THE LITTLE GIRL ASKED TO SIT WITH A STRANGER—BUT HER MOTHER NEVER EXPECTED THE MAFIA BOSS TO RECOGNIZE HER FACE

“I am asking anyway. For Lily.”

Silence.

It was the first time he had said her daughter’s name with tenderness, and the sound of it reached a place she had kept locked for years.

“I will not come to your house,” Clara said.

“Then anywhere you choose. Public. People around.”

“Moringo,” she said. “Seven.”

“The private room upstairs. My men will be at the continue reading …