. “Camilla likes to see the good in everyone first.”

“Yeah. I know. I’ll call you with an update. I have to go.” I hang up on her, doing ninety miles an hour in a forty miles-per-hour zone.

I won’t waste another second being away from her when not one but two threats are out there.

I’m going to do what I should have done at eighteen. I’m going to kill Xavier, and then I’m going to kill Taylor just because I fucking want to.

“Call Alvize,” I say.

“Calling Alvize.”

“Oh, but you understand that,” I mumble with impatience.

“Yeah, Luca.”

“Meet me at Thompson’s. Camilla is there, and Taylor is working with Xavier. He’s the one behind the shops being vandalized and Camilla’s attempted kidnapping.”

“Xavier? Isn’t that the guy that was your stepbrother for a month or something?”

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