Page 70 of Mafia King's Secret Baby

“Elio!” Gia screeches again. “Francesca wants you!”

Shit.

“Caterina…”

She doesn’t answer.

She slips inside the room, slams the door.

And I’m left staring at an empty wall.

The beach is empty.

However, this is as it should be. I have engineered this, out of safety.

After what happened to my parents in Corsica, I refuse to ever visit a public place for a holiday ever again. I have purchased many properties over the years, and some of them have been bought for the express purpose of being a retreat for my family.

I never dreamed that I would use this one for that purpose.

Mostly because after Caterina disappeared years ago, I had not thought that I would ever have a family.

Caterina and Gia and I set up the picnic area, with umbrellas and a cooler full of beverages. Luna, predictably, is bouncing off the walls. She shrieks with glee when I offer to play with her in the water, and I suddenly find myself chasing a remarkably fast child into the light surf of the beach.

The day is pure joy.

We play. Luna laughs, her sweet giggles and big belly laughs a soundtrack that I never want to fade from my mind. Caterina even comes out to play with the two of us at one point, passing a ball back and forth that Gia somehow produced.

I do my best to keep my eyes from her beautiful body, but I can’t.

I’m not a saint.

I’m a professional criminal, after all.

To have her so close is killing me. Watching the curves of her breasts sway in their thin triangles as she plays with her daughter, watching the water splash on her, getting the fabric slick and pressing it to her skin like glue, is going to be my death.

I am not used to having to restrain myself. When I want something, I obtain it.

And I want nothing more than to peel the thin fabric from her body and lick the salt from her skin.

The urge becomes so bad that I find I must retreat to the sea to cover my erection. I’m hopeful that the cold water will chill me into submission.

It isn’t likely, considering how the images of Caterina’s body are replaying on a loop in my mind.

I let the cold water beat at me, and I stare back to where Gia, Caterina, and Luna are tucked beneath the umbrellas. Luna is happily consuming a large pile of fruit, which Caterina insisted was a good substitute for cake.

I would have rather given her the cake.

“Elio,” Caterina calls, waving to me from the spot we created. “Do you want some food?”

I do, but I do not want Caterina to see that I am still hard as stone for her.

“In a minute!” I call.

She nods and gets back to the business of feeding Luna.

The peace that I felt last night appears again.

Here I am. Enjoying the beach. Watching my family.