Page 15 of Single Mom’s Mafia Daddies (The Forbidden Reverse Harem Collection #22)

RENZO

“ A lessio, you and Matteo investigate the threat. Cover fire if necessary but do not interfere with my men.” I slipped easily into death mode…perhaps too easily. Stealth and I had been friends far longer than any other aspect of my life.

I gathered up the remnants of my heart and tucked them away for safekeeping.

Leo and Lila were safe in my room. Almost as secure as our panic room, but moving them there would put them in danger during transit.

My room was safer, for now. If Leo followed my instructions, he’d never know the danger that lurked outside.

“Assault protocol.” I hissed the order at the three men waiting for me in their black tactical gear and dark masks.

They nodded and disappeared into the night, going left, right, and straight ahead.

I tracked left, toward the gunfire, and used Matteo’s latest tech binoculars to peer through the limestone.

Bruce, one of my oldest men, held off two others who rapid fired their ARs into the vehicle Bruce hid behind.

My teeth locked together on a growl. I stepped back then took a running leap and clambered my way up the corner and over the wall, landing lightly on the balls of my feet and opening fire on the two men.

Bruce spotted me, and a flash of white showed his smile before he joined me in shooting up the wooden blockade the men had dragged up from god knows where. Grunts of pain announced our success, along with the flailing bodies falling to either side, the blockage falling back on each of them.

“Double tap.” I jerked my chin from Bruce to the men, and we made our way over in a crouching walk, watching our backs every step.

Bruce made sure neither man would sneak up on us again with a single shot through each temple.

I wished I could feel regret for my actions, but I’d used it all up a long time ago.

All that mattered now was protecting what I had.

Alessio. Matteo. Lila. Leo. And my men. Those were the people who mattered to me.

A shadow separated from the darkness ahead and crept toward the wolf statues. I twitched my finger on the trigger, and a bloom of red spurted from the intruder’s neck.

“Watch the front.” I tapped Bruce’s shoulder twice and we turned to follow the wall around the corner. Asher rounded the other side and took my place behind Bruce. “I’m going back over.”

They nodded they’d heard and ducked into a hidden pocket of shrubbery to keep watch.

A series of gunshots stretched out from the other side of the compound. A burst of fear threatened. How had they gotten that far? Were we surrounded? My men answered the shots with a barrage that sent me into a full-blown sprint up and over the wall, across the yard, and onto the back veranda.

My lungs burned, and I relished the feeling. It said I was alive when others were not. I’d outlived everyone in my unit. I’d outlived my son. I would outlive these conniving bullies who snuck up on us in the middle of the night and threatened all that I loved.

The AR felt smooth in my grip, the stock and barrel an old friend I’d never forget. I laid down cover fire for my men, giving them a chance to spread out and flank our enemies.

Bullets sprayed the ground in front of me. I sneered and followed the flashes of muzzle fire, my aim as true as ever. Bellows of pain met the assault. I marched forward, step by step, until every last motherfucker lay dead or dying.

“Threat neutralized.” A man we called Twiggy because of his lanky build raised the visor on his headgear and whirled his hand in a clockwise motion.

I lowered the gun and swung it around to my back, checking my remaining weapons in case of another surprise. “I’m heading inside. This might have been a ruse to draw us out.”

It’s what I would have done and why I’d ordered Alessio and Matteo to stay inside, along with four other of my best men.

They guarded the entrances no one knew about except for myself, Alessio, and Matteo.

I left nothing to chance since abandoning my decency upon the realization that every man had a price.

I paid my men an exorbitant amount, but not all loyalty remained true in the face of greed.

Twiggy joined two other men in a sweep of the yard.

I reloaded the Kimber on my way through the side door after swiping my palm over the keypad. Silence bombarded my ears, the deathly quiet unnerving after the savageness of near death. I slipped up the stairs and along the wall until I reached my room.

The knob turned easily under my hand, and I cursed. Did Lila leave it unlocked on purpose or had someone found her and Leo? My grip on the pistol tightened, every nerve on alert.

Nothing moved inside the room. Shadows upon shadows with nothing to differentiate between good and bad.

I edged to the right and waited for my eyes to adjust. As I blinked, Lila came into view.

She sat in my chair at the foot of the bed, facing the door with a knife clutched in her hands.

A small lump lay in the middle of the bed.

My bed. Leo’s round face showed beneath a mound of covers, nothing more than the small oval visible.

“Lila.” I eased her name into the quiet so she wouldn’t startle and stab me or herself.

She jolted, her hands tightening on the knife handle.

I holstered the pistol. “It’s okay. It’s me. Renzo.” I padded over, removing my mask and stopping briefly in the moonlight when it broke free from the clouds and drifted into the room.

A ragged sob wrenched from deep in her chest. “Renzo. Is it over?”

“Yes.” For now. I crouched beside her and wrapped my hands around the knife. “You can let me have that.”

