Page 42 of Mafia Doctor's Secret Baby

“We’re going to have all the privacy we need down there.”

And, with that, he shoves me down the stairs and I stumble into the darkness, terrified about what might be waiting for me at the bottom.

20

LUCA

“How long arewe going to wait?”

I mutter the words to Emil as we sit in the car, staring toward the townhouse where Katie is being kept—and feeling utterly useless as I wait to make a move.

Emil and I had been taking shifts watching over the place where she was being held, the compound in the woods. A few men had come and gone over the last day or so, but we hadn’t laid eyes on Katie, or any women, actually. I knew they were being kept inside, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the world, but holding the line and making sure I didn’t get too close was next to impossible when I knew Katie is in there, stuck, probably worried nobody was going to come for her.

As if I would ever let that happen. In between the hours I’ve spent looking after Polly, that’s all I’ve been able to think about, getting her back, finding some way to draw her from the grasp of those Maglione assholes. My mind has been reeling with the thought of everything she might be going through, trying to make sense of how I’m going to get her out—but when we sawmovement at the compound this morning, everything fell into place.

I had been half-asleep in the front of the car when I heard the doors open—we had microphones set up around the place, so we could keep our distance but potentially catch any conversation that was going on between the guards when they were out on their smoke breaks, but I woke to the clang of the doors and then the sound of an engine.

I called Emil at once, pulling him out of his slumber and dragging him across to join me, just as a white van pulled out of the compound and hit the road. We gave it a few minutes, then took off in hot pursuit, not wanting to let them get too far ahead of us.

“Where do you think they’re going?” Emil asked me, as we kept our gazes fixed on the van a few vehicles ahead of us.

I shook my head. “No idea,” I replied grimly. “But I get the feeling Katie is in there…”

And soon enough, I was proved right, as we pulled up down the street from the van and watched from afar as she was bundled out of the back. Seeing her like that was almost too much for me—it felt impossible to keep my distance for a moment longer, knowing what she was going through, knowing what she was contending with.

She doesn’t deserve to be part of this mess, and yet, as she stumbled out of the car, all I wanted in the world was to pull her into my arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay…

“Hold it together,” Emil muttered to me, and I gritted my teeth and did as I was told. He was right, of course—I need to hold my shit in line if we’re going to make this happen. I gripped thesteering wheel tighter, not moving my eyes from her, silently hoping she could sense that I was close, and that I’m going to get her out.

She was led inside the house, and Emil and I have been watching in tense silence for a little while now.

“Who do you think is in there?” I mutter to him, and Emil shakes his head.

“I don’t know,” he confesses. “It could be…”

“It could be him,” I finish. Because I know he understands exactly who I’m talking about—we both do. The one person we want to wipe off the face of the earth.

The one person I don’t want her anywhere near.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Emil agrees grimly. “Doesn’t make sense for it to be anyone else. He knows she’ll have some kind of information—something on you he can use…”

He pauses for a moment, shooting a look over at me. “You think she’ll talk?”

I tense my jaw. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. She’s smarter than that…”

“It’s not about being smart, not in a situation like this,” he replies. “The fear gets to you, fast. There’s no way to tell she won’t fall for it and give him everything he wants…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I grunt back at him. And still, despite everything he’s saying to me—I don’t want to believe it. I don’t believe she would be foolish enough to tell them anything. She must know it’s the only thing keeping her alive, at least, as long as it takes for us to get her out of there. If she speaks the truth,she risks losing the one bit of leverage she has over him, and I just have to pray to fucking God she can see that…

“I’m going to drive around the block,” Emil replies, changing the subject slightly. “See how many guards are on at this place, how much we have to deal with…”

I nod, my mind still stuck on her and everything she must be going through right now, as Emil pulls away from the curb and starts to circle the block.

There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of men outside the house itself—in an area like this, I guess it would make things a little too obvious if they were staking out what looks to the naked eye like any normal townhouse. I suppose they have most of their men sequestered away at their compounds, to protect the women they see as their product—they probably think nobody would be stupid enough to make a move against the damn boss like this.

“The back entrance,” Emil mutters, narrowing his eyes toward the back of the house. “Looks like there’s nobody on it…”

“No, look, there’s one guy,” I reply, nodding toward the movement that has suddenly occurred behind the glass.

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