Page 9 of The Don's Secret Heir

I really had no choice but to live in my car. Thank God it was paid for, even though the insurance had probably lapsed. It was in my father’s name.

“I was... traveling. Needed a nap so I pulled over.”

“Traveling, huh? With all your possessions in the car?” he asks incredulously, stepping closer to me.

I shrink back against the car, trembling. I’m wearing my thermal underwear and layers but it’s still cold.

Dario lets a breath out of his nostrils, his breath showing as he does.

“I heard about your father,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry.”

I hang my head because tears are pricking at the backs of my eyes and I don’t want him to see me cry.

“Yeah, well... thanks for helping me, I guess.”

I look around to see neither of the men are anywhere to be found.

“You’ve been living in your car,” he accuses.

“I told you. I was traveling?—”

“Traveling where? You don’t have family outside the state. You don’t even have friends outside the state.”

“You don’t know that. We haven’t spoken in years.”

“Five.”

I blink, looking up at him. He’s kept count? Odd, since he’s the one who brokemyheart.

“Yeah, well. Maybe I have friends out of state now.”

“You don’t,” he says flatly, and reaches out a hand to me.

I take it reluctantly, standing up with effort, still slightly dizzy.

I put a hand to my head.

He touches my face and I wince. “You’re hurt. Probably have a concussion. God knows what else. Plus it’s fucking freezing.”

“Sonny’s in his thermals,” I say almost defensively. I hadn’twantedto use Dario’s apartment complex to park in, but it was the safest place I could think of for the night, and I still knew the code—his mother’s birth year.

Dario sighs. “You’re coming home with me. Both of you.”

I tremble. “But?—”

“Not here. Get in the passenger side.”

“Listen, I’ll just get out of your hair?—”

“Do you want your son to freeze to death?’

His words fall on me like a hammer. He’s right. I don’t have a choice, not when I’m injured like this, not without any money.

I take in a deep breath. “Alright. Fine.”

I get into the passenger side of the car, looking back at Sonny, who’s in fact, still dead asleep. Dario has always slept like the dead, too, and Sonny inherited it. I myself am a light sleeper, so it’s surprising that the two men snuck up on me. I guess I’m just exhausted from barely sleeping. It's not like this is a particularly safe city.

Dario squeezes into the car, grunting as he lets the seat way back for his long legs.