The Mafia’s Forbidden Desire

ANTONIO.

Mommy?

I quickly flicked my gaze between Rosalinda and the small boy as confusion masked my features. Why did he call her that?

“She my mommy, right?” The little boy continued as the woman who was carrying him slowly put him down. “You said come meet my mommy.”

He was one smart boy. He doesn’t look any older than two years, and he could already speak so well. Not so well per se, but an understandable speech. I felt a sense of relief when I realised that the boy called her mommy out of a mere guess. But who was the mommy they came here to meet?

There were only three women in this house. Rosalinda, Sofia, and their mother, Lucia. It couldn’t possibly be Lucia because she was too old to be the mother of a two-year-old, and that narrows the option down to Rosalinda and Sofia.

“Dorothy.” Roberto’s voice suddenly booms through the air, and I turned my attention to him. “What are you doing here?” He continued, the rage blazing in his eyes was so intense that I could literally see flames in them.

“I called you several times, but I didn’t get a response, so we decided to come here in person.” The woman replied.

“I was-” Roberto blew out an exasperated breath, his frustration palpable in the way he raked his hands through his hair. “I have been so busy, but I was going to call you back. You should have waited for my call.”

“We waited. But we couldn’t anymore. We need to leave tonight. Tony and I are leaving the country, and we can’t leave with him, so we brought him.” The woman told him.

Everything was starting to become more interesting as I crossed my arms over my shoulders and listened with my curious ears. Who was the boy?

The boy snatched his hand from Dorothy’s grip and opened his arms out wide as he pranced towards Rosalinda with his little legs, giggling happily. He was such a cute little human.

Rosalinda crouched to his level while staring intently at him with warm eyes. A pang of pain gripped my chest as I watched a tear roll down her cheek as she wrapped her arms around him, drawing him into a big, warm hug. The expression on her face, the way she looked at him, was the way a mother would look at her child. Fuck, no. It couldn’t be. I desperately hoped she wasn’t his mother, because I couldn’t imagine what I would do if I found out that she had a son-with another man.

“We’ll get going now.” The man, who I believed to be Tony, said as he inched closer to Rosalinda and dropped a luggage next to her. He flicked his gaze at the little boy, and a sad smile touched his lips as he crouched down to his level.

Shuffling his hair, he muttered. “Be a good boy, Carlo.”

Carlo. So that was his name.

“Are leaving already?” Carlo asked with his tiny voice. “Are leaving with mommy?”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Tony shook his head slightly. “We aren’t leaving with Mommy. You’ll stay with her.”

“No.” Carlo tiny voice pierced the air as tears started welling up in his eyes.

“Carlo.” Dorothy called as she quickly trudged to where he was and crouched down to his level, holding him on both shoulders as she looked into his eyes. “We’ve talked about this before. You’ll now stay with your biological family. Be a good boy and don’t cry.”

Biological family? Who was this mystery boy that no one has ever heard about? What secret was Roberto hiding from the world?

“Don’t go.” Carlo cried.

She took her hand to his face and wiped the tears rolling down his cheeks off his face. “We’ll come and visit you someday, baby. Be a good boy.”

“Don’t go.” Carlo persisted as he continued crying.

“We have to leave now.” She kissed him on both cheeks before quickly rising to her feet. “I’m sorry, baby.”

Carlo wrapped his tiny arms around her leg as she turned around to leave, causing her to halt.

“Don’t go. Please” He pressed on as he looked up at her with his wet face.

A lone tear rolled down her cheek as she stared at Carlo for a few seconds before Roberto suddenly grabbed him and took him into his arms.

“Don’t create a scene here.” Roberto groaned.

Dorothy wiped the tear on her cheeks with the back of hand before turning around and starting to walk away, with Tony following closely behind her.

Carlo started screaming and crying profusely and tried to break free from Roberto’s hold as he watched them walk away. But Roberto only tightened his grip on him while shooting a death glare at him.

What the hell did I just experience? Was Carlo really Rosalinda’s son? None of them denied it when he called her his mommy. I needed answers!

“Well, well, well. What a heartfelt moment I just experienced.” Lorenzo’s voice suddenly boomed, and I turned to look at him to see an amused expression saturating his face. “Who is this smart, handsome boy here?”

“He’s not someone you should worry about.” Roberto replied, waving him off.

“I guess it’s a secret that was hidden from the whole world. I wouldn’t push it.” Lorenzo muttered before turning on his heels and starting to walk away without waiting for a response.

I stood there, still shocked and confused, as my gaze lingered on the crying kid. Who was he? I asked myself again for the umpteenth time.

“Thanks for coming.” Roberto’s voice cut through my thoughts, signaling that it was time for me to leave.

I wanted to ask the millions of questions running through my mind. But I knew it was baseless; there was a reason why he kept it a secret in the first place, and I knew I wouldn’t get answers to my curiosity. So I wasn’t going to push.

Blowing out a sharp breath, I turned around and walked out of there.

A few minutes after leaving Moretti’s mansion, I sighted Lorenzo’s car alongside an old, shabby car packed in the middle of the road. In front of the cars were two people whose backs were to me and on their knees. Beside them was Lorenzo, with his gun pointed to their heads. I didn’t even need to see their faces to know who they were.

What the fuck was happening?