Page 7 of Soulmate of the Mafia King (Kings of Philly #8)

PAIGE

I slumped on the couch in the common area and picked at my nails. Tom had been gone for an hour already, but the fight wasn’t until tonight. When I’d be with him. Maybe.

God, why did he have to say that? I didn’t care what Killian thought of me, and as much as I loved Sera now, I knew I would never want to be her, so her opinions of my decisions didn’t matter much to me.

But Tom? Looking at me with love overflowing in his eyes and telling me he wanted me safe?

It was un-fucking-fair, if I was being honest. My thumb started bleeding, and I stuck it in my mouth.

Sam sat down next to me. “Amalia’s younger sister picks her nails when she gets bored.”

“Neat,” I said around my bleeding thumb.

He chuckled. “All right, direct questions only. Do you want to do something?”

I looked around the state-of-the-art hotel room. Beautiful furniture everywhere, and absolutely nothing to do.

“You’ll learn.” He reached into his pocket. “Any time you’re going somewhere upscale like this, bring your own fun.” He produced a pack of cards.

I smiled. “You know, I’ve never played poker before.”

An hour later, I scraped the remainder of the pot of loose nuts and mint jelly candies Sam had bought downstairs into the massive stack in front of me. Rico threw his cards down. Harry groaned at the piddly two-pair I’d coaxed him into the endgame with.

“Beginner’s luck?” Sam raised an eyebrow at me.

“Whoops.” I laughed. “Did I say I’d never played before? I meant to say my dad told me there were two things a girl should never be honest about her skills in, and they’re drinking and poker.”

Sam laughed with me.

Rico groaned. “I keep forgetting your dad was in the life.”

I waved a jelly candy at him. “You can never forget that.” I popped it in my mouth and savored the taste.

Dad would’ve hated it. He always said anything mint-flavored tasted like toothpaste, and Mom always replied that was good because it meant she got all the after-dinner mints and bad because she still had to kiss him. I smiled at the memory.

“That so?” Sam leaned back against the couch. “I heard bits and pieces, knew you were in hiding or something, but not why.”

I nodded. “My dad paid off all his debts and tried to get out when I was eight. He and my mom decided it wasn’t safe to raise a kid in the life.” I stared at the pot in front of me. “Well, he tried to. One of his couriers stole the money, and I think you’ve heard the rest.”

“Ouch.” Sam ran a hand over his tight curls. “But he sounds like a good man, trying to get you out.”

“The best.” I swallowed. “Does this mean you guys are too chickenshit for another round?”

“I’ll play when Eddie gets up.” Rico grinned. “As long as you pull the same trick.”

“Deal.”

Harry tossed his cards into the middle and stood. “Not until they invent teams.”

I laughed as he walked away. Rico left with him, and Sam remained.

“Can I have some of your winnings?” He reached for a sunflower seed.

I gestured expansively. “What’s mine is yours—in exchange for your story.”

“Deal.” He smirked at me and snatched a few seeds. “My dad was in the life too, through a roundabout route. His mom remarried an Italian man after his dad died, and long story short, when Dad was in high school, Poppa said the mob was a safer bet than the gangs he was banging around with.”

“Wow.” I ate another gummy. “What about your mom?”

“Never knew her.” Sam smiled softly. “Dad said she just dropped me off on his doorstep. Nothing more to it. He wanted to do right by me, just not enough to drop the life, especially when the economy tanked.”

I nodded slowly. For the first time, I considered that I might’ve been privileged to grow up the way I did. My childhood was small, in some ways, but my parents did everything they could to take care of me.

“I think I have to go make a call,” I said. “I’ll be back.”

I walked into the bedroom and dialed Sera.

“Oh, my God, hi!” she chirped. “I was wondering if you were gonna call. How is everything? How are you? Do you know what the plan is? Have you talked to Killian today? Do you know where he’s going to be during the fighting? What’s it like being back in Cairo? When?—”

“Slow down, and I can answer!” I laughed.

She sucked in a deep breath. “Yes. Right. Fair.”

I told her everything I knew, which wasn’t much, but I’d gotten a few texts from Tom. There’d be two fronts of the fighting. Teams hadn’t been assigned.

“Killian is safe. Tom is safe. I’m safe. And being back here is?—”

Resonant singing cut me off. My breath caught. The afternoon call to prayer. I’d slept through all the rest. I sat down sharply on the bed as tears filled my eyes. On my last night with the bastard here, he hadn’t even stopped to pray. Phantom pain fired through my limbs as I remembered the sound.

“Paige?” Sera asked. “Are you okay?”

I couldn’t move my mouth. I just sat there, frozen, until the call ended.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “For everything.”

“What? Paige?—”

I hung up before she could ask me anything else. I couldn’t think. I just wandered back out to the common room on numb legs to find Sam, Rico, and Harry playing a different card game. Sam caught my eye, said something to the other two, and hopped up.

“Hey,” he said. “Are you okay?”

I started to say “yes,” but my mouth froze again, so I just shook my head.

He angled us away from the other guards, giving me a shred of privacy in the open room. “Amalia’d thank you if you decided to stick to the hotel. I’d even let you kick my ass at poker again.”

I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. “Did Tom tell you to say that?”

He shook his head. “I’m here to keep you safe. I’d love to drop some of the scum we’re here to clean up, trust me, but you come first.”

I nodded. “I’ve made my decision.”