Page 146 of Secret Baby for the Mafia Don
“Baby?” He shakes his head. "Take care of her yourself."
"Promise me." The darkness is winning now, pulling me under. "You’ll take over as Don, as promised, but she gets everything else. Both of them do. Promise me."
"I promise," Roman says. "But you're going to live to regret making me say it, you stubborn bastard."
Darkness pulls me under again.
Voices drift in and out.
A needle pricks my arm.
Dr. Salerno's familiar gravelly voice. “Blood pressure dropping…"
I'm eight years old again, cowering in my bedroom closet.
My father's voice booms through the house, cursing my mother. Glass shatters.
Her sobs echo down the hallway.
"More pressure on the wound…"
Now I'm twenty-two, standing over my father's and brother’s graves.
Not a tear in sight.
Just emptiness and the crushing weight of the Calabresi name suddenly on my shoulders.
Antonio's hand rests on my back, steadying me.
"He's stabilizing…"
Gabriella's face appears, her smile lighting up my library last Christmas.
How I pulled her into my arms that first time, surprised by how perfectly she fit there.
"We need to move him…"
My father towers over me, his face twisted in rage. "Love makes you weak, boy. Don’t cry for your mama, you fucking pussy." His hand strikes my mother across the face. She falls, weeping.
"Marco, can you hear me?"
Gabriella again, her face pale, her eyes filled with pain as I let her walk away. Twice.
"Pupils responsive…"
The warehouse. Frank's gun aimed at her.
The decision made in less than a heartbeat. Stepping forward, not away. For love. The opposite of everything my father taught me.
"He's coming around…"
I force my eyes open, vision blurry and unfocused.
Roman's face swims into view. "Welcome back, you stubborn bastard."
My throat feels like sandpaper. "Gabriella?"
"Safe. With her father."
