Page 118 of Tempting My Mafia Monster

“Isn’t that the bare minimum for a Mafia heir?” Raff chuckled.

“You aren’t any of those things, though, Fratello,” Lili teased, prompting Raff to give her the middle finger. “Hey, that’s meant as a compliment!”

I zoned out of the family banter as we finished our food. Instead, I stared at the door the whole time, praying Maddox would walk back through before we had to leave. He didn’t.

As we gathered our plates and headed back to the mansion, I pulled Lili aside from the group and whispered, “I need to speak to Maddox tonight. I need to tell him about Aleksandr. Will you help me get back to the pool house without anyone knowing?”

She smiled at me, her green eyes twinkling. “You mean distract the soldiers guarding the pool house so you can go for a late-night swim?”

My eyebrows tightened as a puzzled smile tugged at my lips. “I don’t want to swim. I just need to talk—”

“Who says you can’t talk while wearing a very hot, skimpy bikini to remind him of what he’s missing?” She grinned mischievously.

I snorted, realising she was a genius. “Who are you, and what have you done to my innocent, sweet niece?”

“I’m just team Madaya. You know I’m a sucker for a love story. And the way you two look at each other…” She fanned her face.

My smile fell. “He doesn’t even remember me, Lili. And he barely looked at me once tonight.”

“Are you joking? Whenever you weren’t eye-fucking him, he was eye-fucking you. It was hot.”

My heart fluttered. Was that true? I chewed my bottom lip as I contemplated my next move. Honesty felt like the only thing I had left. But Lili was right. Clothes were optional.

A Mother’s Touch

Iran.

I didn’t care where.

I just sprinted. As fast as I could, for as long as I could, until my lungs burned and my muscles screamed so loudly they drowned out the noise in my head. I hit a wrought-iron gate, covered in vines and flowers, and grabbed the bars before my legs gave out beneath me. My forehead dropped against the metal as I sucked in ragged breaths.

One thought kept creeping through the rage-filled chaos. I never should’ve come here.

I’d spent my entire life believing the Buccinis and Barbieris were my personal enemies. They stood by while my family was slaughtered. While McKenna took a frightened little boy and turned him into a monster. McKenna had picked at that wound at every opportunity as I grew up, reminding me that no one’s coming for me, that no one gave a fuck about me, that no one would stand against him. They’d rather turn their backs and look away.

I’d believed him. After enough time, it was easier to hate than to hope.

Then Giovanni looked me in the eye and said, ‘If I’d known you were alive and that Sean had taken you, I’d have done everything I could to free you.’

Hearing that broke something inside me. Not the man, but the boy. The stupid little bastard who had prayed every night for years for someone to help him.

I wasn’t sure whether I believed Giovanni. Maybe he meant it. Or maybe guilt made men liars. It didn’t matter. Now I couldn’t stop thinking about the life I could have had if he’d saved me. Would Rosin and Connor still be alive? Probably. Would I be able to function as a normal person in society? Maybe. I couldn’t imagine the man I might have been.

Then he offered me McKenna’s empire as if that were some kind of compensation for all I’d lived through? As if money, land and soldiers could repay a stolen life. Nothing would bring my family back. And what about my brother, who they tortured horrifically until he killed himself? What would they offer me as an apology for that? Fuck them. Fuck Sean’s empire.

I could feel watchful eyes on my back, and I knew they were from the soldiers patrolling the estate. My nostrils flared as I fought to keep the beast leashed inside me, though it wanted nothing more than to attack.

Stop looking at me. Stop following me. Leave me the fuck alone.

The gate groaned beneath my weight, swinging open just enough for me to slip through.

Grass gave way to a narrow cobbled path, swallowed by tall plants and colourful flowers I’d never seen before. Trees arched overhead, shutting out the world and cocooning me in silence. Perfectly quiet. Nothing but the gentle trickle of water somewhere ahead. The silence immediately calmed my demons. It felt as if I’d stumbled into one of those fairy-tale books I used to read to the twins.

My breathing slowed as I dared to reach out and touch the different petals, brushing my hand over the leaves. A sweet, floral aroma eased the tension from my body. It reminded me of something. Her.

I stumbled over my own feet as an onslaught of fragmented memories hit me. They flickered from one to another, making it hard to put them in order, but they were all of Soraya.

She sat on my lap while I rested my chin on her shoulder, breathing in her scent. Cuddling her small body on that single mattress at night, her cold feet were always between my legs. Reading a book, her hazel eyes always flicking up to find mine every so often. Playing with her curls, wrapping them around my fingers as she talked or drew weird symbols in the margins of a book.