The Mafia Boss’s Baby Wouldn’t Stop Reaching for Me—The Secret Behind It Tore My Whole Life Apart The first time Leo reached for me, I thought he wanted my necklace.

I stared at the dented silver locket.

My mother had told me it was a family heirloom. A cheap trinket from a grandmother I never knew.

"Take off the apron, Alina," Dante said. "You're coming with me."

"No, I'm not," I said, panic finally breaking through the shock. I tried to hand Leo back to him, but the baby let out a sharp, piercing shriek the moment I pulled him away from my chest.

Dante didn't even flinch. "He needs you. And you need answers. If I found you, they will find you too."

"Who is they?"

"Alina!" Mr. Carrillo hissed, scurrying over with a nervous sweat shining on his forehead. "Is there a problem here, Mr. Rosselli? Has she offended you?"

"She was just leaving," Dante said without looking at him.

"I am working," I snapped.

"Not anymore," Mr. Carrillo said instantly. "You're fired, Alina. Clear out your locker."

He was throwing me to the wolves to save his restaurant. I had worked here for three years, pulling double shifts, covering holidays. In three seconds, I was disposable.

Before I could argue, Dante’s heavy hand rested on the small of my back. It wasn't a threat; it was a wall of solid force moving me forward.

The walk to his armored black SUV was a blur. The bodyguards flanked us. I was holding a mafia boss's baby, smelling like lavender soap and stale garlic bread, stepping into a world I had been warned my whole life to avoid.

Inside the car, it was silent, insulated from the city noise. Leo finally fell fully asleep in my lap.

"Who is hunting us?" I asked, staring out the tinted window as the city lights blurred by.

Dante poured two fingers of amber liquid from a crystal decanter in the console. He didn't offer me any.

"A man named Moretti," Dante said. "He believes your mother stole something from him. Something that belongs to me."

"The locket?"

"No. The locket is just the map." Dante drank the liquor in one slow swallow. "Moretti thinks your mother betrayed him. I thought she betrayed me. We were both wrong."

The car turned onto a private, tree-lined road in Brookline, pulling up to a massive stone house hidden behind iron gates.

It didn't look like a home. It looked like a fortress.

Dante led me inside. The foyer was vast, smelling of lemon polish and old wealth. He guided me into a dim, wood-paneled library and pointed to a leather armchair. I sat, cradling Leo.

"My mother was a good person," I said, tears finally pricking my eyes. "She wouldn't be involved in your criminal wars."

Dante walked over to the grand stone fireplace. "Rosa was my family's head housekeeper for twenty years. She raised my late son. She was raising Leo."

I shook my head. "That's impossible. She cleaned office buildings at night."

"She lied to you to keep you safe," Dante said.

He picked up a silver-framed photograph from the mantle and handed it to me.

I looked down and stopped breathing.

It was my mother. She looked younger, happier, wearing a beautiful pearl-colored dress. She was holding a newborn baby.

But it wasn't Leo.

Standing next to my mother, with his arm wrapped lovingly around her waist, was a younger Dante Rosselli.

And the baby my mother was holding... had my exact eyes.

"That's me," I whispered.

"Answer One," Dante said softly, his voice thick with an emotion I couldn't place. "Rosa wasn't just my housekeeper, Alina. She was my wife's best friend. And when my wife died in childbirth..."