Page 27 of My Mafia Queen

The kind of panic I’m familiar with.

“Okay. It was nice talking to you,” I say curtly.

I hesitate for a second, and then I go to her and hug her.

“Take care,” I say before spinning around and dashing to the front of the house.

I unlock the car and toss my bag onto the back bench while she watches me from the entrance.

I ponder for a second, and I still don’t know whether this is a good idea or not, but I slide my hand into my bag and pull out a roll of one hundred dollar bills.

I try to count the money when a voice barks in my head that I need to move. Just leave the money and run.

Tense like fuck, I sprint back to the entrance.

“Here. This is for you. If anything happens, take your kid and your mother and leave town. I don’t know how much you know about him, but things can get worse without much notice. Keep him out of Tina’s life, and I’ll never forget that.”

She stares at me, frozen.

“Put the money away, and under no circumstances, tell him it’s from me.”

“Okay. Go,” she says as we both have a bad feeling about the man who’s most likely just around the corner.

I rush back to my car, jump in, turn the engine on, and back out of the driveway before moving away in a rush.

Before long, I cross paths with his truck, and my heart wants to break free from my chest, fear pouring through me like poison.

A girl is a little girl is a little girl.

Some things never change, although I’ll make sure they will. Even if the little girl in me will forever be afraid of him.

5

CARMINA

I arrivein Las Vegas around one in the morning and go straight to Damaso’s hotel.

I don’t expect things not to be dicey. What I’ve done is ballsy, if not stupid.

I didn’t want to misbehave or snub him. And I didn’t leave because I disrespected him.

I left because my heart could only handle so much.

I expect to be picked up in the parking lot or the lobby and either be thrown out or taken to him.

I expect many things that don’t actually happen.

The woman at the concierge desk doesn’t blink when I walk to her and ask about him.

She says he is in the casino.

“Do you want me to check if he’s there for you?” she asks, and I say no.

I can’t show up there wearing sweatpants, a T-shirt, and a denim jacket.

We barely finish our conversation when an arm slides around my travel bag and my first reaction is to fight that person off.

“Easy,” Gianni says while Vito collects my bag. “We’re taking you upstairs. We need to make sure you’re clean.”

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