Page 17 of I Would Die For You

So I steel myself with a deep breath and take the stairs to the first floor. One knock, then I am called in.

Don Giacomo is sitting on the leather couch, and when he pats the seat next to him, I softly breathe out a sigh of relief. I’m not here as his fuck toy tonight, it would appear.

“Good evening, Don Giacomo,” I greet as I sit down daintily on the edge of the sofa.

“Kaya,cara.” His heavy gaze is on me for long seconds. “Should I be starting to call you my goddaughter?”

I blink. “Pardon me?”

He laughs, a deep rumble rolling from his barrel chest. “My godson is smitten with you.”

“Oh.” I’m the current object of his fancy, yes. But that doesn’t mean anything.

Does it?

“I can see you blushing,” he continues, and it just makes me turn redder, which makes him laugh again. “He is treating you right, I see.”

“He is, Don Giacomo,” I mutter around my embarrassment.

“And you? Are you looking after him right?”

He’s expecting me to be honest. Being around Stefano and his desire for honesty, I can only expect the Don is the same. Also, one never lies to a Don.

“I believe I am.”

He sighs and takes a sip of whiskey. “Don’t let him break your heart.”

I sure won’t, because my heart is nowhere near this playing field or any other, for that matter.

“Don’t break his, either,” he adds. “But don’t be afraid to push back, too.”

I’m not sure what he’s getting at. “Scusa?”

He peers at me through narrowed eyes. “You haven’t met Giuseppe, have you? My son?”

I haven’t. Few people have, the teenage future Don always having tight security around him as his father’s sole heir.

“I want him to find a good woman when he grows up, someone who will treat him well but who will also be a source of strength, of personal power.”

I nod. That’s laudable, especially coming from a man as formidable as him, who holds the life of so many in his hands, his child included.

“Stefano is no less a son to me than my Giuseppe.”

What is he getting at? Is he saying I’m a good match for his godson? Me, a woman he’s been fucking for months before turning her over to said surrogate son? What sort of world is this? Stefano, we’re having fun together. There’s nothing more to it.

Is there?

“Will you think about it?” he asks.

I nod, again at a loss for words.

Don Giacomo smiles and pulls something from the inside pocket of his jacket. “This is yours.”

A little gasp escapes me when my hand closes on the small booklet. It’s my passport—he’s handing it back to me. This means…I’m free?

“Your debt has been repaid in full, Kaya Norton.”

I can’t help but blink up at him. “Don Giacomo?”

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