Page 8 of The Don's Secret Heir

Before he can finish his sentence I tackle him, knocking him to the ground.

“Hey, what the fuck?” the other man, a blond, says before the other man goes down. The blond looks up to see me pointing my gun at his head. “Hey man, we don’t want any trouble.”

When I walk closer, I recognize him—the new security guard.

“You sonofabitch,” I seethe, pressing the silencer barrel into his forehead.

He whimpers. “Don’t kill me. There’s cameras.”

I give him a slow, wicked smile. “Oh yeah? I know. I had them installed. I own this complex. And clearly I need to review my hiring policies.”

I pistol whip him before he can take another breath and he drops like a sack of potatoes.

Blood from his nose splatters on my face and I make a disgusted noise, wiping at it. It probably only smears, but I don’t care.

I make my way to the car, checking on the kid first. He’s curled up under a blanket with one bare foot out and it makes me smile. I sleep like that sometimes, one leg out. It seems to keep me cool. He seems to be sleeping and when I open the back door, his soft snores make relief wash over me.

The car is full of trash bags and boxes. It’s clear that they’ve been living in it. My heart aches for them. But why would they behere?This is a rich part of town, only the upper-crust live here because it’s so expensive.

I go to the woman next, gently turning her over, hoping she’s not dead. When she rolls over she makes a slight groan.

As I’m watching, the two men I took down stand up, scampering away. Usually, I’d run after them, but I feel like I’m glued to this spot.

It feels like someone dumped a bucket of cold water over my head. I’m fucking trembling as I look down at the woman’s face—bruised on one side but beautiful.

Liana Rossi.

The only woman I’ve ever loved. The only woman who ever broke my heart.

3

LIANA

I come to and instantly start to swing. I’m being attacked. They want my things or my car or something even worse and I have to fight.

I have to protect Sonny. Hands grab my wrists and I open my mouth to scream.

“Liana.” A firm, familiar deep voice makes the scream die in my throat.

“Wh-what? How do you know my name?” My words come out slightly slurred and I feel dizzy. I think I might have a concussion. Then my eyes focus and I see him. Fuck. “Dario? What the hell are you doing here?”

I wrench away from him, scooting back against my back tire. My knees are scraped and bleeding and my face aches. I look up at him, confused.

“What the hell areyoudoing here?” he asks harshly, standing up from where he’d been crouching.

I open my mouth to snap back but then it occurs to me that I don’t know where Sonny is.

“Sonny!” I scream, trying to get up, but the world tilts on its axis.

“Stop it. You’re going to fall and hurt yourself again. He’s okay. Miraculously he’s still asleep. He must sleep like I do.”

Panic tightens my throat. “He’s nothing like you,” I spit out.

Dario ignores that remark, his dark eyes unreadable. “Answer my question. What are you doing here?”

I flush, embarrassed. I can’t tell him that I’ve been living out of my car, that it’d been so cold that I was worried we’d freeze. That I can’t run the heater anymore because I’m almost out of gas.

It took me a few weeks to run through the money I’d saved, and I spent a few nights at my best friend Beth’s place, but.... honestly I didn't want to. Even though she probably hates Dario more than I do, she’s his cousin.