Liar's Lullaby: A Dark Mafia Romance (Mazzeo Mafia Book 1)

by Nicole Fox

  I raise my eyebrows.

  Is she advocating for Evie?

  Or for herself?

  “I know you’re busy,” she amends quickly. “But I do think it’ll help her.”

  Her blue eyes are troubled. She can’t hide that from me.

  I’ve fucked this up.

  “I can’t today,” I say firmly.

  “Oh. Okay.”

  She tries to hide her disappointment, and she manages pretty well.

  I decide to extend her a small token of my gratitude instead.

  “Here,” I say, pulling out the small cell phone I’ve been keeping in my pocket since yesterday. “This is for you.”

  Charlotte’s eyes land on it with surprise. “My phone?”

  “I thought you might want to speak to your friend. The blonde.”

  “Oh. Thanks,” she says, taking the phone from my hand hesitantly.

  She looks up at me with a curious expression on her face.

  The desire to yank her into my arms hasn’t lessened. If anything, it’s gotten worse.

  So I turn and walk away.

  Before I do something really fucking stupid.

  29

  Charlotte

  I feel like I’m gonna throw up.

  My stomach keeps roiling uncomfortably. And the stress of discovery is making me sweaty all over.

  I’ve brought Evie to the far end of the garden, well away from the house. There’s tons of space for Evie to run around—which she does with glee—but my legs are rooted to the spot.

  Every few seconds, I keep glancing back towards the mansion.

  What if the Polish mole rats me out?

  What will Lucio do to me?

  “Charlotte!”

  I startle as Evie tugs on my hand.

  “What are you doing?” she asks.

  “Sorry,” I say. “Sorry, princess. I’m, just, uh—sorry.”

  “Are you okay?” she asks, squinting her eyes together.

  I rest my hand on her head. “I think I’m just feeling a little sick.”

  “Tummy ache?” Evie asks with an empathetic wince.

  “Something like that,” I say vaguely. “Why don’t you show Paulie the yellow rose bushes we found the other day? I’m sure he’ll like them. I’ll just sit here for a bit.”

  “Okay!”

  She heads off in the direction of the rose bushes and I pull out my cell phone.

  I’m touched that Lucio gave it back to me at all, but I don’t trust the device anymore.

  There is every possibility that he bugged it before giving it back to me. Which means there’s a chance he might be monitoring every call or text I receive.

  Still, I haven’t spoken to Vanessa since she left the house almost a week ago.

  I’m worried that she might be upset with me. But Vanessa had never been one to hold a grudge.

  We’ve had disagreements before, but it never lasts long. As Vanessa likes to remind me all the time, we’re family—and family sticks together no matter what.

  Trying to swallow my nerves, I dial her number and wait for her to pick up.

  Ten rings go by.

  Eleven.

  Twelve.

  No answer.

  I try again a few minutes later.

  More of the same. Just endless ringing.

  I take a deep breath and try to stay calm.

  Maybe, even if the mole tells Lucio about me, I can explain my way out of it. I can tell him why I’d been forced into complying with the Polish mob’s demands. I can tell him about my stupid deal to get Xander off the hook.

  He’d understand…

  Right?

  Just as I’m contemplating the consequences of what my unmasking will do to Evie, I catch a glimpse of Lucio walking towards my perch.

  “Fuck,” I breathe.

  My legs feel weak, so I stay seated until he’s a few feet away.

  He doesn’t look angry, but that could also just be a ruse. A way to make me feel safe and comfortable before he brings down the axe.

  Men like him love to play mind games.

  “Where’s Evie?” Lucio asks.

  “By the yellow roses,” I say, gesturing over to where she ran off to. “Everything okay? I thought you had to take care of the, uh… the problem in the cellar.”

  “I decided to pass the chore over to one of my underbosses,” Lucio says simply.

  I have to fight the smile that’s on my lips. I’m so relieved that I nearly keel over right there.

