Page 22 of Single Mom's Mafia Daddies

Matteo guffawed and punched Renzo’s shoulder. “I knew you had a sense of humor.”

Renzo stared him down until Matteo stopped laughing and withdrew his hand.

“Well fuck.” Matteo shook his head. “You’re a dark motherfucker. Good. We need it.” He grabbed Renzo’s tactical belt and yanked. “Come on. Let’s get to work.”

“I’m not a dog to be dragged around.” Renzo locked his feet and smacked Matteo’s arm.

Matteo danced away while holding his hands up. “Fine. No insult intended.”

They continued to gripe and fuss with each other all the way out of the office and down the hallway. I listened to them, Matteo’s need to laugh and Renzo’s steady stoicism butting up against each other until the front door opened and closed again.

The weight of loneliness bound me tight. I sighed and shifted my weight off my hip to retrieve my wallet. My father’s picture stuck up slightly from the middle, and I removed it with my thumb.

“If you were here, you’d tell me to get Matteo in line…I’m not sure that’s possible. He’s good at his job.” They both were. “I’m going to make things right.” I’d done my best after his murder. Seven years later and we were still going after each other, the Verduccis trying their best to eliminate me so they could take over.

Keeping the syndicates in line and ensuring the legacy of the Cavallo family were my responsibilities. How did I keep Lila and Leo safe? I trusted Matteo and Renzo with my life, and they trusted me. That had kept us alive many times when we should have died. Lila lacked that sense of safety, that knowledge and respect we had for each other that gave way to trust. If I told her to move, she’d probably stand still just to spite me. Then she’d be dead.

“Violence is in our blood, Son.”Papa told me that so many times I almost had it tattooed on my skin. Keeping Lila and Leo safe in a world steeped in violence seemed impossible.

I returned the picture to my wallet and waited for Renzo and Matteo to return.

The lookon Matteo’s face when he and Renzo stormed into the office hours later told me everything before the first word left his mouth. “They know about Leo.”

“Increased Verducci activity in the area,” Renzo added. “They’ve been all over our streets, talking to our people.”

“Fucking bastards.” I knotted my hands into fists and knocked them on the desk. I’d expected this, but to hear it out loud set my pulse hammering. “What are they saying about Lila and Leo?”

“Asking questions, mostly.” Matteo moved to the leather couch in the corner and sank onto the arm with his ankles crossed. “They suspect Leo is your son. No contracts out…yet. But rumors are spreading that they want the boy as leverage against you.”

I stilled my face before it gave away the terror trampling my insides. Suspecting Leo was my son was one thing. Knowing it for certain raised the stakes considerably. Nothing mattered more to my father than family, and he’d passed that down to me. The Cavallo line ended with me, a fact my father begged me to remedy.

“They’re going to come for the boy. It’s a matter of time.” Renzo’s voice carried a depth of pain I’d never experienced. The loss of his son almost destroyed him. It tore pieces of his soulaway and left him a hollow, empty shell. He was stronger than me for surviving that loss.

“I need to talk to Lila.” I stood and led the way to the veranda where she spent most of her time.

Leo ran around the yard playing with trucks in the sandbox I'd installed yesterday. The white, gauzy curtains lining the veranda had been pulled back and tied to the limestone posts. The layers of material rippled in a breeze that teased Lila’s hair and sent it trailing over her face. The shorts and tank top she wore hugged her curves, the brands expensive enough to show her taste matched mine. I took a deep, calming breath and sat in the wicker chair closest to her.

“If you’re here to hound me about Leo again, you can shove it up your ass.” She locked her arms across her stomach. “All three of you.”

“You’re in danger, Lila.” I tried to temper my words so she’d listen this time. “The men who shot up your shop, they won’t stop.” I angled a meaningful look at Leo. “They think he’s my son, and that makes him a prime target.”

“Then you should have left us out of your mess.” She leaned forward and glared. Purple shadows ringed her eyes. Her fingers tensed and released in a series of squeezes that left red marks on her arms.

She was right, of course. If I’d kept my distance, none of this would’ve happened.

“It’s too late for what ifs.” I scooted to the edge of the seat and gripped my knees with both hands. The longing to comfort her almost drowned me. “What matters is that my enemies think they can destroy me through Leo. And through you.”

Having a son threw a wrench in my empire. I’d planned on being the last in my line. The Cavallo syndicate would pass to a new family upon my death, one I’d yet to choose because so many led back to our enemies. I couldn’t risk giving them thepower they craved, even if I did so by accident. Leo breathed new life into our family line, a new Cavallo to carry on the family name and the dynasty that our ancestors fought and died to build. Family. My chest spasmed with a sudden, sharp pain.

“They’re not touching my son.” Lila pushed to her feet. The shift gave her an advantage when I remained sitting, forced to look up to meet her heated gaze.

I didn’t mind letting her have this moment of power. She had so little when it came to my world. “We all agree on that.”

“Send me somewhere else. We’re in more danger here with you.” She scowled down at me, her crossed arms pushing her breasts up so I had a delicious view.

I ignored the physical attraction in favor of keeping us all alive. “It’s too late for that. You’re safer with us than on your own.”

“You never should have come into the boutique.” Scorn laced her voice. “He’s my family, Alessio. Leo is the one thing in the world I can’t live without.” She dragged her hands down her face. “This is your mess. Fix it. Give me back my freedom, and my family.”