Page 7 of Single Mom's Mafia Daddies
“No thanks to you.” I barely muttered the words, but they landed between us with delicate precision. I straightened my shoulders and pinned him with a look. “If you’re not here to shop, I’d like you to leave.”
“Then I’ll shop.” He closed the distance in a single stride, forcing me to tilt my head back to continue looking him in the eye. “It’s good to see you.”
He walked around me, making his way to the counter. I cursed him silently under my breath and checked my watch. I’d have to leave soon to pick up Leo. What was I going to do about Alessio?
He stopped at the glass case and examined a row of Rolex watches. His broad shoulders tensed, his entire body turning tense. One hand lifted, those long fingers my body still remembered stretching across the counter to snatch up the picture of me and Leo during our last summer vacation. I’d taken him to the beach and snapped the selfie of us just as a wave crashed at our feet and we’d burst out laughing. Our smiles matched, but everything else—from Leo’s hair to his complexion and his eyes—made him a miniature version of his father.
“Who is this?” He tapped the frame, his fingertip sliding over Leo and across to me. Curiosity and confusion deepened his eyes and turned them hard as steel.
My breath rushed out with the kind of gut-wrenching whoosh that left me lightheaded. My Leo. That was what I wished to say. The son Alessio fathered and did not deserve. The child my parents urged me to terminate so I had a betterchance of pursuing my business goals. I reached for the frame and peeled it from his hands, searching for a way to distract him from the truth staring him in the face.
Alexis burst through the stockroom door and skidded to a stop, her eyes wild and panicked. “Lila? I need you in the back. Those Hermes bags were already in transit. They’re here.”
“Damn it.” I set the frame back on the counter. “Feel free to look around, Mr. Cavallo.” I forced the name out despite the clenching in my gut and my tongue feeling three sizes too big for my mouth.
He fisted his hands on top of the counter and leaned toward me. His voice dropped to a tone so soft the danger in it had no place to hide. “We’re not finished. I’ll be back.”
4
ALESSIO
What the fuck? Blood roared in my ears. I gave the order to drive back to my penthouse where Matteo and Renzo waited for me without hearing the words. They’d tried to insist they tag along for my safety, but I’d overruled them. I was glad of it as I leaned into the leather seat and let Dominic drive while I stewed over the riot of information swirling out of control.
Lila remained in the forefront of my thoughts, the place she’d lived since the day we met. I rubbed the ache in my head and unbuttoned my shirt when the strangling sensation choked me. I’d tried to bury my memories of her, and I’d managed to lock up the emotions so they no longer infiltrated my day-to-day life as the leader of the Italian cartel.
The photo unlocked every chain and threw them so far away I might never regain control.
He looked like me. A jagged pain speared my heart and clenched my gut. I’d seen two photos of myself at roughly that age, and in both I looked exactly like the tousle-headed boy Lila held tight to her side as the two of them laughed with a kindof wild abandon I’d never experienced. Our resemblance was undeniable.
“I have no choice but to leave. Forgive me.”The note I’d left Lila traipsed through my thoughts, the same as every day, the regret of it almost ruining me until I learned how to bury the pain.
Lila had looked at me with scorn and derision. If she’d ever loved me, I had uprooted it and drowned it when I walked away. “No one to blame but yourself.”
“Sir?” Dominic spoke through the open window.
I waved him off. “Talking to myself.”
“Yes, sir. Giving yourself good advice?”
“Afraid not.” I managed a weak laugh. “Take the rest of the day off, Dom. I’ll be in meetings until tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.” Dominic’s grin stretched his entire face into an animated caricature of joy. He drove up to the front door and tipped his hat with a nod. “Have a good afternoon, Mr. Cavallo.”
Not likely. My heart continued to ache as guilt clawed through me. Suspicion nagged right alongside, the two of them fighting for dominance. The child had to be mine. Why did Lila refuse to answer my questions? I needed answers.
With the turf wars between the different syndicates climbing to an all-time high and the recent attacks on my family that started seven years ago with my father’s death, my primary focus remained on protecting what my family had built. Part of that included preserving the future for the next generation, and if that boy was mine, he belonged by my side. Lila too.
Too risky. I’d left to protect her. What kind of man did that make me if I brought her into my world for my own piece of mind?
Matteo waited for me inside the penthouse. His long legs stretched upward to allow his feet to rest on the balcony’s open railing. The city skyline spread across the distance, cloggingthe air with fumes and smog. I missed Italy with a bone-deep longing, but the ache of losing Lila cut deeper.
Matteo adjusted his grip on a martini glass, his designer clothes rumpled and wavy hair blowing around his face. He brushed at the curls absentmindedly, his easy grin hiding the ruthless intelligence that made him my elite strategist.
“You’re just in time for Renzo to blink.” He raised his glass in a toast toward Renzo.
Renzo remained perfectly still, hands behind his back, his tactical black vest and pants hiding him within the shadows. He scanned the street below, then the buildings all around, his gaze narrowed and intense. Always the soldier.
“Damn. I think I missed it.” Matteo sat forward. “Did you justsigh,Renzo? I can’t believe it.” He put a hand over his heart. “I made him feel anemotion.”