Page 32 of Runaway in the Mafia
Fuck.
She was crying. Her body trembled, and something snagged in my chest. When her breath hitched and a painful gasp came my way, an icy chill rolled along my spine. My hands fisted, and something I couldn’t really fathom clenched in my chest. A thick heaviness coiled inside me. Tension radiated. I didn’t like this. Didn’t like it at all.
I lost track of time as I stood frozen, watching her painfully pull herself together. Stitch by stitch, she closed those openwounds until she was healed to the outside world. But when she stood and walked back, I couldn’t unsee her scars anymore. Nor the tears she’d shed.
Everything felt hollow. I leaned against the bark of the tree. When I lit my cigar, for some reason, my hand wasn’t steady. No matter how many puffs I took, it didn’t fill the vacuum inside. Damn this woman. What the hell was she hiding?
Before I knew it, I had my phone pressed to my ear, my underboss on the other end.
“Cugino—”
“Find out everything about Ahana.Pronto.”
A pregnant pause later, he came back to me. “She’s good.”
I let out a dry laugh. “Who’s the fucking don here, Sergio? Me or Mamma?”
“Don’t put me between you two,cugino.”
I pushed off the tree and started walking. “You find out everything about her. I don’t care if you have to turn her room inside out.Capisti?”
The hustle of the street invaded me, and I came to a halt a few feet away from my car. Lia was standing next to it, hands full of bags, Ahana beside her, rubbing her head like she had a headache. “Tell Mamma if she doesn’t allow you to do it, I will, and she won’t like the consequences of it.”
I shoved my phone in my pocket and strode to the car. The frustration edging my skin had boiled over to pure, unadulterated rage.
“Get the fuck in.” The lack of control in my tone mirrored my turmoil.
“Still moody, I see,” Lia muttered, but dumped her bags in the back and slid inside to the back seat when she saw my glare. Ahana hesitated, burned under my gaze for a full minute before she gave in and crept in to the front seat.
She looked over her shoulder at Lia. “You should get in the front.”
“Nah,” she shook her head. “You get car sick. Besides, I’m not sitting next to grumpy here.”
I glared at her. “So how the fuck do you drive with Giuseppe?” I narrowed my eyes. “Or are you taking the fucking bus again?”
“No wonder Mamma tells us you should have permanent soap in your mouth to wash out all your filthy words,” Lia muttered.
I ignored the nuisance in the back and focused on the one beside me. “Well?”
She dropped her hand from her forehead and frowned at me like I’d grown a pair of dicks on my head. “I drive in front with him.”
I ground my teeth.Jesus Christ, this woman. She was going to make me kill someone or myself. I preferred the former.
I reversed my car like I was on a racetrack and pulled out. There was a hot glare burning my cheek. I ignored it.
“You know, you don’t have to come and pick me up anymore.”
“Like hell I don’t. No more fucking sitting in front with one of my men.”
“How old is he?” she threw over the rearview mirror to Lia. “Ada must have given birth to him in ancient times.”
Lia’s giggle was loud and robust.
“Young enough to keep an eye on you. You seem to fucking need it,” I growled through my clenched teeth.
She ignored my insinuation. “Way older.”
I gave her a death glare.
