Page 29 of Diary of a Mafia Princess

When I woke up, the sun was high in the sky outside. After all the drama the night before, I’d tossed and turned until the early hours of the morning, mentally tussling over what the hell I was going to do. It had been close to dawn when I’d finally stopped thinking about Luca and Lynx and Dax and Carlos Guerra and my family, and fallen into an exhausted sleep.

I got up and stared out the window.

If I focused straight on, there were glimpses of trees and the ocean between the houses around us. The neighbors had beautiful lawns and flowers, their homes as huge and opulent as the one I stood in.

Anybody else probably would have thought it all lovely.

But when I looked down, all I saw was a prison.

The heavy gates that kept trespassers out. The guards stationed at the front entrance. I’d bet my life savings there was another at the rear entrance.

They may as well have slapped an orange prison jumpsuit on me and shackled my feet.

Down below, the gates opened, and a car approached.

It took me all of three seconds to recognize it.

I let out a cry and pressed my hand against the window desperately.

I knew that car. I’d had sex in the back of it not all that long ago. I’d sat in the passenger seat singing along with an old Bon Jovi song while Dax rested one hand on the wheel and the other on my leg.

Lynx opened the door without knocking. “Nyah? You okay?”

I spun around, eyes wide. “Um, yes? I just saw a…squirrel outside.”

Lynx raised an eyebrow and started moving toward me. “Really? Was it really cute or something? Show me.”

I didn’t want him coming to the window, but of course the burly bodyguard was interested in cute woodland animals. “No!…It fell out of the tree. I thought it was dead. But it’s not! It’s fine. Gone now.”

He stopped and frowned. “Uh, okay. Do you need anything?”

All I needed was the man I loved, who was inexplicably downstairs right now. What the hell was he doing here? Was Carlos Guerra home yet? Could I just walk downstairs and throw myself into Dax’s arms and beg him to run away with me?

I wished I was stupid enough to believe that was actually possible.

Knights in shining armor didn’t actually storm the castle and save the princess.

The princess had to save herself.

Or in my case, the princess had to save her baby and the man she loved, even if it meant sacrificing herself.

But I couldn’t be this close to Dax and not see him. Smell him. Touch him.

I wanted to run down the stairs and throw myself into his arms.

Great freaking idea that would be, when the place crawled with Guerra’s soldiers. Even if we managed to escape, it would probably be a matter of hours before they tracked us down and put a bullet in our heads for my betrayal.

I wanted to beg Lynx to go downstairs and get Dax. Instead, I sent him on a wild-goose chase. “Actually, I was wondering if you could find someone out in the garden to get this tree trimmed.” I pointed at the leaves the barely brushed the side of the house and the edge of the window. “It scraped on the window all night and so I didn’t get to sleep for hours. I really don’t want another night of that.”

Lynx nodded. “Sure. You want me to get you some breakfast or something while I’m down there? You haven’t eaten anything since you got here last night.”

My stomach grumbled, only proving his point, but food was the last thing on my mind. “No, I’m fine. But I can see the gardener down there, he’s heading around to the back of the house, so if you could go talk to him now, that would be really great.”

Lynx nodded. “I’ll be back in a few.”

I gave him a smile, desperate for him to leave, and thankful when he turned and walked away, his footsteps audible until the soft hallway carpet ate them up. I held my breath for a few seconds and took another peek out the window.

Dax had gotten out of his car and was striding toward the door with a cake tin in his hands.