My Second Marriage with the Mafia Kingpin

Ashley giggled as she leaned against the headboard of the bed, thinking about how Primo had called her. Even she was surprised by how touching it was to be called that. But it had felt magical.

As though she would be able to do anything for the boy.

"Lucian," she turned to him, who was waiting for her verdict. "Do you know Primo just called me his mama?"

Lucian blinked. Was that why she’d been giggling and smiling all night?

"Shocking, right?" She bumped her shoulder against his lightly before drawing back. "I didn’t think I would like it, but... I love it."

She lowered her head, her smile still there. However, her worries were ever-present as well. As she’d said, she didn’t even know how to be a parent. She had never taken care of anyone else in that sense.

"Do you think... I’ll do a good job?" she asked, turning to him again, her expression worried. "I mean, I don’t want to disappoint him."

Lucian studied her face and said quietly, with clear certainty in his voice, "You won’t."

"How so?"

"Because you’re already better than his real mother... and me."

Ashley blinked, her eyes scanning his face. He said that so seriously, and she knew he meant every word.

"You’re not a bad parent," she blurted out quietly, her shoulders sagging. "Anyway, about Emma..."

She trailed off, lost in thought.

Earlier that day, she had been avoiding any topic about Emma until she was ready. She had known they wouldn’t get through the night without discussing it. But now, it wasn’t that she wanted to avoid it. She just couldn’t quite wrap her head around this new information.

Ashley fluttered her lashes slowly, studying Lucian. "You’re... you’re technically Primo’s uncle?" she asked, and he nodded. "Wait. But you didn’t have a sibling."

Even in her first life, she had known Lucian was an only child. It might have been surprising given what kind of organization Dominion originally was. Even so, Ashley had known this much.

Lucian drew a deep breath, settling comfortably against the headboard.

"Emma is a child the previous Don had with his trophy wife," he answered, and that already explained it.

Normally, he would have left it at that. However, because of that habit of his, it had hurt her. So he continued.

"The previous Don only recognized one child, and that was his child with the old madam, but he had a few children with other women," he explained. "Emma is one of them."

Ashley’s mouth parted as she nodded slowly.

"Emma was privileged to live a comfortable life. She could get anything she wanted and never needed to work because her allowance was more than enough to cover her expensive lifestyle," he continued. "However, she was never allowed to exist."

"Huh?"

Lucian glanced at her. "She could do everything she wanted... except be a part of Dominion or the De Luca family. She was not even allowed to enter Dominion’s territory. That was the condition the previous Don and the madam of Dominion set for her."

In other words, Emma could live her life however she pleased, as long as she stayed far from Dominion.

"I met Emma later in life. I won’t say we got along, but somehow, once she figured out I was her brother, she wouldn’t leave me alone," he said, not particularly keen on elaborating about his complicated relationship with Emma.

Curiosity flickered in Ashley’s eyes. "How did you end up adopting Primo?"

This time, Lucian didn’t answer immediately. His gaze lowered, deep in thought.

"I heard she had gotten pregnant and already given birth," he answered under his breath. "So I decided to check on her."

His jaw tightened as he remembered that night he went to see Emma.

"Emma hadn’t been in a good mental state when she got pregnant. When I came that night, I saw her —" his voice deepened, tempted to shut out the memory.

He had stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Emma passed out, high on drugs. And then, tangled in the blankets where she lay, was a newborn baby who had nearly suffocated.

Lucian drew a deep breath and turned to Ashley. "She had almost overdosed, and Primo barely survived. Had I not gone there that night, both of them would have been gone."

Hearing this, Ashley’s heart clenched. She clutched the sheet over her lap, unable to look away from Lucian. Suppressed anger flickered beneath the layers of color in his eyes.

"I had to make a decision," he said. "Take the kid, or leave him to die in her hands."

And he did what he had to do.

"It would be easier to protect Primo if I claimed he was mine," Lucian said. "No one would ask questions either."

And his silence had protected not only Primo, but Emma as well.

Ashley had already suspected there was a reason Lucian had adopted Primo the moment he confessed that Emma was his sister. She just hadn’t expected the reason to be this.

Her mouth opened and closed, but her voice wouldn’t come. When she finally found the strength to speak, she whispered,

"Then why did you let her back in here?"

A moment of silence fell between them as they stared at each other. Then Lucian looked away, lowering his gaze.

"When Emma finally got clean last year, she kept trying to reach out," he explained. "She did things just to find her way back into Primo’s life."

Lucian paused with a quiet sigh. "I ignored all of it... until recently, when Primo started wondering about his mother." He lifted his gaze to Ashley. "I don’t want to pressure you into being his mother when his own mother nearly killed him."

"And I feared the day he’d ask about his real mother and end up hurting you," he added quietly, holding her gaze. "So I thought that if he could see what kind of mother he has now, he wouldn’t need to ask you that question someday."

It might not have made sense to others, but for Lucian, cutting off that kind of problem before it could grow was important.

Another silence fell between them as they looked at each other. Ashley drew her brows together, understanding his reasoning, but a question that had lingered at the back of her mind resurfaced.

It had been there before, and it was there now.

"Lucian," she called quietly, her expression creasing with mild confusion. "Why... do I feel like you keep rushing things?"

His brows rose. "Hmm?"

Her brows furrowed, trying to put the right words together to ask.

"Why are you trying so hard to fix problems that haven’t happened yet?"