  “You okay?” he asks, looking at me more carefully.

  “Never better.”

  If only you knew.

  He gives me another once-over and shrugs it off. “Anyway, I was thinking. Your suggestion about spending some quality time with Evie. I might do that.”

  I smile ear-to-ear. “Awesome.”

  “She’s been cooped up in this house for weeks now,” he remarks, completely leaving out the fact that I’ve been cooped up in this house for the same amount of time, give or take a few hours. “I thought I’d take her off the compound for the evening.”

  “I’m sure she’d love that.”

  “But I want her to be comfortable,” he says. “And she hasn’t exactly been out alone anywhere with me.”

  “Oh. Oh.”

  It starts to dawn on me that he’s including me in this outing.

  “I’m coming, too?” I ask stupidly.

  He grins. “Well, you are the nanny.”

  “Yes!” I hoot, causing Evie to come running towards us.

  Not that he actually asked me, but still—yes, yes, hell yes times infinity.

  “Papa! You’re back.”

  “I’m back,” he agrees. “I have a question for you, tesoro.”

  “Yeah?” she asks, looking enthusiastically between the two of us.

  “Have you ever heard of laser tag?”

  Evie’s eyebrows scrunch up a bit. “No?”

  “Well, it’s this really fun game,” he explains. “But we have to go somewhere else to play it. You in?”

  She eyes Lucio carefully. “Can Charlotte come, too?”

  He pretends to consider it for a long, serious moment before breaking into a wide smile. “I don’t see why not.”

  “Yay!” Evie says, jumping up and down. “This is so fun!”

  It’s a combination of my close call and Evie’s genuine excitement, but I feel great. Better than I have in ages.

  I try telling myself that the fact that Lucio and I are getting along pretty well has nothing to do with it.

  And for a little while, I almost believe myself.

  Evie and I go back upstairs and change into sensible clothes. Jeans and t-shirts and sneakers.

  When we come back downstairs, Lucio is waiting for us by the front door. He’s changed into dark jeans and a white t-shirt, and he looks like a dream.

  “Ready, ladies?” he asks.

  “All set.”

  “Yep!”

  I’m expecting to see a chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle when we leave the house. But instead, there’s only a simple silver Audi.

  “Where’s the driver?” I ask.

  “You’re looking at him,” Lucio chuckles as we make our way towards the car.

  I hesitate as we reach the car, unsure suddenly where I’m supposed to sit.

  Lucio surprises me by opening the passenger side door for me.

  I slide in. Evie clambers into the back. I watch as Lucio makes sure to strap her in securely before getting into the driver’s seat.

  It feels strange. Being in a car together, just the three of us.

  Almost like…

  No.

  I stop myself before my mind can conjure up an image that doesn’t belong in my head.

  We are not a family.

  And there’s not a damn thing on this earth that can change that fact.

  Evie keeps swinging her legs in the back seat, and when I glance behind to check on her, she’s staring out the window with bright, e
xcited eyes. She pulls Paulie up to her face periodically to make sure he’s enjoying the field trip, too.

  Certain that she won’t be concentrating on our conversation, I turn towards Lucio.

  “Aren’t you concerned about—y’know, being seen?” I ask pointedly.

  “Don’t worry,” he tells me. “This place is pretty quiet. The owner is a friend of mine.”

  “You have friends?” I tease.

  He gives me a glare, but I can tell he’s fighting a smile. “If only you knew,” he says mysteriously.

  I pretend to laugh.

  But deep in my gut, that nauseous, nervous feeling rears its ugly head again.

  I bat it back down forcefully.

  He doesn’t know anything.

  You’re safe.

  You’re safe.

  You’re safe.

  When we get to the laser tag place, it seems pretty quiet. We’re greeted at the door by a nerdy-looking guy with glasses and a tired smile.

  “Welcome to Laser World,” he greets. “I’m Ben. Let me escort you to your private tag area.”

