Page 63 of Texting My Mafia Boss

“Not much. Your parents’ names were connected with this shark. There was a note, asking if the daughter could pay, with a fucked-up little smiley face beside it.”

“Where’s the shark now?” I demand.

He swallows, shaking his head. “I don’t know.”

“How can you have this information and notknow?”

He picks the best and worst possible moment to pull me against him for a kiss. I’m raging, full of heat, which somehow makes sparking into hot pleasure even easier. But he can’t just kiss me and make it all go away… except, for long moments, he can. He does.

I push away from him. “That’s not an answer.”

“You’re too damn addictive.”

“Try to be a civilized grown up.”

“Stop twitching like that, and maybe I will,” he says darkly.

I’m nottwitching. Am I? The fact I can’t be sure drives me crazy. And not in a bad way.

He runs a hand through his hair, looking at me with feral eyes. “I ask for information and my men give it to me. I don’t always demand every single detail. Unless I suspect this man might be going too far, but this one, the one who got this information, is ironclad. He’s my most trusted man.”

“Can you ask him?” I say. “I’d like to speak with this loan shark.”

He hesitates, massaging his jaw.

“What’s the issue?” I demand.

“If I do that, I tip my hand. There are dozens of lives and millions of dollars at stake. I want to help you, but if I go digging too obviously, we’re screwed. I was only able to…”

“What?” I demand again, when he trails off.

He gets this heartbreaking look on his face, averting his gaze. I walk up to him and grab his face in my hands, making him look at me. His hands twitch like he wants to grab me.

“Tell me,” I say.

“This is hellish business,” he growls.

“I can take it.”

“You shouldn’twantto take it.”

“I can tolerate a lot, Ettore,” I say. “I can tolerate being treated badly. Or never feeling like I belong. Or the people in my life not being perfect. But I can’t tolerate lies.”

“It’s not a lie to avoid certain topics,” he snaps.

“It is when I’m asking.”

He turns away. “I beat a man to death thirty minutes before you arrived,” he growls. “He assaulted a pregnant woman. She could’ve lost her child. He was involved in a plot against me and my Family. There are plates spinning, Mara, that have nothing to do with any of this. With you. With me. But if I don’t stay focused, they’ll get me. They’ll win. The war could kill you. My daughter. It could change everything.That’swhat’s at stake here.”

I stare at his back, his trembling shoulders, so shocked I can’t even speak. He’s hinted at heaven and hell. I’m not entirely in the dark. But vague hints andthis… it’s different.

“I need to pick Sylvie up,” I murmur.

“Yes, you do,” he says, tone dark. It’s like he’s saying,And you need to remember your place.

“Can you try to learn more, in whatever way you can? My neighbor said they were threatening my parents. What if the car crash wasn’t an accident?”

He flinches slightly at that. I wonder if he’s thinking about his late wife. This is such a mess.