Page 60 of Mafia Baby

“Just a few minutes,” I tell him. “I’m so sorry, Dom. I didn’t know.”

“He fooled us all, baby,” Dom says, sitting up with a wince and looking down at me. “He broke your arm.”

I nod and then grimace. “And a rib or two.”

“Is the baby, okay?” Dom asks.

I sigh. “I think so,” I say. I feel myself start crying again. “But Dom, I think he’s going to kill me. I wasn’t going to tell him because he hates you so much.”

Dom pulls a face and runs a hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m so sorry. God, I’m so sorry.”

“No use crying over spilled milk,” I say, cradling my broken arm against my body. Dom slides over to me and cautiously pulls me over to him.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the baby?” he says to me.

I sigh, then squeak at the pain the motion causes in my ribs. “I didn’t want to distract you….and I didn’t know if you’d be…happy about it.”

“Oh, my love,” Dom says with a big sigh. “That’s my fault. I didn’t tell you anything about how I felt about anything, I suppose.”

“It’s okay,” I whisper, but it’s not really. I start sobbing, both with emotion and the pain that the emotion is causing me.

“Gianna,” Dom says to me. “I need to tell you something. Can you look at me?”

I sniff and look up at him. He’s blurry due to the tears in my eyes.

“Gianna Bianchi, I have loved you since the first moment that you walked up to me in the club. I have loved you for weeks without even realizing it. You make my days and my nights so much better, so much less lonely….so complete. I am thrilled beyond words that you are pregnant with my child. I only wish that I was going to be here to meet them when they are born.”

I start sobbing harder. I manage to say, “I love you too. So much that it hurts me to think of being away from you. Don’t leave me, Dom.”

“I don’t know that I can keep that promise,” he says to me. His voice sounds thick, as if he’s holding back tears as well. “What I can tell you is that I let Vince know where we are, and he’s on his way. He’s not that close, so we need to think of ways to keep your brother busy and buy us some time. I don’t think it will help me, but it might help you to escape.”

“Okay,” I say with another snotty sniffle. “What’s the plan?”

“I’m going to offer myself up to him,” Dom says, and I immediately shake my head.

“No!” I cry out.

He places a finger to his lips. “Hush, hear me out,” he says to me. “The way I want to offer myself up to him will help stall for time.”

“Dom, I just want us to be together. We could run away. He’s terrible. You can just kill him, and we can escape,” I plead.

Dom smiles at me sadly. “He’s not alone here,” he says to me. Just because we haven’t seen them doesn’t mean that they aren’t here. If I attack him, they’ll pour in here and kill us without a second thought. He isn’t friends with the nicest people, as you know. I can’t count on being able to bribe them as most of them probably hate me for killing their friends for years.”

I nod slowly, processing what he has said. I realize he’s probably right. I would trade myself for him in a heartbeat, but I can’t with the baby.

I have to think about our child first and foremost. I wish that I thought I could guess what my brother was up to, but I just have no idea who The Cobra is.

Until a couple of hours ago, I would have said that I knew my brother better than anyone else on earth. Now, however, I don’t think I can reasonably hazard a guess about what his plan is.

“I love you,” I tell him.

“I love you too,” he says back and kisses me tenderly. “I need you to trust me, okay?”

“Okay,” I say back, feeling like a small, helpless child.

“No matter what I decide to do from here, I need you to just play along. It’s the best chance you and the baby will have to survive, okay? When they let you go, you need to use the burner phone in the car that’s parked outside and call Vince. His number will be the last missed call. Tell him what’s going on. Then you need to drive away. Go as far away as you can. Leave the tracking function on my phone running so Vince can find you. Make sure you wait to go to a hospital until you know that you aren’t being tailed.”

He presses the keys to a vehicle into my hands. I stare at them as if I’ve never seen car keys before.

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