Page 48 of Texting My Mafia Boss

And then after?—

I grit my teeth. As if it’s not bad enough that I spend so long elsewhere, doing dark deeds, because this is the only life I know. Hiding away from my daughter because sometimes I feel like a devil and I know she deserves an angel. Now I’m risking her walking in on that.

Never again. I make a promise right now. If I take Mara – which would be a mistake, but I’m white-knuckling it here – there’s no way I’m letting our resolve fly so wildly like that.

I call Mark. Something’s been niggling me. “Any update on Dante’s men?” I ask.

“They’ve ghosted their usual spots,” he replies. “Which means they’ve met the same fate, or they know something we don’t and they’ve gone to ground.”

“Keep looking. But don’t make any noise. There’s something else too.”

“Yeah?”

I swallow. “Look into Mara Keene’s neighbor, her parents, and her aunt. Anything that leads back to the life.”

“That’s… vague.”

“Those are your orders,” I tell him.

“You got it, boss.”

I hang up, ignoring the subtle slight. Mark only calls me boss in private when he thinks I’m acting like a tyrant, not giving him enough information. Which is fair enough. I don’t really know what I think I’m going to find. It was probably just a drunk neighbor, ranting, like she said. But what if it wasn’t?

I take out my phone and text Mara.

Ettore: Is she feeling better?

Her reply takes a few minutes to come. I try to work in the meantime, but I end up just drumming my fingers against the desk.

Mara: Yes, she’s practicing her recital. I’ve never seen a kid put so much effort into something before. She’s so excited. She keeps saying she wants to sparkle for Daddy.

Ettore: She always sparkles for me. She doesn’t need to worry about that.

Mara: That’s so sweet.

I swallow. Sweet. A word no one would use to describe me under normal circumstances.

Ettore: Does she suspect anything?

Mara: I don’t know what you mean.

Ettore: About earlier?

Mara: I still don’t know what you mean.

I smirk, nodding. Okay, so that’s the game she wants to play.

Ettore: If that’s how you want to play it, that’s how we’ll play it.

Mara: I don’t want to play anything. I just want to do a good job. I won’t lie, Ettore. You’re like a drug to me. I don’t understand how. It’s dangerous. I don’t want to boost your ego, but something tells me you’re not the sort of guy to hold this over a woman.

Ettore: I don’t even know what holding it over a woman would mean. I haven’t felt this before. And I’m aware I shouldn’t say things like that.

Mara: You’re not saying it. You’re texting it. I don’t think you’d ever say something like this in person.

She sees me so clearly. She’s right.

Ettore: It’s hard to switch off a lifetime of coldness.