Page 84 of Mafia Daddy's Christmas Bride

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Roman stops abruptly, turning to face me. "If he was working as an informant like Vinny said and your mother discovered it, or maybe she stumbled onto something. Or maybe…" He hesitates.

"What?" I demand.

"Maybe she was working with him."

The accusation offends me to the core. "That's insane. My mother would never betray my father."

"To save you from this life? To keep you from an arranged marriage?" Roman's eyes bore into mine. "What wouldn't a mother do for her child?"

I feel sick, caught between defending my mother's memory and the terrifying possibility that Roman might be right.

If she was trying to find an escape route for me, what lengths would she go to?

"But how could he help if he was a nobody?" I ask. It makes no sense.

"If he was an informant, he could have whoever he was informing be able to help you. Isn’t that what you asked Blackwood to do? Maybe it’s through Ernie that Blackwood knew to target you."

It's all conjecture, but it makes a certain amount of sense. "But why kill her? Or him?"

He looks at me like I'm dense. “You know that in this world, disloyalty and disrespect are handled harshly.”

"But you didn't kill me. Surely, my father would have tried to save her too if she’d been linked to an informant. My fatherisn’t affectionate, but he loved her." Theirs wasn't a passionate marriage, but there was commitment and devotion. Of that I have no doubt.

"Love doesn't preclude betrayal," Roman says quietly.

I can’t believe my father would kill my mother, or order it or agree to it if La Corona demanded it. I just can’t.

I stare at Roman, my thoughts spiraling. "What if this Ernie killed my mother?" I ask, desperate for any explanation that doesn't implicate my own father. "Maybe he was using her, but things went wrong?"

Roman's expression grows pensive. "It's possible, but Ernie Abruzzo died of a heroin overdose around the same time your mother was killed."

"A coincidence?" I suggest weakly.

"Heroin overdose is your father's signature way of disposing of problems."

“So maybe Ernie killed my mother and my father killed him for it.” But even as I say it, I’m not sure whether I buy it. "Except how would my father have known about them? How would he have connected them?"

Roman sits on the edge of the bed, his weight causing the mattress to dip toward him. "If your father didn't already know about their connection, how did he find Ernie? And if he did know…"

"Then he knew my mother was planning something," I finish, feeling sick. "He knew and he stopped her."

The room seems to close in around me as I have to consider that my father killed my mother and this Ernie guy, all to save himself and La Corona.

I don’t know why I’m surprised. I know the Dons and La Corona come before anything else.

"We don't know anything for certain," Roman cautions, but I can see in his eyes that he's thinking the same thing I am.

He stands and moves toward the door. He doesn’t seem dangerous now, but he’s definitely distant.

"Wait," I call out, my voice small and broken. "Are you… are you going to take the phone?"

He pauses, hand on the doorknob, and turns to look at me. His expression is unreadable, those dark eyes giving nothing away.

"No," he says finally. The single word hangs between us.

I blink in surprise. "Why not?"

"Because if I have to force your loyalty, it's worthless to me." His voice is calm, matter-of-fact, but there's an edge to it that makes my skin prickle.