Page 10 of Mafia King's Secret Baby

This time Caterina won’t be able to control me.

I will control her.

And through that, I’ll get the vengeance that I am owed.

3

CATERINA

Today

My hands shake as I move my necklace so the locket is in the center of the chain, heart-shaped and winking at my collarbone.

My makeup looks immaculate, and instead of the slightly disheveled single mom looking at me, I see someone else entirely.

Someone who has been coiffed within an inch of her life.

Someone elegant.

Someone who looks like she could be Elio Rossi’s wife.

I definitely look a little different than the last time Elio saw me. I use a lot more night creams and potions now, that’s for sure. My skin is slightly less naturally dewy, more artificially so.

There’s another difference.

When he saw me last, I was a girl. I was in my early 20s, sure. I had my degree in accounting from Columbia practicallyemblazoned across my chest, and I had just passed my CPA exams.

The world felt like it was going in my favor. I felt like I was made of sunshine and starlight, despite the fact that my family was active in the organized crime world.

I had everything I wanted, and I didn’t even know what that was.

I cringe when I think about that girl.

I thought I knew everything.

I knew nothing.

So, no. The woman who is heading to meet Elio today isn’t the same wide-eyed girl who saw him last. When I look at myself in the mirror, I don’t see someone who is swayed by pretty words and a handsome face.

My eyes are harder, my cheekbones more pronounced. I frown as often as I smile, and my lovely daughter has put more than one gray hair on my head, which I’ve carefully concealed with a well-timed salon trip.

No, this time I’m much less easy to fool.

And I’m kind of proud of that fact.

I push my shoulders back as I think about who I am now. I’m someone who has had a baby. A whole goddamn human grew in my body, and I care for her.

I have a job that I love, even if it’s one that others wouldn’t find very glamorous. But everyone needs a CPA.

Especially if you’re trying to dodge giving the government all of your hard-earned illegal cash.

I’m shocked to realize that I actuallylikemyself more now than I did then.

I wonder if Elio will like me now too.

I almost bark out a laugh at the thought. I’m not trying to win Elio’s approval.

Not this time.