Page 29 of Single Mom's Mafia Daddies

“If it comes down to me or protecting them”—I jerked my chin toward Lila and Leo—“you better leave me.”

“It won’t come to that.” Alessio palmed his pistol and backed toward the door. “We need to go. Now.”

Matteo checked the tablet. “They’re in the kitchen.”

“We need to get you to the panic room.” It was the only place that had a chance of standing against a rocket launcher. Alessio agreed with a nod, and I concentrated on Leo. “All right. Leo, you remember what to do?”

He launched himself into my arms. “Stay right beside Mama.”

Fuck me and my bleeding heart. I hugged the boy tight before relinquishing him to Lila and opening the door. “Stay behind me.”

15

ALESSIO

It physically pained me to let Renzo lead the way. I wanted to be the knight in shining armor leading Lila and Leo from danger. I wanted her to look at me the way she looked at Renzo when he grabbed her hand and wrapped her fingers around the back of his belt with a commanding order not to let go.

Renzo moved in that quick crouch/run, his gun steady and his head on a swivel as he scanned the area. Lila fisted her hand around his belt and kept pace, her other hand wrapped tight around Leo’s. The boy watched everything in silence, even when a crash boomed downstairs. Leo jerked a look at Lila and squeezed her hand.

I tightened my grip on the Desert Eagle—a gift from my father just before his death—and peeked over Renzo’s shoulder. We reached the end of the hallway, and Renzo dropped into a low crouch and angled a look around each corner. He glanced back and flicked his fingers in a “be ready to move” motion he’d taught Matteo and me to obey.

Shouts, curses, and more crashing from downstairs.

“Find them.” I recognized Vincenzo’s menacing voice.

Luca’s dragged on his brother’s heels. “They’re not getting away. We have the house surrounded. The boy’s as good as dead.”

Lila stiffened in front of me, her grip on Leo’s hand tightening to the point he winced and tugged on her until she relaxed with an apologetic grimace.

Hearing the two psychopaths talk about murdering my son hit me with a truckload of guilt. This was my fault. And it meant I would never be able to hold onto Lila.

Her fierce independence and the way she protected Leo would tear her away from me, especially after tonight. Even her free-spirited and unconventional nature wouldn’t allow her to settle into my world where guns and violence were more commonplace than love and happily ever after. She’d never shied away from admitting the truth, and it was time I accepted my truth.

I put Lila in danger.

Matteo placed a hand in the small of my back and pressed his fingertips hard into the muscled ridges. He tapped a four-beat on my spine and my pent-up breath rushed out.

What if…I tried to shake the thought away, to tamp down my selfishness and let Lila go, but it refused to leave. What if I showed her that she had not one but three men who would do anything to protect her and Leo? I’d seen how Matteo and Renzo looked at her. They were halfway in love. Renzo giving Lila permission to hold onto him was as good as a marriage proposal.

He crept forward, turning left toward the secret door at the end of the hallway. I’d had it built into the wall in a shadowed nook behind a wolf statue.

Footsteps pounded up the stairs. “Bedrooms are this way.” Luca again. The top of his head appeared, then ducked back, a cadre of men rushing past and gaining the top of the stairs.

Renzo opened fire, laying waste to the first seven men to appear in his sights.

I picked off a few others, taking care to drag Lila down to the floor and shooting over her head. Matteo scooted to my right side. I immediately shifted to give him room, and we split our aim to give Renzo cover fire to reload.

Lila let go of Renzo’s belt and covered Leo’s ears with her hands. She said something to him, and he clapped his own hands over his eyes and huddled into her chest.

Love so potent it made me want to breathe fire gave me strength and focus. I emptied the mag and dropped back a step behind Matteo to reload. Renzo knelt on one knee, the rifle pressed tight to his shoulder. He’d switched from auto to semi-auto, the slower fire keeping Luca’s men at bay.

“Can you get to the statue?” he growled between shots.

Once we ducked into the nook, Renzo would have an open line of fire on the men.

“Not yet.” Matteo fired off another shot. A man fell backward, his arms akimbo and his body flailing with death riding his face. Pistols barked a warning from the stairs. Wood splintered and sprayed over our heads.

Renzo muttered a dark curse and scooted back an inch to gain more protection from the wall. “We can’t stay here. If they find the back stairs, we’ll be pinned down, stuck in the crossfire.”