Page 19 of Secret Baby for the Mafia Don

He crosses one leg over the other and rests his gun on his knee. “But I figured that you might be more motivated if you knew that Kate’s child isn’t Marco’s. Mateo is yours.”

I have become very adept at keeping my expression neutral, my emotions shuttered away, but this bit of information is enough of a shock that I almost reveal my surprise to Luca.

My mind races as I consider if this could be true. I grudgingly have to admit that it could be possible, but I won’t believe it until I hear the words from Kate’s lips.

“We figure that we will let you head home in good faith,” Luca says. “You can wait to hear from us when we are ready to let you see Kate. She can confirm what I am telling you and then we can all come to a civilized agreement about what kind of trade routes you want to share with us. Until then, Kate belongs to us and your first-born son, your heir, is in our clutches. Even if the girl doesn’t actually mean anything to you, I’m sure Mateo does.”

“Do you really think I will ever want to work with you?” I say gently to Luca, as though I am talking to a simpleton.

Luca chuckles. “No, I don’t think that. However, I don’t actually have to give your child back to you if it doesn’t please me to do so. I think over time, you will come to find that we can be excellent business partners. Once we have what we need from you, you can be free to go about your life and make new conquests. We might even share some of the spoils of our own efforts with you, if it seems like the arrangement will be convenient to us.”

I remain quiet for a stretch, my mind turning over what Luca has said. I am used to being unable to trust anyone I work with on a daily basis, so the fact that Luca might not hold up his end of the bargain doesn’t really concern me for now.

What matters right now, is that I am allowed to go back to the US and figure out what to do next.

I think of the dream that Luca woke me up from. Ever since the day that I was asked to kill my brother for his betrayal, Kate has been my only solace in the world.

Being without her for the past seven years has been terrible, painful, and empty. I would do almost anything to get her back.

“Fine,” I say. “You have a deal.”

Chapter Eight

Kate

“You two can stay down here,” Enzo tells me as he leads me down a short hallway at the very back of the house.

He points to a room with bare walls, a simple bed, and a small couch. I see a little TV on the wall across from the bed.

“Just one bed?” I ask, confused.

Enzo shakes his head. “No.” He hunkers down to Mateo’s level. “Want to see your special bedroom?” he asks my son.

“Yes, please!”

I cringe at my child’s excitement.

He isn’t safe here, but he doesn’t have the slightest clue that that is the case. He already adores Enzo, I can tell. He was always excited to see Marco when he came to visit as well.

I wander across the hall after Enzo and Mateo, feeling guilty that my son hasn’t been able to spend time with any kind of male role model. But what was I supposed to do?

I couldn’t have trusted Elio with the knowledge that I was pregnant with his child, or he would have never let us go. Although, I had to admit that living in the gilded cage that Marco made for us hadn’t been exactly what I had been hoping for when I came to him for help.

Sometimes I felt like there was never any chance that I wasn’t going to end up being a pawn in the games of men in this business.

My family had sold me to the highest bidder when I was just an infant, and then Elio had planned to use and abuse me as well.

Marco had promised to help me, but he hadn’t really done anything to improve my situation or offer me my own choices in life.

Now, here I was again, imprisoned in the house of a mob family, still without choices or opportunities that I had chosen for myself. I thought bitterly of my dream to run Elio’s home and bear him beautiful children.

How had I ever thought that life would be so simple?

“This is so cool!” Mateo enthuses as he turns in slow circles in the room across from mine.

I step over the threshold, and a grudging smile spreads across my face. The room had clearly been set up for a child at some point in the past.

There are whimsical pirate ships painted on the wall across from the door, and I notice that the bedspread is also nautical-themed. There is a bookshelf with books and toys on it to my right. I also see a big box of LEGOs on the other side of the bed.

---