They’re saying he stole from the families. This will not be brushed under any proverbial rug, no, they’ll kill him without a single thought as to if he’s guilty or not.
If Sebastian is caught in Italy, not one person will care that I'm a DeWinter and they could possibly kill me right alongside him.
Sebastian stares at me with concern in his blue eyes. “I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“How can you be so sure?” I stare into his blue eyes, wishing for him to tell me everything will be ok.
He wraps an arm around me. “Mia, I’ll protect you, no matter what. We’re in this together now, and I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
I hug him back, needing the support before I shatter into a million tiny pieces. “I trust you.” And I do trust him, right here, right now, completely. Don’t ask me why, but I do.
We spend the next few hours getting ready. Sebastian goes over our plans for when we get to Italy. How we’ll have to infiltrate the Grotto family as Donovan Sabatini and his daughter, and find Oliver Grotto.
Sebastian hands me my new passport and ID.
Gianna Sabatini.
Sebastian is my father, Mr. Donovan Sabatini.
“It’s just for a few days that we’ll have to pretend.” He watches me as I read over the passport.
“What if we can’t pull it off?”
He cracks a grin. “No one will pay close attention to us.”
I nod, chewing on my bottom lip. “Ok.”
I can do this. It will be simple. My mother, when I was a little girl, before she died, would always tell me I had honest eyes. Eyes that could tell the world what I was thinking. Eyes that would give me away. Eyes that, when stared into, could tell you everything going on inside my head. My mother always said it’s what made me innocent. That I looked at the world with honest eyes and trusted deeply.
Right now, I need to shutter my honest eyes and pretend to be the daughter of Donovan Sabatini.
I’m not sure I can pull this off because the more I’m around him, the more I wonder about him.
And not in an innocent way.
And wondering is bad.
Wondering leads to doing.
Doing is not a possibility.
Sebastian calls a taxi when we’re packed and ready to go.
As we sit in the back of the cab, I glance at Sebastian’s big hands resting on his knees. My thoughts turn x-rated in an instant. I picture them lifting me off my feet and bringing me down on a bed, where he kisses me passionately, his hands roaming over my naked skin.
Sebastian is older, and his experience versus mine is an aphrodisiac. He leads an elegant lifestyle, but a dangerous one. One filled with crime and power. It makes me wonder what he likes in the bedroom.
Would he like it rough? Would he talk dirty?
The naughtiest thing I’ve ever done in the bedroom is let a man spank me. It was just ok. But, as I picture Sebastian spanking me, something dark inside of me comes alive.
A fire, burning.
A tidal wave, crashing.
Inevitable disaster.
How am I going to live this father/daughter thing when I’m having these naughty thoughts about this man?
I clench my thighs together, trying to quell the ache there.
Sebastian notices, and I cough to pretend I wasn’t thinking anything wrong.
But he knows.
I can tell by the way he glances my way.
I can tell by the glimmer in his eyes.
I can tell by the slight smile pulling up on his lips.
He knows.
Chapter 8
Sebastian
* * *
Whoever said children are a blessing might rethink that statement if they had to pretend to be Mia’s father. This is not the ideal situation. It’s not something I would have suggested if there was any other option. Unfortunately, there’s not.
That leg-cross thing she just did has my dick hardening in the worst of ways.
Fuck. She’s been staring at me nonstop.
Is she picturing what I could do to that tight little body of hers?
Is she imagining all the wicked things I could do with my tongue?
I need to stop these rampant thoughts. I can’t ever let it go there with Mia. Mainly because she’s my best friend’s daughter, and now for the next few days, I have to pretend she’s my daughter.
Daughter.
“Ready?” I ask when we pull up to the airport.
“As I’ll ever be,” she says, getting out of the car.
I toss some bills to the cabbie and grab our suitcases from the trunk.
Getting out of Shanghai will be a cinch. It’s Italy I’m worried about. Everyone knows everyone. And worse, they talk.
Pretending to be Donovan Sabatini will be a lot harder than it looks. We talked him up and gave him a whole backstory. Sabatini is a boss. He runs an outfit in Sicily.
We made him ruthless, and people will expect me to be a man who doesn’t take shit from anyone. Not that I do, but what’s happening with the Four Families is screwing with my head. I know once I step foot in Italy, I’ll have a target on my back. I’m just hoping I can find Oliver and get the info I need and get out undetected.