Page 132 of Secret Baby for the Mafia Don

I shake my head, forcing indignation into my voice. "That's ridiculous."

"Is it?" Frank stops directly in front of me. "You spend weeks with Marco, supposedly as his prisoner, and suddenly, you're back home just in time for Christmas parties?"

"I told you I don’t trust him?—”

“And you seem cozy with him. Your father still thinks Marco is his savior.” He shakes his head. “Your father is slipping away and you saw an opportunity, didn’t you? If Luca comes back, everything goes to him, but with Marco’s help you can finally get what you think you deserve.”

“What?” I force myself to remember that he works for my father. He owes me respect. “If my father heard you talking to me like that?—”

“He’ll forget it in a minute.” He shakes his head. “That’s it. Marco fed you some line and you fell for it. Maybe fell for him too.”

“You’re getting paranoid, Frank.”

His laugh is hollow. "You're sleeping with the enemy. The man who's trying to take everything from your father."

He throws up his hand. “It makes perfect sense. You feed Blackwood false information, pretending to help while actually protecting Marco."

He steps closer, forcing me to take a step back. "Your father has always indulged you, but this? Betraying your own blood for a man who will discard you the moment you're no longer useful?"

I can see it in his eyes. Frank truly believes I've betrayed my family.

And that is a crime punishable by death.

As the daughter of a Don, my death would need to be ordered by a Don, but I imagine Frank would see killing me as protecting my father.

He’ll probably blame Marco.

"You're wrong. I would never betray my father."

Frank's eyes have a wild, unfocused quality that sends ice through my veins. “Then we call Marco. Get him down here and I’ll take care of him. Get him out of your father’s life for good.”

“What?”

“I might have failed the last time, but I won’t this time because I’ll end him myself.”

“You ordered the ambush?” It makes sense when I think about it.

He called Roman and Marco to come to the warehouse.

He was there to oversee it.

“I had help, but yes. I've protected your father while I’ve watched Marco circle like a vulture. No more waiting."

I raise my hands in a placating gesture. "Frank, I understand wanting to protect my father.

That's what I want too.

But luring Marco here isn’t the answer.

The fact that your hired men failed is proof of that."

“You want a job done, do it yourself. I’m going to do it. Call him."

"Think about what you're doing," I plead. "You’re planning to kill a Don. La Corona will hunt you down. There won't be anywhere safe?—"

"La Corona." He spits the words. "They never wanted Calabresi in the first place. Like father, like son.”

The words strike something deep in my soul. Is that what Marco believes too? Is that why he doesn’t want to be a father? He fears he’s like his own father?