Page 96 of Secret Baby for the Mafia Don

I grip her wrist, not to stop her but to steady myself. The power she has over me terrifies me even as it excites me.

"This doesn't change anything," I warn, even as my hips betray me by pushing into her touch. "The plan has to be airtight. No room for error."

She leans in, her lips a whisper away from mine. "Of course. I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Don Calabresi."

The formality of my title in that sultry voice nearly undoes me.

I capture her mouth with mine, backing her against the bathroom counter.

Her hand never leaves me, maintaining that maddening rhythm.

"You're going to be the death of me," I murmur against her lips.

She smiles, wicked and beautiful. "But what a way to go."

An hour later, I’m in Antonio’s office, all business, trying not to think about what I did to his daughter in the shower this morning.

"We've secured the warehouse perimeter," I tell him, glad that this morning his eyes are sharp, a welcome change from the confusion I've seen too often lately. "The cleanup is done. I’m waiting to hear from Falcone about whether he knows these guys.”

“You couldn’t make them?”

“No, but they’re pros.”

Antonio nods, his fingers steepled under his chin.

The gesture reminds me of when I first met him decades ago.

I was a kid, but even then, I admired how he wielded power without being an asshole, as my father was.

Then, when my father and brother died, he’d taken me under his wing when others wanted me gone. Sins of the father and all that.

"And our losses?" he asks.

“You, none. Me, two. Them, eight. I’m not sure if there were more and they bailed or not.”

“And Frank called you?”

“He said you asked that I help.”

Confusion flickers in his eyes and my gut clenches. Now isn’t the time to have his mind glitch.

“I suppose I did.”

Beside me, Gabriella shifts in her chair. I imagine she’s feeling the same concern for him as I am.

"We need to retaliate," Antonio says, the old fire igniting in his eyes.

"First we need to know who," I say.

Gabriella jumps into the conversation. “I might be able to help with that.”

Antonio's gaze shifts to his daughter, a mixture of pride and concern. "How?"

"We have a plan. Something that might flush out whoever's behind this."

We?I give my head a small shake. I only agreed if he does. Which he will. Antonio rarely says no to Gabriella.

"Agent Blackwood wants information on Marco's business," she explains to her father. "He's convinced I hate Marco enough to betray La Corona. If I feed him carefully selected information, we can track what gets back to our enemies and identify the mole."