Page 62 of Mafia Baby

“Fine,” he says abruptly. “But hurry up.”

I hold up my hands appeasingly and continue speaking. “I offer you the unique chance to be the man responsible for erasing the Reaper from this earth,” I tell him. “In public. You can broadcast it, or record the act, I don’t care. You can execute me in any way that you see fit.”

“No!” Gianna screams out. I hear her scrabbling to get to her feet, making choking noises as the pain catches up with her.

“Shut up, sister dear,” Will says to her dismissively. He tilts his head, and one of his men strides across the room to grab Gianna by her arm. She screeches in pain, and I whirl to look at her, seeing her weeping and clutching her arm.

“I won’t agree to any of that, however,” I tell Will. “Unless you promise to let Gianna go.”

Will holds out a hand to the man who is gripping Gianna’s arm, and he steps back. She gasps in relief, cradling her broken arm and panting with the pain.

“You think I will really let Gianna go free? With your bastard baby inside her womb?”

I nod. “Yes, you will. Vince will take her away to someplace safe. She’ll change her name. You’ll let my child grow up away from this life. Gianna never wanted any of this, and I don’t want this life for my child. Besides, you’ve got an image to uphold and a position to assert if you want to get even bigger jobs and scores. You need the publicity of this execution. You need the fear that it will strike in the hearts of your enemies and your business partners.”

Will paces back and forth for a few moments, clearly mulling my idea over. Finally, he straightens up and nods just once. “It’s a deal. Get her out of here.” He flings a hand in Gianna’s direction, and another of his men crosses the room. The two men standing near her start to hustle her out the door.

“No!” Gianna screams, digging in her heels and trying to resist them. “Dom! I love you! Please don’t do this!”

“Gianna,” I plead with her, even though my heart is breaking. “Remember that I said you had to trust me? Please just do this. For the baby.” I’m not sure that her brother will honor the agreement that we have made, but I do think that I can keep him distracted long enough for her to get away.

Once she and Vince connect, she’ll be safe at least.

She hesitates, clearly wanting to fight, clearly desperate to fly at her brother and claw his eyes out. But she’s injured, and the baby might be hurt. She’s hungry and tired and scared. And she promised. I can see all of it running through her mind for a moment before she just nods at me, her eyes shining with love.

“We’ll save you,” she says to me, her voice a tearful thread. “We won’t let him do this to you.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Will interrupts her. “Get her the fuck out of here. I’m sick of her whining.”

Will’s men give both her good and bad arms a yank, causing her to whimper and fold over in pain. I resist the urge to attack the men blocking the door. I grind my teeth together as I watch them drag her away, and then I focus my full attention on Will.

I feel the cold, clinical detachment that I use when I’m preparing to complete a kill wash over me.

“Let me see that you have let her go,” I state in a flat tone of voice.

Will makes an annoyed sound in the back of his throat, but he gestures for me to come with him. I walk behind him into the hallway just in time to see his men shove her out the door.

She crumples into a heap on the gravel, crying out as she lands on her injured arm. His men leave her in the swirling cloud of dust that was lifted from the ground when she fell, and step back into the building.

They slam the door and then turn to block it with their backs.

“There,” Will says impatiently. “You’ve seen that she’s free. Now it’s time for me to get what you promised me.”

“Not until I hear her drive away,” I say firmly. I don’t trust them to let her go, and I need to buy some more time for Vince to arrive. The longer I can drag this out, the better.

Will might think of himself as a dishonorable killer who is willing to stoop to any level to make a dollar, but he’s already shown that he can’t quite let go of his rich, snobby ways. He will give me this much out of a sense of honor. I’m sure of it.

I hear Gianna crying beyond the door and my body trembles with the restrained desire to go to her, to help her.

I hear her feet scuffle on the gravel and I imagine her getting up, her arm held at a painful angle. I strain my ears for the sound of the car unlocking, and then I hear the chirping noise I was waiting for. It’s not long before the door opens and closes and then the engine comes to life.

Will moves toward me, but I wave him back, still listening. I hear the car roll back away from the building, and then accelerate away from this miserable place. I listen until I can’t hear it anymore, and then I turn toward Will.

“I’m all yours,” I say to him grimly.

One of the men behind me throws a hood over my head, and I suck in a shocked breath. I immediately choke on the dust and grit that was contained inside of it and close my eyes to try and protect them from getting grime in them.

The man behind me grabs my arms and yanks them behind my back. Mentally, I scoff at how he is holding me. If I wasn’t interested in complying with them, his weak hold wouldn’t be enough to keep me from destroying them all.

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