Page 126 of The Don's Secret Heir

“Dario—”

“No, it’s right. Sonny will be a good buffer, she won’t freak out on you while he’s there, and I can be there to protect you in case things go south.”

I hesitate. “You really don’t mind?”

“Of course not. I keep telling you, Li, you’re mywife.”

On paper, I think but don’t say. He did tell me yesterday he wanted it to be real, and maybe he does. But can I forgive him for cheating? For potentially killing my father?

I just don’t know.

We wrangle Sonny out of the pool.

Dario heads upstairs to the shower and this time, I join him.

“Thought we had to hurry,” he says with a grin, wiping soap from his face as I step in behind him.

“I needed to shower too.”

“Huh. Weird. Almost like there’s a bunch of other bathrooms in this house.”

I pout. “I’ll get out, if you want me to.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He grasps me around the waist, pulling me to him and under the spray. As my hair gets wet he kisses along my throat.

“We’re never going to get there if you keep doing that,” I moan, and step away from him.

He nods, half-hard, but he ignores it, washing his hair and helping me wash mine.

I feel like I needed this, like I needed another moment alone with him before whatever hell Felicia is about to unleash.

In another twenty minutes, everyone’s dressed and ready.

“Where are we goin’?” Sonny chirps.

“To see your grandma.”

He wrinkles his nose. “I don’t like Grandma. She wants me to call her Mimi and that doesn’t make any sense.”

Dario laughs. “She probably doesn’t feel old enough to be a grandmother.”

“Well, sheis.”

The matter-of-fact way he says it has me and Dario both cracking up. It feels good to laugh, like it opened something up inside me.

I feel a little more like myself today, and I can’t deny that I have Dario to thank for it.

I buckle Sonny into his seat in the back and then get into the passenger side.

Dario drives the forty-five minutes to my father’s house quietly, just chatting idly with Sonny while my mind races.

What could Felicia be calling about? Did they find…. Oh, God. What if they found Papa?

My face feels like all the blood has drained from it and Dario notices.

He takes my hand, glancing at me and then back at the road.

“It’s going to be okay, Li. I promise.”