Page 79 of Secret Babies for the Italian Mafia Boss

A hand wraps around my mouth, and a dark, smoky chuckle is villainous in my ear. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, sweetheart.”

I scream into the hand and hit his arms repeatedly, but a cold blade is pressed against my throat.

“If you don’t want Taylor to go on the hunt for your little brats, I suggest you obey.”

Taylor?

Taylor is here, and he’s with this…monster?

I squeeze my eyes shut as tears and betrayal fill them. Luca was right about Taylor all along. I should have listened to him.

“Are you going to listen?”

I nod, shivering from the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

“You aren’t going to scream?”

I shake my head. I know better than that, but I do need to figure out what I’m going to use to fight them with when I get the chance.

“Good.” His nose brushes against my cheek. “I can see why my brother likes you so much. You’re fucking gorgeous.” He squeezes my ass and growls, sniffing my hair. “He always did get the best of everything. I’m here to take it away from him. What was his was always meant to be mine.” He removes his hand from my mouth and spins me around to face him.

He’s nothing like Luca. This man’s eyes are brown, and there’s a scar going through one eyebrow. His hand is dirty and black, slicked back by the natural grease, and I can smell the smoke on his breath. I look over his shoulder and see Taylor standing there, and he gives me a smile with a gentle finger wave.

“Hey, bestie,” he mocks, then gives me a sly, evil grin. “You really are gullible. I didn’t think it would be so easy to get close to you, but you’re just that kind of girl, aren’t you? Two little kids running around, I bet you are easy. And I’ve been dying to find out.”

“Fuck you; you won’t get near me!” I go to charge him, but Luca’s stepbrother stops me.

I didn’t even know he had a brother. What else don’t I know?

“Now, now, be nice.” He rubs the dull edge of the blade against my cheek, and I slide my eyes to the side, watching just how close I am to feeling pain. “Everything will be fine. Everyone will go on happy and healthy. All you have to do…” he clicks his tongue as he stares down at my shirt, the knife ready to cut down the middle of the material. “Is tell me where the fortune is. That’s all, sweetheart.”

I swallow, hoping my kids remain quiet and unseen. “I don’t know,” I whimper. “He didn’t tell me.”

“Liar!” Taylor roars at me. “You told me he told you. Just tell us where it is, and we will leave. I don’t want to be here longer than I have to.”

“I don’t know! I lied. I lied.”

The point of the blade digs into my chin as Luca’s brother lifts my head. He stares into my eyes and narrows his own as he calculates if I’m telling him the truth.

“You’re lying,” he yells, slapping me across the face.

I tumble, ramming my side against the coffee table. “Why do you need it? If you’re related to Luca, then you should have all the money. How do you even know about the fortune?”

He yanks me back by my hair and exposes my throat, the knife against my jugular. “Saying we are stepbrothers is too nice. I used to be family. Do you want to know what happens when Biancos get tired of their family? They cast them out and leave them with nothing, but I won’t be left with nothing. I came back to reclaim what’s mine, and it just fell into my hands, really. Your daddy was ill…” he mocks, pressing the blade harder into my skin. “And then I find out Luca is interested in you.” He bends down, and his horrible breath warms my cheek. “Then, Taylor told me your kids are his too, and I thought, wow, the universe is finally for me. I can take everything Luca loves away. Everything. Just like he did to my mother and me. You know she ended up killing herself after Luca’s father left us? I bounced around from foster home to foster home. The Biancos ruined my life, and it’s only fair that I get to do the same. Taylor here; he’s my foster brother. The one guy who has never let me down.”

“Give it time,” I state, glaring at Taylor. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he stabbed you in the back.”

“Watch. Your. Tongue.” He dips his sweaty fingers into my mouth and yanks it out, placing the blade against it. “Or I’ll fucking cut it out.”

I whimper and gasp when he finally let's go.

“Just tell us where it is.”

“No.”

“You’d die protecting that fortune?” Taylor asks just as Luca’s brother hits me in the face again.

I fall to the floor, groaning, and spit out blood. “I’d die if it meant it didn’t get into the hands of someone like you.”

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