Page 53 of I Would Die For You

His eyes are sad, and my heart clenches.

“What happened?”

I thought he wouldn’t answer me, the way he went all quiet, as if regressing into himself.

“I had to put an end to it. She was too young.”

So she’s not dead. That’s a relief.

“And now?” I ask.

He shrugs. “But you don’t have to go through that.”

“Nice deflection.”

When he smiles, my own smile grows. I wanted to lighten the mood between us, and it seems I have.

“I don’t have time or space for love, Kaya. I need to get my hands on the people responsible for my father’s murder.”

Right. I hadn’t forgotten about that, though frankly, it had slipped my mind in the last 24 hours amid everything that’s happened to me.

Something in his wording makes me pause. “So you know who did it?”

“Yes.” It’s short and clipped.

They’re Mafia, and he’s on his turf. “So what’s the hold up?”

He sighs, runs a hand through his hair. The way the locks get disheveled, I see a hint of the man I met and knew in Torino. It comforts me to know he’s still in there somewhere.

“It’s getting them both together that’s proving tricky.”

“How?”

I didn’t think he would, but he proceeds to tell me about it. It’s a young man and his girlfriend. Seems he wanted to be inducted into a MafiaBorgatawhile she had dreams of being a hotshot Mafia wife or girlfriend. A match made in Hell, in other words.

I tap my chin as I think it through.

“What?” he asks.

“I might have an idea how to help you.”

I explain it out, and he’s nodding softly.

“I need to run it past myconsigliere, but you might be onto something. Stefano might not like it.”

“Stefano will just need to deal with it. We both owe you so much for harboring us at your place.”

He laughs, deep and rumbly. “You’re family, Kaya. Let’s see if we can make this happen.”

I stand. “So this means I’m Mafia now?”

“We’ll call it your induction,” he returns with a smile and a wink.

That’s it. I’m made.

Now on to the hardest battle of all, aka my husband.

Chapter 17 Kaya

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