The Don's Wife Died With His Secret Heir novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Fold in the Ear

I was back in the car with my door shut when Santo came out carrying the boy.

He had a coat over the child's shoulders, and the boy's head rested on his arm.

"He gave him to me," Santo said, and laid him in the back seat. "He says I should sleep on it and answer him on Sunday."

I waited until the cars behind us had started their engines.

"Santo, look at me."

He had one hand on the wheel and the other on the gearshift, and he did not turn his head.

"Ottavio's left ear is folded at the top."

"I know. A man cut him with a knife when I was eight, protecting my father."

"The boy's left ear is folded at the top. The same ear, in the same place."

For a moment the engine ticked and the street was quiet.

"Children are born with folds," he said.

"Not that fold, and not on that man's face."

"Alessia."

"I saw them under one light. I watched Ottavio kiss his head, and I watched the boy yawn."

"You watched through a gap in a stack of crates, in the dark, scared out of your mind."

"I was close enough to hear what he asked you to burn."

He pulled away from the curb.

"Do you hear yourself?" His voice was very careful. "Ottavio carried me out of my father's funeral. He taught me to read a ledger. You're telling me he took my city's heir and put his own bastard in the chair."

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