Page 18 of Secret Mafia Daddy

“Is that so?” the man muses. “I’m Alonzo DeLuca,” he says, shaking my hand firmly. Almost too firmly.

“Angelo Bianchi,” I say, keeping my voice low and even.

He raises an eyebrow. “Any relation to Andrea?” he asks, and I look away, setting my jaw.

“No,” I lie. Andrea is my father. “Not exactly, anyway.”

Alonzo hums, and then ushers us into the kitchen, where Catarina says hello to her mother, a small, dark woman with silvery streaks in her hair and big brown eyes. Catarina must have gotten her looks from her father, because she doesn’t look like her mother much at all.

I sit down next to Catarina at dinner, lamb chops and baked sweet potatoes.

Alonzo says grace and then we dig in.

“It’s delicious,” I praise, looking over at Catarina’s quiet mother. She smiles, and when she does, she looks more like Catarina. It brightens up her face considerably.

Alonzo hides a smile, but I catch it. It looks like the way to please him is to be kind to his wife and daughter, so I have to put on a show. I don’t want him after me when we go back to Chicago.

I put my hand on Catarina’s knee. “I want you all to know that I would have been here for Chelsea’s birth if I could have been. I was on a job and had to go away for a few years.”

Catarina looks at me, shocked, but Alonzo nods his head, as if he understands.

“Did some time myself,” he says. “I know how it goes.”

“I’m just doing a few jobs here and there now,” I say, although that’s a lie.

I take as many jobs as I can get so that I don’t have to take money from my trust fund. I hate my father and I don’t want a single cent from him, if I can help it. There were times that I had to delve into his blood money, but I avoid it as much as I can, making my own blood money.

“As long as you stay safe,” Alonzo says, looking at me intently.

I smile, showing all of my teeth. “I can take care of myself. And I’ll never let anything happen to these beautiful girls,” I tell him.

“It’s good to hear that,” he says. “All I want is for all my girls to be safe.”

I’m glad I’ve already made a good impression, and Catarina is staring at me as if I’ve grown two heads.

She doesn’t understand that I have many facets. I can be charming and deadly. A dream and a nightmare all wrapped up into one package.

Which part of me you unwrap is solely up to you.

8

CATARINA

How is it that my stepfather seems to like Angelo, when he never liked anyone that I’ve dated? Not that I’ve dated a lot. In high school, he chased away one of my boyfriends just because he didn’t like the way he dressed.

But Angelo, who has basically forced me into this situation, is like his new best friend. The two of them are talking about prison and laughing.

Angelo wasn’t in prison for the last four years, but he’s convinced Alonzo that he was, and it sounds like he’s definitely done time at some point in his life.

I have to admit that I’m curious, but I also almost don’t even want to know.

The dinner goes by quickly and I clear my throat, standing up to announce that we’re getting married, but Angelo stops me with a hand on my wrist.

“Alonzo, I’d like to ask you for your daughter’s hand in marriage,” he says, as if I’m someone who has to be given away, like it’s the nineteenth century, and I huff out a breath, annoyed.

Alonzo smiles and looks at me, his eyes soft. “Is that what you want, bellissima?” he asks.

I nod slowly, even though part of me wants to run away from all this. I don’t like that this has been forced on me, but at the same time, Angelo is my way out of the city, and eventually, out of the famiglia.

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