Page 34 of Secret Baby for the Mafia Don

“How are you going to know that he’s yours?” Jess asks. “Surely you aren’t going to force Kate to take a test to prove it?”

I clench my jaw. I have been turning this part of the equation over and over in my mind but I’m not sure what the answer is, to be honest.

I think in some obscure way that I will just know that he’s mine, but that’s probably silly of me. However, I do trust Kate, and I know that she is telling me the truth.

I don’t know why I need to see the child for myself, but I just do. It might be that the idea of him just isn’t real enough without laying eyes on him. After all, I didn’t know he existed until just the other day.

That’s a lot to absorb in a short timeframe and with complete and total trust.

“If he doesn’t look like you, will you still believe Kate?” Jess asks me. She is giving me a hard look and I return it.

“I will,” I say truthfully. “I guess it’s just a lot to absorb, finding out that you have a son all of a sudden. Maybe it just won’t be real to me until I actually meet him.”

“Fair enough,” she says with a little nod. She strokes her pregnant belly fondly. “Sometimes I’m not even sure what’s in here until suddenly I’m holding a baby. I think having them delivered by stork would be a lot less confusing in some ways.”

We all enjoy a little laugh at that. Gabriel asks for another glass of wine and one of my mother’s staff fetches the bottle and tops up everyone but Jess.

“Be careful how you handle this mess,” my mother tells me. “There’s more at stake than losing money. If you hurt Kate again, you will have to keep her as a prisoner here just to be able to raise your child. I’m sure you don’t want that.”

I shake my head again, my mouth full of food. I’m being honest. I don’t want Kate to hate me.

I want her to fall back in love with me.

I might not be able to offer her the love that she is looking for, but I can give her a life that is worth living. No more hiding away in a little house guarded by Marco’s men and no more kidnapping attempts.

Surely that is enough? Can getting her freedom back make up for my faults and flaws? I had assumed she would accept me without questioning any of the ugly parts of life with me when I was younger.

Now I’m not so sure.

What if I work hard to set her free and then she wants to leave and take Mateo with her? Am I a big enough man to let that happen?

So many questions that I just honestly don’t have answers for right now.

“You know what you have to do, Elio?” my mother presses me.

I meet her gaze across the table. I have known the answer for a while now, even if I’m not sure how I’m going to make it happen.

I take a sip of wine and set my glass down, twirling it and watching the ruby-red liquid sloshing around inside of it.

In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose.

“I have to make her fall in love with me all over again.”

Chapter Fourteen

Kate

“There’s mail for you downstairs.”

I glance over my shoulder and see that the head housekeeper, Mary, is standing in the doorway of my room.

I had come upstairs after a long day of cleaning floors by hand to take a shower and clean up before Mateo is brought home by Enzo’s driver.

“Mail for me?” I say back. Why would anyone be sending me mail?

I’m a prisoner here and no one knows that I am here. My heart leaps a little as I consider that maybe someone told my parents that I have come out of hiding and I’m being held by the Baldinis as a prisoner.

I try not to think about my parents most of the time. It’s incredibly painful to me that they have never met their grandson.

---