Page 16 of Secret Baby for the Mafia Don

She nods stiffly, moving toward the door. "This isn't over, Marco."

"No," I agree, watching her retreat. "It never seems to be with us."

She pauses with her hand on the doorknob, and for a second, I think she might turn back.

But the moment passes.

She slips out without another word, leaving me alone.

I sink into my chair. My hands are shaking. I clench them into fists to make it stop.

What the hell just happened?

One minute, I'm furious at finding her going through my files, and the next, I'm inches from her lips, ready to fall back into the one weakness I can't seem to conquer.

This isn't me. I don't lose control. I don't let people get under my skin.

Except her.

I need a drink, even as I know that alcohol will do nothing to calm the storm raging inside me. It would more likely intensify it.

"Fuck.”

I thought I’d recovered from her rejection and in a few minutes, she’d proven I hadn’t.

I wonder if she knows that she could ruin me. Not my business, but me, the man.

The door's barely closed behind her when Roman slips back in, his expression a mix of curiosity and concern. “That was interesting.”

I shrug, wanting to avoid his scrutiny.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing important."

"Nothing important," he repeats, not buying it for a second. "That's why you two were standing close enough?—”

"Drop it, Roman." My tone carries a warning, but he's known me too long to be intimidated.

"Look, I don't care who you're fucking, except she’s?—"

"We're not fucking."

He sits in the chair across from me, settling in like he has no intention of leaving without answers. "But you want to and she’s not any woman. This is Antonio Monti's daughter."

Giving in, I pour myself another drink. "I'm aware of who she is." I knock back the drink and pour another. "She was snooping through my files. I caught her."

"And that required you to get so close you could count her eyelashes?" Roman raises an eyebrow. "Come on, Marco. I know you."

He's right. Roman's seen me through everything.

My father's cruelty, my brother's death, my ascension to Don.

He's the only person alive who's seen me vulnerable.

But this… this I can't share, even with him.

"She thinks I'm working against Antonio," I say instead, offering a partial truth. "She's trying to protect him from me."