AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lexie’s smart and tough. I’ll give you that. But she doesn’t have the experience necessary to take over something of this magnitude.”
“She’s more capable than you think, and she can learn like anybody else. Neither of us ascended to power with a fucking clue.”
“You really think she wants to be a crime boss?” my father hisses.
“Ask her.”
I knock when I’ve heard enough.
“Come in,” my father calls.
“I came to see if you two are playing nicely, or if a stint in time-out is necessary.”
Rafael gifts me with a panty-melting smirk, and I squeeze his shoulder, before I take the seat beside him.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Dad says, albeit reluctantly. He knows Rafa’s not budging, and he’s cornered. “I want to talk to you about something.”
“Is everything okay?” I ask, handing Rafael my phone with the text that Valentina sent.
I turn to him, and grin as he makes sense of the sonogram images. When he does, his face lights up and he reaches over to squeeze my wrist.
It took some time for her to trust again, but even before she was quite there, she met a man who was everything she didn’t know she needed. They’re having a daughter, who will be born a few weeks after our daughter.
“Are you two going to play lovey-dovey, or can I have a moment of your time, Lexie?”
“Of course,” I reply, sitting up. “I’m listening.
“A girl,” I mouth to my husband, before turning my attention to my impatient father.
“I’m ready, or at least I will be in the next year, to turn over my business. Is leading a criminal enterprise something you’d be interested in doing?”
Rafael rubs an incredulous palm down his face, and I burst out laughing. “Well, when you put it that way, how can I resist?”
Dad glares at Rafael, who is much too amused for his own good.
“I’m not interested in taking over your enterprise. I have a lot on my plate, but…” Now I have their rapt attention. “I’d like a piece.”
Rafael shifts in his seat, and I can feel his eyes on me, but he doesn’t say a word.
My father looks like he just took a big bite of raw liver, and he doesn’t even know I’m pregnant. “What piece would that be?” he asks, carefully.
I twirl the beautiful engagement ring on my finger. It was the ring my grandfather gave Lydia when he asked her to marry him. One of the prongs had come loose, and it was at the jeweler when she died. Antonio held onto it for more than a decade. Right before we got engaged, he gave it to Rafael, insisting his mother would want me to have it. I was honored, and I wear it proudly every day. It reminds me of Grandma Lydia and everything she believed in. We have a moral imperative to make the world better for women, safer, especially those of us with so much.
I meet my father’s probing gaze. “I’d like to work on efforts to end human trafficking. I already do that through Huntsman Industries, and I’d love to expand my efforts to the UK.”
Rafael isn’t crazy about my work, but most of it’s behind the scenes and I’m exceedingly careful to stay out of the spotlight. He rarely protests because he knows it’s not just a job, it’s my calling. And more than anything, he wants me to be happy and fulfilled.
“Dangerous business.” My father flashes Rafael a threatening look.
“Especially for the victims,” I reply, with all the cheekiness he expects from me.
Before I can say another word, two young boys and their little sister barge into the library.
“I didn’t hear a knock,” I say, brow raised.
“They don’t need to knock in this house,” my father mutters, smiling at the little darlings. He’s much more permissive with them than he ever was with me.
“Papai,” six-year-old Liam, who looks just like his daddy, cries. “We finished lunch. We were so polite, Grandma gave us a cupcake.”
