Page 23 of A Mafia Christmas

“But this will hurt him. I don’t want to do that.”

“I know. They’ll be fake papers. Sometimes, you have to hit a man over the head to get him to act like an adult.”

“What do you think he’ll do?”

“If I know the man at all, he’ll fight it and come here to see you. He’d be angry, but at least he’d see you and how beautiful you look.”

“Is it you just don’t want me here anymore?” Beth asked.

Arai’s mouth dropped open, and she stood, walking around the desk, and sitting in the other chair to grab her hand. “Absolutely not. You’ll have to fight me to leave. I’ll only let you go if you and Alastair get the situation figured out. It’s just something Kit said. She said that Alastair was probably the only one in the world who made you feel worthy. She’d probably kill me for even suggesting that, but something’s got to shake the ass up.”

Beth wanted that, too. But she was so afraid. “W-what if he happily signs the sheets to get rid of me for good?”

“I’ve thought about that. I would bet this house that it won’t happen. But if, by a tiny, tiny chance, he stays an idiot, you’ve got us, and you know where you stand. I think the not knowing about the future is stressing you out.”

Beth nodded. “It is.”

“It’s up to you. It’s just an idea I had. You know I’m not one to sit back and let things happen.”

Beth smiled. “Okay, let’s try it.”

“I’ll have some official-looking documents made up and sent to him.”

Beth nodded. She really hoped this did shake him up enough to take a step.

Chapter Ten

Alastair looked up when there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”

Martin, his butler, walked in with an envelope. “Sir, this was delivered to you.”

“All right. Thank you.”

Alastair ripped the envelope open and read the papers. He read them again. He felt like someone punched him in the gut. He never would have believed Beth would try to write him out of her life.

He about lost it when he went to the second paper, giving up all rights with the baby. This wasn’t Beth. This sounded like something Aria would do. But Beth had to know about it, didn’t she?

Fuck this. If she wanted to play hardball, he was up for it. He walked out of the house and yelled for one of the drivers. He didn’t trust himself to get there safely.

The driver pulled up to the Mortelli house. Alastair got out before the driver got to his door. He ran up the steps and growled at the guard who tried to stop him. The guy backed off. Alastair walked through the door and yelled for Beth.

Several people walked into the foyer to see what was going on.

Alastair narrowed his eyes when Aria came to stand in front of him. Several feet away and with both her men at her side. He shook the papers at her. “What the fuck is this?”

“If I’m not mistaken,” Aria said. “Those papers will allow Beth to move on with her life. Why waste time?”

“Is this what she wants?” he yelled.

One of Aria’s brows rose. “Does it matter what she wants? You don’t want her, right?”

Alastair gritted his teeth.

“Why are you fighting this? I thought this is what you wanted?”

“None of this is any of your business.”

“Bullshit,” Aria said. “My daughter came to me devastated. You know she hasn’t laughed once since she’s been here and rarely smiles. You broke her, Alastair. If this is what you want, sign the papers.”

---