Page 59 of Ruthless Mafia Daddy

The questions died in her throat when her eyes landed on the pregnancy test kits scattered around the table. She looked at me, then at the tests, and back at me. I couldn’t find the voice to explain myself. Red hot flames burned into my face, and I averted my gaze to the floor. I couldn’t take the look of disbelief and horror on her face.

“How did this happen?” she asked, holding up one of the tests. “You’re supposed to be on Depo shots. What happened?”

“I don’t know, Viv,” I whispered, my eyes glued to the floor.

“Is that why you needed your passports and a disguise? I thought you were in danger or something.”

Rage flashed through me, and I pinned her with a glare. “I have a fucking Ivanov growing in my belly. I have the child of a mafia Don, a fucking trafficker, and a wanted criminal I was sent to bring to justice growing in me. How much danger can a person possibly be in?”

“Ari,” she tried to calm me, but the dams were already open, and I might just let out the emotions I’d been bottling inside.

“Father will kill me. You know he will. He’ll force this child out of me, and he’ll discard me like trash. And Mikhail, he’ll be ecstatic to find out we’re having a baby together. He’s been talking about the future and a family nonstop for the past few weeks! How am I supposed to tell him Arielle is not even my name? How am I supposed to tell my child I was sent to destroy his father!” A gut-wrenching cry tore through me, and I crumpled to the floor, letting the sobs take over me.

I was so scared and confused, and I had nowhere to turn. I couldn’t go home to Mikhail, and I certainly couldn’t go back to my father. I would be considered a traitor to both of them. And my child, I clutched my stomach, wailing harder—my baby would be destroyed because of my stupid mistakes.

“It’s okay, Ari, I’m here. We’ll figure it out together. We always do.” Viv settled into the floor with me, pulling me into a hug, and I cried harder.

When my throat became too raw from crying, and my eyes couldn’t produce more tears, I got off the floor, taking one last look at the pregnancy kits.

“My flight is due for eight p.m.,” I croaked out, and Vivian’s eyes widened in shock. She opened her mouth to protest, but I already knew what she was going to say. A sermon about how my decision was rushed, but I wasn’t in the mood for therapy.

“I can’t tell you where I’m going. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I wouldn’t want to put the burden of cleaning up my mess on you.”

“Are you sure there’s no other way?” she asked, her voice breaking at the end.

I knew what she was asking. I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t considered terminating the pregnancy the moment the first test came out positive, but there was already so much blood on my hands, and I wasn’t going to add my child’s blood to the pile.

I wrapped my arms protectively around my pelvis. “I can’t, Viv. I can’t hurt it.”

She nodded slowly. “I understand. I don’t think I’d be able to do that, especially given the situation we grew up in. But what are you going to do? You’ll have two highly influential and resourceful men looking for you. You’ll practically have to live in hiding. How will you survive? Why don’t we try telling Father. It was obviously a mistake. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

I remained mute at her suggestion, completely avoiding her gaze.

“It was a mistake, right? Arielle?”

An exhausted sign slipped from me, and I quickly checked the time on my phone before turning to her. There was no reason to lie. “It was…not entirely. It’s complicated.”

“Do you love him?” she asked, and I glued my eyes to the floor.

“Damn it, Arielle! You dragged me all the way from Manhattan to Queens. The least you can do is give me some honest explanation.”

“Yes! Okay, I do care about him. I don’t know how it happened or why I didn’t stop it, but it’s what it is. He was the first man to actually see me and treat me like I was human and not a sex toy or a fortified weapon. Mikhail saw me. He loved me, and I might be the biggest hypocrite in the history of the world to fall for the same man that made my skin crawl, but he wasn’t so bad, and he took care of me!” I rushed out in one breath, my chest heaving as Vivian stared wide-eyed.

“He’s not a monster, Viv,” I sobbed, my voice low and weak. “I’m not some foolish, naive girl. He loved me.”

“Is that why you’re keeping his child? To hold on to a part of him?”

“No.” I wiped my eyes with the back of my palms. “This baby is mine, and I’m keeping it because it’s a part of me.”

“That solves it then,” Vivian said, a sad look in her eyes. “Will I ever see you again?”

Her question broke what was left of my heart. In my haste to run from the mess I created, I had completely forgotten about the life I’d be leaving behind. The people I’ll be leaving behind. Viv, Julia, and Maya. I might never see them again.

“We’ll find a way,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. “Father will have to die someday, and Mikhail will eventually move on withone of the girls in the Russian bratva. It’s what is expected of a don anyway.”

A thought suddenly occurred to me, and I rushed to the emergency bag I asked her to pack for me. “Here,” I pulled out a burner phone I kept for emergencies. “It can only place and receive a single phone call. I’ll call you when I’m about to give birt.”

I wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks. We were more than two kids adopted by the same father. We were sisters. We were best friends. We were each other’s lifeline. I didn’t know how I’d cope without her, but the situation couldn’t be helped. The chances were too risky to be taken.

---