Page 18 of Surprise Twins for the Mafia Heir

“Because you have no reason to. You’re not here by choice,” Nick admits. “But I’m asking you not to give up on him.” I desperately want to believe Nick is earnest. I want to believe there is still good inside of Vinny. I want to believe that sweet, charming guy who made me feel comfortable after being kidnapped is out there in the living room.

But my heart is still broken. It’s no longer just my life that will be impacted. There is life inside me and it’ll be the greatest sin for that life to be ended so selfishly.

I lie back down. “Just leave me alone.”

Nick leaves the room without a word.

CHAPTER 10

Vinny

Idon’t need Nick to tell me I screwed up. The energy is loud in the house. Rosa refuses to leave her room and I can’t stand myself. I’ve been trapped in my own head and it’s impossible to get out of it. Especially after the strippers.

But Rosa doesn’t know the full story. She doesn’t understand why I needed to drown myself in alcohol and women I don’t care about.

I am forced to eliminate my rivals in order to gain my dad's trust, so he won’t keep a tap on Rosa. Each time I ended a life, the heavy weight of guilt and remorse bore down on me. To numb the pain, I turn to alcohol as my escape, a gateway into a temporary world of oblivion.

Nick being by my side has helped but it doesn’t alleviate the things my dad needs. With his accounts getting larger, I have to do everything by the book. The only way not to get my dad suspicious about Rosa is to take out others. One day there were three men eating pizza and another time it was a man on a date with his wife. It killed me. But it had to be done. My dad has eyes all over the city. Every night I returned, I couldn’t bring myself to look at Rosa. In a sick way, I tell myself that if I hadn’t killed those people, Rosa would be the one I’d have to bury. I alsoremind myself those people were stupid for getting in deals — with my dad of all people. No one survives my dad.

No one except Ralph Newton. Rosa’s father. He’s like plenty of low lives. He works odd jobs and uses the money to gamble and settle off debts. His wife is similar, except she just makes the calls for him to find the bets in the first place. Somehow, those two scheming assholes got together and made Rosa. For Rosa’s sake, I need a better outcome.

“Rosa can’t be here anymore,” Nick says late at night. Rosa is asleep and we’ve been devising plans to get her out. The only problem is there is now security all over the place. That means car checks to make sure no one is being smuggled out.

“I can’t get her out, Nick,” I say.

“But Ralph can,” Nick said. “If he meets you at the right place, we could figure out how to get Rosa to go with him. Maybe they can leave the country.”

Because every day has bled into the next, I have stopped questioning why Nick is so adamant on helping me. It’s not like our friendship magically mended the day I saw him again. There’s still a lot between us that remains unspoken.

I don’t have the mental space to unpack it right now. Rosa comes first. I just wish I had a better way of showing her that.

“You’re telling me I have to speak with Ralph then?” I ask. Nick shrugs and offers no other answer. So, I set off at the crack of dawn.

At the sight of them, I get pissed.

Ralph is of average height with wispy gray hair and heavy eyes. He has a beer gut and missing a bottom tooth. I find him at the shady store they run in Chinatown. The wife is behind the counter and, shockingly, looks like an older version of Rosa with thick, badly dyed brown hair. At the sight of me, they freeze.

“We don’t have money in store,” the wife says.

“Shut up, Donna,” Ralph snaps. “He’s Montoya’s kid.”

Donna’s eyes get big. “We’re working on the money. I swear!”

“Donna!” Ralph snarls.

I can’t believe my ears. “I have your daughter!”

“She’s alive?” Ralph and Donna ask in unison. Something about the shock in their eyes makes me feel sick. It’s almost like they aren’t overly bothered that she is dead. Their own daughter.

“I came here to make a deal with you,” I press on. “To get Rosa out safely. If you offer half of what you owe, I can ensure she’ll be fine. You just have to get her out of the country.”

They exchange a look. “We can’t do that,” Donna says.

“Why the hell not?” I snarl.

Ralph groans. “How the hell did you even find us? We switched store locations.”

I kick a box of cashews, sending them to the floor. “Are you not worried about what could happen to Rosa?”

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