The vulnerability cut out my heart and left me exposed. Her lips trembled, slow tears running down her face and dripping from her chin.

“It’s okay. I promise it’s going to be okay.” I’d die before I let something happen to either of them. Then I’d come back, bringing hell and her minions with me to finish whoever dared lay a hand on this woman and her child.

She released the knife and scrubbed her hands over her face as though to eliminate any hint of weakness shown by her tears. “Thank you.”

I tried to answer, but no words came. Instead, my lips touched hers in a featherlight kiss of promise that turned inferno hot when she leaned into me and accepted a second, harder kiss.

“Are the bad men going to hurt me?” Leo popped up from beneath the covers. He brought them with him, scooping them around his face and neck.

“No, baby.” Lila crawled into the bed beside him and pulled him into her lap. “No one is going to hurt you. Renzo will make sure of that.”

Damn it. I didn’t want him to know. He was too young for the fear, the absolute heart-stopping terror, that came with our lifestyle.

“She’s right. And even if I wasn’t here, your mother would protect you.

” If we were going down this road, he needed to understand it was okay to rely on Lila.

She might not have my physical strength, but her motherly instincts wouldn’t fail her.

She’d proven that already with the knife.

I moved into the chair Lila vacated, twisting it so I could see both the bed and the door.

“You can go back to sleep, Leo. I’ll stay right here with your mother and watch over you. ”

“Okay.” He yawned and closed his eyes. The absolute faith and trust he showed staggered me. Would my son have felt the same way if he’d lived? I shook off the thought before it destroyed me. I couldn’t afford the distraction, even if my heart never stopped bleeding from the loss.

Lila rocked Leo and hummed lightly under her breath. I recognized the lullaby and added my voice to hers. She watched me from beneath her lashes, one hand lifting to trace her lips. Leo scooted from her lap and dug a burrow beneath the covers.

I stood and moved backward when Lila left the bed and walked toward me. A tiny smile raised one side of her mouth. “Are you afraid of me, Renzo?”

Yes. I tasted the word and the truth behind it. Having feelings for Lila were a threat that the Verduccis would exploit. I palmed the grips of my pistols and shifted the weight of my belt to a more comfortable position. “You’re a distraction.”

She stopped at the foot of the bed and draped an arm around the tall bedpost. “And you don’t like distractions?

” Her focus shifted from me to the sparse room around us that held nothing more than the bed and a single, half-empty dresser.

Everything I needed, I carried on my person.

Other essentials were hidden in go bags I’d scattered around the house, in the tunnels, and other secret locations so I never had to worry about getting caught with my pants down.

“Distractions get people killed.” I allowed myself to take a single step. One second of heat. That would be enough. I used the tip of my finger to lift her head and brushed another kiss over her lips. “But you’re damn sure worth dying for.”

“That’s not funny.”

“I wasn’t joking.” I forced my hand down as the door beeped–—two long trills that meant Alessio had unlocked it–—and both Alessio and Matteo stormed inside.

“They’re inside the house.” Alessio’s steps and the threat his words announced grounded me.

I turned so Lila stood behind me, safe and protected. “How?”

“The tunnels.” Matteo held up a tablet. Three red dots sped across a blue screen. “Three of them. High heat signatures. Metal detectors show one rocket launcher, rifles, pistols, and knives.”

I used the toe of my boot to flip the knife into the air and tucked it into my waistband alongside my hunting knife. “Lila, we need to wake Leo. We can’t risk trying to carry him out asleep. If he wakes and cries out, it’s game over.” I turned to face her. “Will you let me talk to him?”

She hesitated just long enough for worry to wiggle through me before she nodded and stepped aside.

I set one knee on the edge of the bed and peeled the covers back from Leo’s face. “Hey, bud. I need your help with something.”

Leo cracked one eye open, then the other. “You want me to help? How?”

“We’re going to play a game. A soldier game.

” I made it up as I removed the blanket and helped him into the solid black shoes I’d bought for him.

He liked the kind that lit up, but they posed too much of a risk.

“We’re going to sneak out of here. And I need you to stay right beside your mom. You two have to watch my back.”

“Really? Both of us?” He rolled onto his knees and stood in the middle of the bed. “Do I get a weapon?”

“Not this time.” I bit back the urge to return the knife to Lila. She’d held it all wrong, her grip more likely to get her stabbed than to hurt anyone else. I couldn’t afford the risk. “I’ll go in front. You and your mom in the middle. Then Alessio. Matteo in the rear.”

“I’ll watch your back.” He snapped off a salute.

I held out my hand, taking his small one in mine. “Good boy. Help your mama with her shoes.” I moved between Alessio and Matteo. “I’ll clear the way. Keep him from seeing, if you can, but the most important thing is to make sure they’re safe. If I go down, leave me. No dead weight.”

Matteo dragged a hand over his jaw. “I can’t promise to leave you behind.”

“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.”