Page 418 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“Eat. I’ll hold the baby,” he says, nodding at the food.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Just as sure as you were when you said you’d never kiss me again.” He winks. “Don’t devour it all, okay?”

I sit down as he quietly sings a song to Aisling in Italian. The picture of him bent over her, smiling and crooning into her ear actually makes my nipples hard.

It’s beautiful.

Powerful.

And…really fucking sad, if I’m being honest.

This baby…she’s a precious angel who will be just as corrupted, if not worse than, as the rest of her family. Hardened, damaged, and tormented by things she could never change.

The orphaned babies back in Brooklyn…same thing. Maybe they’ll find decent parents, but more likely, they’ll end up living like me.

Committing murders to survive in all senses of the word.

Lying, stealing, doing unspeakable things all in the name of loyalty, expectation, and obligation.

I’m sure Maks never intended that I’d turn out the way I did, but deep down, I bet he knew I’d need skills to live on my own, that he was on borrowed time because of all the missteps he’d made.

So he made sure I learned them and used them.

Me, the orphaned babies, Aisling…we’re all the same.

I’m older, of course. Somewhat free to make my own choices now. But at one time, I, too, had been protected from my family’s mistakes, safe from their poor judgment.

And then I was plunged into a deep, dark hell that I can’t seem to escape.

Part of me wants to fling myself at Dante, to scream at him, to pound my fist into his beautifully chiseled jaw because how dare he contribute to this existence for his niece?

How dare he turn her life upside down?

How dare any of them hurt her?

Because it is inevitable.

I manage to choke down the delectable morsels of food, but my gut is so damn twisted at the poisonous thoughts looping through my mind, I miss it all.

I suddenly feel ultra-protective of her, like I’m the only one who can save her from the evils that lurk everywhere.

How ironic is that? Me, of all people, looking to save someone else.

Before the night my parents were killed, I never thought people were watching us and plotting against us, waiting for an opportunity to strip us of everything we held dear.

I never imagined we’d lose the most important people in our lives so brutally.

“Here, let me take her,” I say, wiping my mouth with a napkin and standing up from the table. “Eat before it gets too cold.” I take her into my arms and settle into the couch cushion. Aisling doesn’t miss a beat. Hell, I don’t even know if she realizes I’ve just stepped in for her adoring uncle.

Her adoring uncle who will never admit who he really is…what he really is.

I should detest him…all of them.

But instead, I just keep drawing parallels.

Finding similarities and connections.

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