Page 116 of Knocked Up by My Dad's Mafia Boss

I imagine what she must look like. Tall. Statuesque. Probably not Italian, since Olivia isn’t. Maybe she’s a blonde with big blue eyes. Completely unlike me.

“Olivia,” Papa breathes. “That dress…”

“Yeah, yeah. She’s beautiful, too.”

“Cecilia liked you a lot.”

“Liked her, too.” That sounds honest, too, and my stomach rolls. I barely make it to the bathroom before I’m retching up the bacon I ate this morning.

I head back to my slightly open door when I’m done, peering out, hoping to see Dante.

I don’t. He’s gone back to his room. I slowly shut my door, pacing back and forth.

I have to go to him. There’s no other option. I’ll go crazy if I don’t find out exactly how it went. If he touched her. If he kissed her.

I walk out into the hallway.

I glance downstairs. Ricardo’s pacing around the living room, on the phone. “Tonight? I don’t think—” He stops talking. “Alright.” He hangs up and sits down on the edge of the couch.

I frown, peering down at him. If I was smart, I’d go talk to him. Distract myself from Dante and Cecilia.

Even her name is fancy.

But I can’t stop myself. I lift my hand to knock softly on Dante’s door.

Then the beep of the intercom at the gate surprises me. I drop my hand and turn around. Ricardo’s coming up the stairs, a blank expression on his face.

“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“Ricardo, what?—”

He cuts me off, clapping a hand over my mouth and dragging me down the stairs. I’m too shocked to try and scream or fight. He drags me into the kitchen and when I try to scream again, he slaps duct tape over my mouth painfully.

I scream against the tape, the sound muffled, as he zipties my hands behind me, wrestling me to the floor and tying my ankles,too. I lie on the floor, unable to move, my eyes darting around wildly. “It’ll be over soon,” he promises, something empty in his dark eyes.

I work my jaw against the tape, struggling to get it off. Ricardo heads out of the kitchen. I can’t see what he’s doing. I squeeze my eyes shut.

Dante, please notice something is wrong. Please go looking for me.

30

DANTE

A knock on my door startles me.

“Elio, you’re supposed to be in bed—” I start, swinging the door open.

A man I don’t recognize grins at me and grabs me. I fight, but he’s gotten the drop on me. He gets my arms behind me and zipties my wrists together.

He pushes me toward the stairs. I stumble. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I work for Luciano Ricci,” he says idly. “Word on the street is the boss himself is going to show up for this.”

Luciano is cominghimself? That’s beyond the pale. Luciano never does any of his own dirty work.

He leads me into the kitchen where Samantha lies on the floor. I drop to my knees next to her. “Are you alright?”

She nods quickly and glances over at Ricardo, who’s huddled in the corner of the room, his head in his hands.