Page 39 of Claiming the Mafia Queen

We’re supposed to be ruthless.I’msupposed to be ruthless. And I guess getting involved with her kids is a good way to push that reputation past the point of no return. I could be a damn supervillain if I pulled this off.

And it wasn’t even in the cards.

After we finish eating dinner, the kids clear the table. Aria seems to have a weight on her. A burden. Like she’s riddled with thoughts. I can’t say I blame her. I have a lot of whirling around in my noggin too.

“Yo, Tony,” Tomasso yells with a dramatically fake and deep voice. “Do you know anything about skateboards?”

I laugh. “Well, I’m really into cars…” I trail.

“Oh, yeah, dumbass?” Mattia scoffs from the kitchen sink as Tomasso comes around the corner holding his board. “He saidskateboard.”

“Mattia!” Aria shrieks.

He laughs. And so do I.

“I meant…” I start, still cackling. “Before I was into cars, I was into skateboards…and video games…”

“Video games?!” Mattia turns his head, a smile wide on his face.

“You guys are so stupid…” Emma scorns, her focus not breaking from her tablet.

There’s a lot of stimuli happening from every direction. I have a whole new respect for Aria. She manages this many kids on her own every day?

“This is partially why I’m such a bitch…” she sighs, as if she’d been reading my mind.

I nod, chuckling. “I can see how this might be a lot…”

“Are you ready to be our new daddy!?” Tomasso jokes, hopping onto the couch roughly next to me. He hands me the skateboard. “Can you tell me if I’m supposed to loosen this?” He wiggles his skateboard trucks.

“That depends, how good are you?”

“I mean, I can’t do a lot of tricks…” he mumbles, as if he’s a little embarrassed to admit it.

“But do you ride it? Well?”

“I would say so…” he wiggles them some more. They’re pretty loose already.

“What are you trying to do?” I gesture to take the board from him.

“I’m wanting to land tricks better, but I keep toppling over…” he grumbles. “These work well for riding around the city, but when I’m on the skateboard doing tricks, I can’t ever land them and my buddy said it might be because of my truck tightness..”

“You need to tighten them until you get used to the tricks you’re trying to land.” I say. “Here….” I grab the tool he’s juggling across his knuckles and tighten it 3/4 of a turn more. “Try it here and get back to me.”

“Thanks…” he murmurs, before nudging his mom.

I look at her. It’s still a strange connection for me. She’s a mom…

It’s hard to see her that way.

She seems so normal in this kind of environment.

So comfortable.

When she’s in the club, she seems so comfortable being the Queen of Chicago’s most influential mob. She’s a criminal, with a calculating mind, and a greed for power. But here… she’s not like that.

Madam Rosa, on the other hand, was the same person through and through.

There was never any room for the mom's identity.

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