Page 65 of Mafia Baby

“Hi there,” he says to me. His face is young and friendly-looking. I instantly relax. “Want to hop out and we’ll try and get you patched up a little bit?”

I nod. “Yes. Thank you.” I painfully move my seatbelt, and then wiggle down out of the seat. I lean against the car, breathing hard and in pain.

“I’m Carter,” the young man says to me as he examines me gently.

“Gianna,” I say unnecessarily as I watch his long fingers feeling along the length of my broken arm. I cry out a little as his fingers press over one of the breaks in the arm.

“Sorry,” he says to me quietly. He looks so regretful that I just shake my head.

“Not your fault,” I tell him.

“Who does this to their sister?” Vince grumbles, coming to stand by us.

“A very bad person,” I say through clenched teeth. Carter helps me to get into a sling, and he gives me some pain medication to take that he says is safe for the baby.

“It’s not going to do a lot for you, I’m afraid,” Carter tells me as I gulp the pills down. “We can’t risk the baby being harmed by stronger pain medications.”

I nod. “That’s okay. I’ve been coping so far. So, what’s the plan?”

Vince sighs. “We’ve come up with a plan to get in there from various different entrances. The trouble is that we don’t know how many men are in there, so we will have to move carefully. We’re good at what we do, but we can’t hold off an army on our own.”

I nod. “I can distract him,” I say to Vince.

He immediately shakes his head no. “Dom wouldn’t want that, and you need to think about the baby. Besides, you’d only be a distraction to Dom if you showed back up demanding to talk to your brother.”

“Well, at least let me go back with you,” I say stubbornly. “I can help, I know it. I know my brother. That has to count for something.”

Vince looks skeptical, but I think he can tell how strongly I feel about this. He finally nods tightly. “Okay, let’s get going, then.”

I move to get back into the driver’s seat, but Carter touches my shoulder. “Let me,” he says and I gratefully hand him the car keys. Driving when you are in tons of pain and with one hand is not a lot of fun.

I lean my head back against the headrest and let the swaying of the car lull me into a sense of peace and safety as we drive. I place my hands on my belly, wishing I could explain to the tiny life inside of me that we will be okay.

I’m just not even sure that I believe it, is the trouble. Life without Dom looms like a vast, empty void to me. I can’t even face the thought of him dying today. My brain just keeps skittering away from the idea like a frightened rabbit.

“Dom’s going to be a great dad,” Carter says to me out of the blue.

I crack an eye open and look at his profile. Carter is handsome in a pretty sort of way. I like his quiet, calm energy. I know now that he’s one-hundred percent not the kind of guy that I’m into, but he will make someone an excellent partner someday.

“He thinks he will be terrible at being a father,” I say back.

Carter laughs. “He’s really hard on himself. He’s a good guy. We all like him.”

For some reason, Carter’s certainty fills me with hope, for Dom and for the baby. I didn’t realize just how much Dom’s own gloominess about his ability to love people has affected my own feelings about us having a baby.

“You should tell him that,” I say to Carter.

He glances over at me. “Yeah. I will do that.”

I don’t add the thought that flashes through my mind. I don’t add the ifs, ands, and buts that rise inside me. There’s no time for that kind of negativity.

All of us need to be as positive as we can. My favorite horoscopes are always going on and on about how you need to manifest what you want into this world. I have never manifested so hard in my life.

Carter parks the car outside the warehouse and smiles at me again. “Hang out for a bit, okay? We’ll get Reaper out of there.”

I nod and smile pleasantly. I need Carter and all of the men that Vince brought with him to think that I’m going to do as they say. I have other intentions.

Carter gets out of the car and walks a short distance away to talk to Vince and the other men. I watch them for a moment as they plan, then get out of the car. They haven’t noticed me yet, so I duck down behind the vehicle a little.

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