Page 23 of Surprise Baby for the Mafia Boss

“I love it!” I tell him, as the men make a joke about him already looking at women, even at his age.

I put the drawing in my bag and hug Carlos’ wife. “Thank you so much for this weekend!” I tell her. “And for welcoming us into your gorgeous home, the brilliant food, just everything.”

I get into the car as Luca shakes hands with all the men and then he joins me in the car. Everyone stays to see us off, waving and shouting their goodbyes.

“That was such a good time,” I say to Luca.

He smiles, the sight melting my heart immediately. “I told you that you’d have a good time.”

I nod, and we fall back into a silence. It’s a comfortable silence now, though, and not as tense as the quiet between us before we came here. I’m happy that he asked me to be his pretend partner, and that I agreed, even though I really wasn’t sure it was going to be a good idea.

Our flight back home is also quiet, with the stewards offering us drinks and snacks providing most of the conversation in the space. Luca is deep in thought, and I choose not to distract him. Instead, I pick up one of the magazines on the plane and work on the crossword puzzle.

I think again about my ovulation schedule and the thought of carrying Luca’s baby. I wonder how he’ll react to the news, if it is true.

I let my thoughts wander in the silence of the plane, thinking ahead to our gender reveal, baby shower, and then the birth of our perfect baby. I go as far as their first haircut, first day of school, and their troubled teenage years that will bond Luca and I even more tightly as we navigate parenthood.

I think about throwing our own children massive parties, like the one we attended this weekend. And of the children…perhaps we’ll have three…running around the Baldini mansion and through the gardens that Ginny loved so dearly.

My fantasizing thoughts last the entire trip home, and when we land, I stand up and walk silently to the car. Luca has his phone in front of his face the whole time, probably setting up the details of how they’re going to receive and then distribute the drugs coming in from the Mexicans soon.

I’m proud of him. This is one of the biggest deals that the Baldinis will have ever secured, and it’ll earn him some respect from his brother, as well as the rest of the family. I know that all he’s ever wanted was to be as respected as his older brother.

I can’t help but feel like I helped him secure this respect, though, since it seemed like the Mexicans thoroughly enjoyed having me there.

Plus, when I was speaking to the wives, I made sure that I threw in bits about how serious Luca was about his work, how smart I found him to be, and how I’d never seen a more strategic mind.

Could Luca have won them over after they were so angry with him if I hadn’t joined him for the weekend? Maybe. But I do think I played a big part in this. One day, when we look back on this part of our lives, he’ll see that too.

We arrive at the house and get out of the car quickly, not wanting Grazia to see me lingering too close to her brother. I know she was upset at me agreeing to go, but I didn’t have much time to calm her down before we had to leave. My job now is to find her and make sure she’s not too angry with me anymore.

I find her in the garden, taking care of Ginny’s flowers. “Zia, I’m back!” I call to her from the glass doors, and she looks up, shading her eyes from the son.

“Oh!” she calls back, “Done running off with my brother, are you?” I walk out to her, laughing to show how ridiculous her statement is.

“Okay, I attended a party for a fifteen-year-old, in a terribly hot country, with no one who even spoke English to talk to. Let’s not pretend that I’ve just had the time of my life,” I lie.

“You had my brother, who speaks English.” She can be so stubborn when she wants to be.

“Your brother was busy doing important business deals.” I flop down on the ground next to her and pick one of the flowers, sticking it in her thick hair that's as dark as her brothers. “It was all really boring…but I did get to have mimosas for breakfast.”

She frowns at me, trying to figure out whether or not she should believe what I’m saying. “You and Luca didn’t spend time together?” she asks.

“Barely any. I had to pretend I was there as his partner, but really, he was with the big bosses most of the time, and I was left to try and entertain the wives. It was terribly boring.” I yawn to drive my point home.

I can see her start to relax a bit. “So, it wasn’t a rendezvous excuse to finally get your hands on Luca far away from me?”

“Grazia, you can be so silly. Luca asked me to do this for the family. I agreed because I love you all.” I smile at her and stick another flower in my own hair.

“Mmkay, do you want to go to the beach?” she asks, and I nod.

We head off for the rest of the day, and I’m grateful for the chance to get away from Luca. I need to put some space between us so that I don’t give away everything that happened while we were in Mexico.

Our first stop is at our favorite beach bar and Grazia orders us cocktails, but I discreetly ask the bartender to make mine a virgin, just in case.

Chapter Thirteen

Luca

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