I Sent the Mafia Heir to Prison, and He Came Out Wanting Me novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Burnt One, Again
Archer Bread reopened on the second Saturday in March, and by six in the morning the line ran past the dry cleaner's.
Ben had been awake since two.
He stood at the new deck oven in a clean black apron with the peel in both hands.
When he pulled the first batch of rye, the whole shop went quiet to watch the crust crackle.
"That's the one," Greta called from the register. "Somebody take a picture of that. Not you, you'll burn it."
"I never burn it."
"You burn one every single day."
"On purpose."
"That's what I said. It's creepy."
The shop smelled of yeast and fresh paint and warm butter.
The tile was new, and the counter was new.
In the middle of the back shelf sat the old crock, scrubbed clean and fed, bubbling gently.
At the front of the line stood the tall grey-haired woman in the navy suit, in jeans for once.
She held a loaf under her arm.
"Chief deputy," Ben said.
"Retired as of Tuesday. Don't tell my husband I'm buying carbs."
She paid, and she shook his hand.
She did not say anything about the plea Gaetano Bellacosta had signed in January, thirty years.
She did not mention the cousin who had taken fifteen.
She did not mention the vacated conviction that had come to a penthouse on Lake Shore Drive in an ordinary white envelope.
She only looked at the man behind the counter and said, "Looks good on you."
Dario was wearing an apron.
It was dark green and slightly too short, and Greta had written *MANAGER OF NOTHING* across the bib in marker.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of I Sent the Mafia Heir to Prison, and He Came Out Wanting Me are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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