Page 42 of Surprise Twins for the Mafia Prince
“We need more alliances,” I muse. “We’ve got the Irish in LA since Paolo married their princess, but they’re small players.Maybe with time, we can form other alliances and wipe out the Bratva without leaving room for anyone to claim our city.”
“Why are you suddenly so interested in getting rid of the Bratva? You seemed content to simply thwart their plans a few months ago. You volunteered to go undercover and steal information from them.”
“Yeah, but now they’re retaliating.”
Matteo’s brow furrows. “So?”
I scrub a hand down my face and sigh. I don’t like sharing personal shit, and with anyone else, I’d keep my mouth shut.
“So...I have something to lose now.”
“Ah. This is about the girl.”
“Paige. Yeah, it’s about her. When I agreed to go after the Bratva, I was fine with any risk. But dragging Paige into trouble wasn’t the plan.”
“There are always going to be threats and danger. Just make sure she understands that.”
She does understand, especially after seeing my knife wound. I expected anger, but she surprised me by accepting my promise to protect her. She’s trusting me to keep her safe.
Right now, that means eliminating the Bratva. But Matteo’s right—there will always be someone struggling to take what’s ours. If I want Paige in my life, and our kid, I need to become the kind of leader who can protect what’s his.
“You know, it’s funny,” I say. “I always knew I’d be Don someday, but I never gave much thought to what kind of Don I’dbe. I assumed I’d follow my father’s footsteps, do whatever he did.”
“Lorenzo is a good leader, but you’re your own man, Dario.”
And now that Paige is in my life, I’m getting a clearer picture of the man I want to be. It’ll be years before my father steps down, but I’ve always dreaded that day. Now, the future looks different. I feel a confidence I didn’t realize I was missing.
I’ll use that confidence to carry on the Andretti legacy and keep my family safe.
“I think he’s here,” Matteo says, nodding toward a box truck rounding the corner. I check with my sniper on the roof, who signals the all-clear.
I open the warehouse door anyway, letting six armed men pour out. They line up on either side of the loading dock, alert and ready.
But the next hour passes without incident. No one attacks our shipment, and the crates of weapons are loaded without a single shot fired.
It’s a relief, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s the calm before the storm. Our enemy won’t give up easily. I just have to figure out when and where they’ll strike.
19
PAIGE
“This place isn’t secure,”Dario announces as the car rolls to a stop outside the doctor’s office.
He’s not wrong, but what exactly did he expect? The OB he found for me works out of a downtown clinic. All glass and modern architecture, with people streaming in and out. Not exactly the fortress of solitude Dario would prefer for his maybe-baby-mama.
A week ago, I would have rolled my eyes hard enough to strain something. But that was before I saw him getting stitched up from a knife wound and learned about the Bratva gunning for him. Now his paranoia feels less like overreaction and more like...well, reaction.
The thought sits heavy in my gut; I wouldn’t be in danger at all if I’d stayed in Phoenix. No one would know I existed. That city’s only a few hours’ drive from Vegas, but it might as well be another planet—a safer, saner planet where pregnant women don’t need armed escorts for prenatal appointments.
But when I imagine being there alone, without Dario hovering over me like a particularly gorgeous storm cloud...I feel hollow. Empty.
It’s ridiculous how quickly he’s wormed his way past my defenses. I’ve learned his little quirks over these weeks; how he hates seafood with a passion that’s almost comical; how he absentmindedly doodles snakes on every scrap of paper when he’s on the phone; how he works out daily with a discipline that borders on religion.
None of it is earth-shattering information, but there’s something undeniably endearing about the everyday, domestic side of the dangerous man. Then there’s the side he revealed at the art show—raw and vulnerable and honest in a way that caught me off guard. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that honesty was the battering ram that knocked down the walls around my heart.
I’m softening toward him, and the guilt is eating me alive. What would my father say if he knew I was getting cozy with an Andretti? My mother? I already have a pretty good idea what my brother will say. Which is precisely why I haven’t told him a damn thing about my current situation.
Am I betraying my family by not hating Dario the way I should?
