THE MAFIA BOSS WAS SURROUNDED BY DOCTORS AS HE DIED—UNTIL AN 8-YEAR-OLD MAID’S DAUGHTER CHECKED UNDER HIS PILLOW AND EXPOSED WHAT HIS FIANCÉE HAD BEEN HIDING THERE NIGHT AFTER NIGHT

from beneath his pillow.

He wanted to lie.

He wanted to say something powerful.

Something fatherly.

Something impossible.

Instead, he gave her the truth.

“Not today.”

Lily studied him carefully.

“Tomorrow?”

“Not if I can help it.”

She appeared to consider that very seriously.

Then she climbed onto the bench beside him and pressed the baseball into his hand.

“Then continue reading …