  “Private?” I repeat, glancing at Lucio.

  He just gives me a secretive smile and we’re led into a little equipment room that’s filled with vests and the laser guns.

  “Whoa!” I whistle, feeling every bit as excited as Evie.

  Lucio notices. “First time?”

  “Yep,” I say. “Doesn’t mean I won’t kick your ass, though.”

  He chuckles. “We’ll see about that.”

  Once we’re all decked out in our laser tag vests, Ben opens the door. The three of us walk into our own personal tag area.

  The place is pitch black, except for the infrared lights that light our path. It feels like we’ve entered another dimension.

  And for the first time in forever, I feel as though I’m just an average twenty-one-year old, having a good time.

  I register Lucio explaining how the game works to me, but I’m not paying full attention.

  “It helps if you—”

  “Seems pretty simple to me,” I interrupt. “Point and shoot.” I make a show of holding up the blaster gun and making pew-pew noises with my mouth.

  Lucio laughs again—the sound is deep and rich and sexy—and backs away with eyebrows raised.

  “Alright then, have it your way. But when you lose, don’t come crying to me.”

  I stick my tongue out at him. “Bite me, Mazzeo. I can taste victory already. And let me tell you—it tastes good.”

  Before he can retort, I take off into the darkness, cackling like a hyena.

  Somewhere in the distance, Evie is squealing her little head off in delight as she darts down dark tunnels and runs up staircases that lead to new and exciting places. Neon lights and laser beams and alien spaceships glow all around us.

  The game ends up being me versus Lucio and Evie. Lucio basically follows Evie around, making sure she doesn’t slip and fall.

  He’s incredibly protective. It’s hard not to be touched by that.

  It’s hard not to be turned on by that, too.

  We end up staying for almost three hours. And when we finally pile into the equipment room after our ninth round, I’m exhausted physically.

  But emotionally, I’m practically buoyant.

  This was fun. Pure and simple.

  I didn’t know Lucio was capable of something like that.

  “Did you have fun, Evie?” Lucio asks. He’s drenched in sweat, but beaming with the most genuine smile I’ve ever seen from him.

  “That was the best day ever!” she says immediately. “Thank you so much!”

  She grabs him around the waist and hugs him hard. He stills for a moment before running his hand over her golden head.

  The way he does it… there’s a tenderness there that hadn’t existed before.

  He looks up and catches me staring at the two of them. I want to look away, but somehow, his eyes hold me captive.

  And it takes Evie speaking up again to break the eye contact.

  “Can we come again some other time?” she asks.

  “I can arrange that,” Lucio says.

  I waggle my eyebrows at him.

  Softie. She’s already got you twisted around her little fingers.

  Lucio just laughs.

  The drive back to the compound is filled with Evie’s excited chattering. I can tell that this evening has done wonders for her relationship with Lucio. She barely has any self-consciousness around him now.

  The sun is just starting to set when we turn into the compound. I catch Evie yawning from the backseat.

  “Someone’s gonna have an early bed time tonight,” I comment.

  “Aw, do I have to?”

  “You’re tired, hon,” I say. “Yes, you have to. But first things first. Dinner.”

  “Cookies?” Evie suggests seriously.

  “Ha-ha, nice try,” I say. “Lucio, any requests?”

  He glances at me. His eyes have gone distant and cold again. “I have some work I need to finish up. Count me out for dinner.”

  The disappointment I feel is sudden and unwelcome.

  But it’s hard to deny the feeling.

  I tell myself that I’m just disappointed for Evie. Even if I don’t buy that for a second.

  “Please?” Evie says, leaning forward a little. “Please have dinner with us.”

  “Evie…” Lucio says regretfully, but his tone is gentle.

  “Charlotte always makes yummy food. You’ll be sad if you miss it.”

  He smiles, craning his neck back for a moment so he can look at her. “Alright. I suppose I can postpone my work for an hour or so.”

