Page 36 of Mafia Doctor's Secret Baby

“What do you think Dad’s going to say when he finds out?” I ask him, shooting a look at him out of the corner of my eye.

He groans and rubs a hand over his face. “I have no fucking idea.”

“Hey, language.”

“She’s not old enough to understand it yet. And besides, you cursed in front of her too…”

“I’ve got to keep standards for my daughter, Emil.”

He grins, and then, as though he has remembered just what we’re going through, it fades just as fast.

“What the hell are we going to do now?” he asks me.

I stare down at Polly in my arms, wishing I had an answer—wishing I had anything other than silence to offer him in return right now.

But I know one thing for sure—I’m not going to back down until I have Katie back in my arms, where she belongs. Whatever the Magliones think they have against us, they have no idea what kind of hell I’m going to rain down on their heads for what they have done.

And I am looking forward to showing them exactly how much I mean that.

17

KATIE

“Hello!”

I yell out into the darkness, banging my hands on the door, my voice hoarse from the hours of yelling I’ve subjected myself to already.

I know I should give up. I know I should try and get some rest, but I can’t even think about that when I’m in the middle of a nightmare bigger than I ever imagined.

I stagger back from the door, rubbing my aching palms, and crumple down into the corner in a heap. There’s barely any light in the room where I’m being held, aside from a single streak that comes in through a window above the door. I can’t see out of it, so I have no idea where they’re keeping me. I tried to count out the minutes that we were in the van, so I’d at least have some idea of how far I was from home, but my brain was and is so scrambled I can’t hold my thoughts together.

The only thing on my mind is her. Polly. I need to know she’s okay.

I have gone over what my attacker said to me a million times, trying to work out if he meant it when he said he wasn’t going to take her. Now that I’m here, I have no way of stopping them if they decide to go back to my daughter and steal her away too. Maybe that was always the plan, to get me away from her by convincing me this was the right thing, only to turn around and make me pay as soon as they got the chance…

I want to cry, but I’ve already been sobbing for so long that my body is utterly spent. I don’t even know how long they’ve had me in here—I’ve watched the darkness pass outside, to be replaced with light again, so I know it’s at least been a day, but nothing more than that. My stomach is aching with hunger, and my eyes are burning from the lack of sleep and the endless tears, but I can’t even think about resting. Not until I get to Polly again. Not until I know that she’s okay…

All at once, I hear footsteps approaching the door, and I spring to my feet, rushing over and pressing my ear to the thick wood. The room is dank, old concrete dripping with moisture that has made room for patches of mold here and there. I need to get out as soon as I can. I can’t stay here any longer than I already have—I feel as though I’m going crazy…

The door opens, and I spring back from it in a panic, my eyes wide. I don’t want to be this close to the man who took me. He hasn’t actually done any real damage to me—at least, not yet. Apart from the slap in the apartment, he’s just pushed me to and fro, making me go wherever he tells me, but I can handle that, as annoying as it is.

He stares down at me for a long moment, lit by the flood of light that has followed him in from outside. I notice there’s a packet of food in his hand. I don’t know what it is, but I will eat it anyway. I’m so hungry I can barely think straight.

He sees where my eyes travel to, and he grins, lifting the bag in front of his face.

“Oh, you want this, do you?”

“Please, just give it to me,” I beg him, reaching out before I can stop myself. My hand swipes for what he’s holding, but he tugs it out of my reach before I can grab it. I let out another groan, wishing more than anything I could just have a bite.

“I’m sure I can think of a few ways you can earn that,” he remarks, his eyes traveling down my body with a pointed glow. I shudder—I can’t even think about that, not if I want to hold on to what remains of my composure. I know what these guys are involved with, if what Luca has told me is anything to go by. They might be—God, I can’t even think about it…

“I’m not doing anything,” I tell him sharply, mustering up all the strength I have in my voice.

He laughs again, a little louder this time, the sound filling the air around us as though the mere sound of those words is ridiculous to him.

“Oh, I’m sure,” he replies. “That’s what they all say. Give it a couple of days, with no food, no sunlight…you’ll start to change your tune. The rest of the girls did.”

Nausea twists at my stomach. I want to lunge at him. The way he’s talking about this, as though it’s some kind of joke…I can only imagine what those women have been through, how they ended up in a situation as bleak as the one he’s describing. Nobody would have walked into it if they had any kind of choice, and he knows that. They starve them, trap them, leave them in solitary for God knows how long…yeah, by the end of that, I think I would be willing to do anything to get out as well.

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