Page 76 of Hired By the Consigliere

Both of my friends nodded solemnly. They knew that there was no stopping me. Not after what he’d done. I didn’t care that he was a don or that he had as much money as Midas. His money and power wouldn’t be able to save him once I got him in my crosshairs.

“We are with you, whatever you need. You know that. But we do need to call Teo and let him know what’s going on.” I gave Alessandro a nod and he pulled his phone from his pocket.

“We might not want to bring Teo in on this one,” Luca said, stopping us in our tracks.

“Why? What’s up?”

“Teo’s got enough to worry about right now. He’s at the doctors with Mia.”

“What’s wrong with Mia?” Alessandro asked.

“Mira said that it was something to do with the baby. She’s up there with them now. Besides, we’re talking about taking out a don. That’s big. We all know that Teo will support us on this, but he might need deniability in case of any backlash.”

“Okay, so I’m making the call. Whatever you need.” Alessandro put his phone back in his pocket and we all took our seats. With a don as a target, we had to be smart about how we went about taking him out.

We were just about done with our plans when there was a knock on my office door.

“Come in.”

The door slowly opened a crack and Aurora peeked in. “Sorry to interrupt.”

I stood from my seat and motioned for her to come to me. “Don’t ever apologize for being by my side. Are you okay?”

I sat in my office chair, pulling her into my lap. “I’m okay, I just…I just…needed to see you.”

“Well, I’m right here.” I brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. “Guys, give us a minute.”

“No problem. I could use some coffee anyway.” Luca rose from his seat, as did Alessandro and the two of them walked out, closing the door behind.

With the two of them gone, I turned my attention back to Aurora. “So, what’s on your mind, beautiful?”

She swallowed hard and I wondered what she wanted to talk to me about that would make her nervous.

“What my father…” she cleared her throat and continued, “what Fabbri did…it’s unforgivable. I was so happy that I’d finally found my father. That he was alive, and I thought maybe we would have a chance to get to know each other, to build some kind of relationship.” She looked down, shaking her head and I tipped her face up toward mine with a crooked finger.

“There is nothing wrong with wanting that. You didn’t know what kind of man he was. No one wants to think that their own parent could be bad.”

“I know but he is…bad, I mean. He’s worse than bad. He’s evil for what he’s done.”

“But you know that doesn’t reflect in any way on who you are as a person.” I wished I could read her mind and know what she was thinking so that I could know how to comfort her. All I wanted to do was to make her feel safe, secure, and happy.

She nodded. “I know. It was my mom who raised me. Fabbri is nothing to me but a DNA match.”

“Good. I’m glad you feel that way.”

“But I don’t want you to kill him.”

“I—”

“I know you. I know you’d do anything to protect me. But I don’t want you to kill him.”

“Why not? It’s what he deserves.”

“I can’t marry the man who kills my father. That’s just way too Greek tragedy. I know it sounds crazy. I never even knew he existed until the other day, but I just don’t want to look at you and see the man who killed my father.”

I nodded. “I understand.” And I did, at least the rational part of my mind did, the part not crying out for blood of the man who harmed Aurora. “But you know, I can’t let this stand. If I let this go, it will just tell him— “

“I know. I know you have to do something, just please, don’t kill him?”

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