Her eyebrows draw down. “How about the little bakery down the street?”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
“I’ll walk,” she tells me, knowing better than to get in a car with a stranger.
Ten minutes later, we’re sitting at a table, staring at each other over a fresh cup of coffee and a cannoli. I’ve spilled my guts, telling her about my relationship with her daughter.
“Leo, give her time. She’ll come around,” Mrs. Gallo tells me, but I still haven’t dropped the biggest problem in her lap.
I move the mug around the table and know I have to come clean. “The problem isn’t between Daphne and me, Mrs. Gallo.”
“Oh dear.” Her eyebrows shoot up. “What is it, then?”
“First, I want to say I’m falling in love with your daughter, and I want to do right by her and our baby.”
“Just rip the Band-Aid off and tell me.”
“My last name’s Conti.” I lean back, waiting for her to start yelling or maybe run out of the bakery screaming bloody murder. Worst-case scenario is the little woman is packing heat and decides to end my life right here in the middle of Mazzella’s Bakery.
She blinks a few times and stares at me. “Like Mario Conti?” she asks without moving.
“He’s my father.”
“Oh,” she mumbles and touches the base of her neck, finding the cross hanging from a gold chain. “This is bad.”
“I know.” I run my palms down and back up my jeans. Bad isn’t really the right word for the mess we’ve created.
“What were you two thinking?” She shakes her head.
“We weren’t,” I say honestly. “I never expected to fall in love with your daughter, but here I am. In love, with a baby on the way.”
Mrs. Gallo leans over the table and wraps her hands around her coffee mug. “So, I take it you’re sticking around?”
I nod. “I’ve asked Daphne to marry me.”
Mrs. Gallo glances up toward the ceiling and curses under her breath in Italian. “Did she say yes?”
“She said I was crazy.”
She finally cracks a smile, but it quickly vanishes. “Are you part of your father’s…”
“No, ma’am. I’ve never been part of my father’s business.”
I never would be either. Staying out of the life, his world, was my driving force through college and the reason I worked my ass off to make Excellence the premier hotel chain in the country. I never wanted to be part of his world after seeing the carnage his work caused around the city.
“Well.” She pauses, turning her coffee mug in her hands. “It’s not going to be easy, but here’s what you need to do.”
Mrs. Gallo spends the next hour laying out a plan to help keep Daphne and me both safe. I sit quietly, listening to her talk because she knows both men at the root of the problem. She is wise beyond her years. Daphne’s so much like her mother—strong, funny, and beautiful.
“Can you do that?” she asks as soon as she finishes.
“I’ll do anything for Daphne and to keep my baby safe,” I tell her.
17
Daphne
From two blocks away,I see Leo walking toward the front doors of Hook & Hustle. This can’t be good. I scream his name and wave my arms like a maniac, but he doesn’t hear me over the police sirens blaring on the next street. Walking faster, I make an effort to focus on my breathing, trying not to have a panic attack at all the ways this could go wrong.
