Page 34 of Unforgivable Ties

She did seem very nice. Her husband, however, still scared the crap out of me.

“If you could just raise your shirt, please,” I squeaked.

Liria leaned back on the examination table and lifted her t-shirt. It was hard to judge based on the size of her stomach, but if I had to guess, she was about eighteen weeks.

I squeezed the gel out and rubbed it on her abdomen. This was fine. I’d just ignore the scary mafia boss who would kill me if he thought I was doing a bad job.

“Tall Dino told me about you,” she commented.

“You know Tall Dino?” I asked.

Shoot. What had that stupid, gossipy man told her about what he had overheard while I was talking on the phone?

“Yeah, he’s my friend’s and I’s security detail. He said you’re close to Vincenzo,” she continued.

“Um, sort of,” I said, placing the wand on her stomach.

If she was any other woman, I would have given her “the look.” The one that means be quiet, we need to end this conversation. Unfortunately for me, her mob boss husband was right next to her, and “the look” can easily be misconstrued for a glare.

“Really? He said you lived together—”

“Eh?” Cesare and Ettore said at once, looking at each other.

Liria turned bright red, realizing she shouldn’t have said anything. She apologized to me with her eyes, but the damage had already been done.

God, what could I even say? It felt like Cesare and Ettore were having a silent conversation about it, that I wasn’t a part of.

“Boy,” I said, finding the baby on the monitor. “It’s a boy.”

Cesare took the wand and confirmed that yes, they were in fact having a boy. Liria burst into happy tears, and Ettore reached out and grabbed her hand. He gently rested his forehead against hers, and maybe I was imagining it, but I swear I saw a tear slip from his eye.

“Thank you Stephanie,” Liria said, smiling.

“Happy to help,” I responded.

Cesare and Ettore were having a separate conversation in Italian, and weren’t paying attention to Liria and I.

“And tell Tall Dino I will have a chat with him next time I see him,” I said, a faint grimace playing on my lips.

Liria nodded, still clearly embarrassed from before. “I’ll make sure he gets the message.”

Ettore and Liria left, leaving me and Cesare alone in the room.

“Living with him, hm?” Cesare said, not bothering to hide the judgement in his eyes.

“It’s not like that!” I said, launching into the full speech about what happened to my apartment.

“And he just said you could stay?”

“I mean...I keep the house really clean. It’s like having a live-in maid,” I shrugged.

“If Vincenzo wishes for his home to be kept clean, he can afford an actual maid,” Cesare countered, skepticism lining every word. He looked at me, his eyes keen and sharp.

Ugh. Cesare thought part of the arrangement was that I had to have sex with Vincenzo. From an outsider’s perspective, I could see why he would think that.

“We don’t...” I was too embarrassed to say the word sex in front of him, which was ironic, given his profession. “Like I said. It’s not like that.”

“Hm,” Cesare said, turning to face the clock. “Well, get this put away.”

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