  “Yayyy!” Evie claps, celebrating her victory.

  I smile subtly. Like I said—wrapped around her finger.

  The moment the car is parked, Evie is out the door and off into the house, leaving Lucio and me to walk in together.

  “She managed to rope you into dinner,” I say, somewhat smugly.

  “Fuck, I know,” he grumbles. “Saying no was never something I had a problem doing. Until recently.”

  “You weren’t a father then.”

  He nods. “Yeah…”

  “You’re feeling it, aren’t you?” I guess.

  “Feeling what?” he asks.

  “Fatherly affection. Paternal love.”

  He glances at me. “She’s a good kid.”

  “It wouldn’t matter if she were a horrible kid,” I retort. “You’d love her anyway. That’s what parenthood is.”

  He raises his eyebrows. “I’m surprised by that opinion, especially considering what you’ve told me about your mother.”

  I shrug. “There are three kinds of parents,” I say. “The indifferent ones, the cruel ones, and the good ones. My mother was indifferent. Your father was cruel. But you… you’re a good one.”

  “You think so?”

  “I do,” I tell him. “You did good, Lucio. Today was good.”

  He smiles. It’s part happy and part weary.

  “Thanks.”

  “Thank you,” I say.

  “For what?”

  “For including me today,” I tell him. “It’s the most fun I’ve had in ages.”

  The moment the words are out of my lips, I think about the night before, when he’d been buried deep inside me. I have to amend my own statement in my head.

  That was the most fun I’ve had in ages.

  But this is a close second.

  When I look at Lucio, he’s giving me a smile that makes me turn away to hide my blush.

  Because it almost feels like he knows exactly what’s going on inside my head. Which means one thing.

  No matter how you look at it….

  I’m fucked.

  30

  Lucio

  The Next Evening—Lucio’s Mansion

  Bartek Kowalczyk.

  Don of the Polish mafia.

  I trust the motherfucker only as far as I can throw him. Maybe not even that fa
r.

  He’s got the look of a man who takes care of himself. Even though he’s pushing sixty, I’m pretty sure the old bastard still has abs under the long-sleeved black shirt he’s wearing. His diamond-encrusted Hublot watch catches the light as he reaches for his glass of wine.

  “This meal has been fantastic, Lucio,” he says in a dry, reedy voice that suits him.

  “I wish I could take credit for it. My chef is talented.”

  “Careful—I might just steal him away,” Bartek tells me with a wink that makes my skin crawl.

  “I expect nothing less,” I reply calmly, swirling my wine around without actually drinking it. “You have a talent for taking what isn’t yours.”

  Bartek raises his eyebrows. But he looks amused rather than offended.

  “There you go with the subtle barbs. And to think, we were having such a nice night.”

  I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

  He runs his hand through his short hair, and I’m amused by how put-together he seems. How vain.

  His hair has clearly been dyed, his forehead barely moves thanks to countless Botox injections, and his skin has the suspicious sheen of an expensive fake tan.

  “It has been a nice night,” I agree. “But we’re not here for that, are we?”

  Bartek sighs. “That’s the problem with the younger generation. You’re always in a fucking hurry.”

  I let the remark slide as I pretend to sip my wine. I can see Bartek’s three armed guards standing on the other side of the glass wall.

  He’s got five more men outside the house, and several more waiting outside the compound for him.

  But in the formal dining room, it’s just the two of us.

  That is, until I see Adriano’s shadow just behind Bartek’s shoulder. He stands right outside the threshold of the door, trying to catch my attention without actually interrupting.

  “You want time?” I ask, rising from my seat. “You can have it now. I need to speak to one of my underbosses. Will you excuse me?”

  “Of course,” Bartek says with a courteous nod. “Take all the time you want. This wine is the only company I need.”

  I head to the door, aware of his men watching me.

  Adriano and I walk down the hall, far enough away so we’re completely out of earshot.