Page 83 of Claiming the Mafia Queen

All of it.

Every moment that passes where we talk about Madam Rosa the harder it is for me to be ready.

Is it love that keeps me going?

Or is it rage?

I hold my posture upright as we continue to plan in our make-shift war-room. This is the first time I’ve ever planned something like this in a bar. I watch the men lean against the mahogany counter in a line, a few standing and crowding around, but everyone discussing amongst each other how this is all going to go down.

Alessandro is exhausted. He’s wearing it all over his body like a coat he’s pulled out of the closet. It’s blatant. Large. Bulky. I’m not sure he’s slept in days. But he can’t keep going like this. I can’t take him into a war with me like this. He’s a zombie.

I think of Aria, too…

As far as I’m concerned, I could forgive my mom if she hadn’t gone after Aria knowing I’d faltered. She’s proud. She’s diabolical…

But this is just cruel.

She knows there’s a reason I didn’t kill her, and she’s kidnapped her to punish me. There’s no other reason to kidnap her.

Kill her, sure.

For whatever reason she wanted her dead in the first place.

If her goal was really to take over Chicago, then why not just kill her and get it over with?

So, now that she’s taken her I know this is something different.

This is personal.

As far as I’m concerned, she’s the enemy right now.

Because I’m getting Aria back.

And it has nothing to do with me.

It has to do with her family. Not just the Morinos and the Lorenzos.

Her kids…

They need her.

They need her to be what my mom could never be.

Theirmom.

Madam Rosa turned her back on me.

I don’t want it to come down to it. I don’t want her to die.

I do love my mother.

But, if I’m backed against a wall…I’ll make a choice. It’ll all come down to love…

And I don’t love Madam Rosa…

I remember so clearly, the look in her eyes the first time she told me to stop being a whiny child.

Some kids whined, and I get that it’s annoying…

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