Page 10

“Sure thing. You stay here with the she-devil.”

“Fuck off, both of you.”

Mac and I knew why Cian had volunteered to stay here. There would be no one else in the house but him and Caity. He wouldn’t make a move. Not while she was still married. But he could watch her. Soak in her presence without anyone being the wiser.

Or so he thought.

Sal might be oblivious to how Cian felt about his sister, but I wasn’t. I knew exactly how much he wanted to find Kelley and make her a widow. And it wasn’t for the good of the family.

No, Cian’s motives were purely selfish. He wanted Caity for himself. I knew when the time was right, he would talk to Sal. And when he did, Mac and I would back him up. No one would treat Caity better.

Chapter Four

Maddie

I rushed from the house, wrestling with my coat as I flew down the front steps. It was almost time. They would be at the park soon, and I needed to be there before they arrived.

Quickly finding the bench I always sat on, I waited, watching the path they would walk down. It might have been the end of December, but they were here every week as long as it wasn’t raining.

This would be the last time I saw him. There would be no more visits, no more watching him grow. I wouldn’t see him pushing his little brother, who was really his cousin, on the swings.

He looked so much like his father; it made my heart ache. My precious little boy. He was supposed to be safe. And he had been.

I didn’t regret my decision.

Not really.

It was the only option.

If my father had known about Henry, there was no telling what he would have done. That wasn’t true. I knew exactly what he would have done. He did it to Sal.

Henry’s father was dead because of me.

My father had beaten me when he found out about Henry. He wasn’t just angry I’d had a child out of wedlock. He was angry he didn’t know about it until years later.

He was angry that my son’s father was Italian and not Irish. And he was angry that he couldn’t get to him. So instead he got to his father.

When I met Salvatore Valentinetti, I was only twenty years old. He was thirty-three. We met by chance. He had a meeting with my father, and I happened to be at his office that day.

When I discovered I was pregnant, Sal was the only person I told. Not even my mother knew. I immediately looked into transferring schools. I couldn’t stay at NYU. My parents couldn’t know.

Sal helped with an apartment, and I transferred to UNLV, in Nevada. I made sure I was on the other side of the country, as far from my father as I could get.

When Henry was born, I didn’t stay. I couldn’t bear to walk away, but I knew he would never be safe otherwise. Sal raised Henry until my father found out and had Sal murdered.

Now my son lived with his aunt and uncle. I should have known he would never have a normal life. I was a Mob princess. Sal, a Mafia prince. Now he would grow up in the Bratva.

There were times I wished I’d never told Sal. I should have run. Given Henry up for adoption. Given him a chance at a normal life.

But then I saw him in the park. Saw how happy he was. Knowing he was safe made everything I’d done worth it. My father would never consider going up against the Bloodletter.

He may be a cruel man, but he wasn’t stupid.

What my mother ever saw in him, I would never understand. She knew what he was. Yet, she stayed.

She deserved so much better.

Like Cian.