Page 63 of Mafia Boss

Chiara shook her head. “She hasn’t told me anything, Cristian. You told me yourself that she doesn’t remember, but she never talks about her family that much. Has she said anything to you?”

Curling my hand around the steering wheel, I cursed under my breath. “No. She never talks about her family, never calls her family, not even when I first took her. I’m glad that she hasn’t, but, fuck, what the hell am I going to tell her? I have to kill her entire fucking family now.”

“For good reason,” Chiara reassured, gently rubbing my shoulder. “She won’t hate you.”

But I wasn’t sure about that. It took her so long—so fucking long—to even show the slightest bit of interest in me after I killed her fiancé. If I killed her parents too …

It needed to be done, but I didn’t want Roxie to get hurt. Though either way, she would.

“I was going to suggest that you don’t tell Roxie about it, but I think you should,” Chiara said, letting me go and staring back out at the river, watching the water ripple. “This involves her, and if you really want her to be part of this family and for people like Alessa to respect her, she needs to be involved in what directly relates to her.”

I ran my hand over my face and let out a silent groan, not wanting to mention this to Roxie, but knowing that I had to. I’d hated seeing how broken she looked after she found out what her grandfather had done to her. I wanted to keep this in to protect Roxie in every way that I could. I had told her that I wanted to make her Manhattan’s most heartless killer, but … fuck.

Fuck.

“Fuck.”

“I know,” Chiara agreed. “It fucking sucks.”

“I’ll tell her, just not tonight.”

Chiara cut her gaze to me. “Does that mean you’re not really going to tell her?”

“I will, Chiara. I just don’t know how she’ll react. She’s been … more aggressive than usual lately. I don’t know if she’s going to break down in tears or want to kill her family herself. If it’s the latter, I need to make sure she’s ready.”

She laughed. “First off, I don’t think Roxie willeverwant to kill anyone, except your ex, Alessa, who keeps fucking with her, but that’s beside the point. And, second, have you taken her to the range lately? She can shoot one bullet right through the center target. She’s been practicing.”

“She has?”

“Maybe if you keep pushing Roxie, she will kill Alessa for you.”

My phone buzzed, Alessa’s name popping up on the screen.

Alessa: Can’t wait to see you. xx I’ll be waiting at the apartment.

What the fuck was that about? I wanted to text her back and tell her not to go there because I knew that Roxie was trapped there tonight, but I thought it would be best if I headed there, so I didn’t need to have Marco protect Roxie for me. That was my job, and Marco was already too close.

My stomach tightened, and my jaw clenched at the text. “I haven’t been pushing Roxie.”

Chiara rolled her eyes. “Not even at the yacht party? When you kept talking to Alessa throughout the night? When you should’ve been with Roxie, keeping all your men’s prying eyes off her? Why’d you even invite Alessa to the party, Cristian?”

“This sounds like an interrogation,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Roxie’s my friend. I don’t want an asshole like you hurting her even if you think you’re doing something right. So, why’d you invite her?”

“I didn’t invite her. My sister did.”

“It’s your yacht. You have final say on who is invited.” Chiara turned toward me and tilted her head slightly to the side. “If you’re fine with making Roxie jealous and trying to get her to snap that way, why don’t you let Marco flirt with her a bit more? I think that’s only fair.”

I growled. “Get out of my fucking car.”

Chiara smiled. “I’m just saying. Youdowant to keep Roxie pleased, right?”

“Out.”

After laughing, Chiara opened the door and smiled at me. “See you later, and let me know what you want to do about Roxie’s family. Alessandro and I will help in any way that we can. And be careful, Cristian. If you keep pushing Roxie, she will snap and kill Alessa.”

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