Page 11 of A Mafia Christmas

He sighed and nodded. “I’ll try. You take care of yourself and the baby.”

Beth smiled. “I will.” She got out and waved one more time before walking up the stairs to the house.

The door opened, and Mateo stood with a scowl on his face. “What’s wrong, Beth?”

“Is Aria here? I need her.”

Mateo took her arm. “Sure. I’ll take you right to her. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.”

Beth tried to smile and nod.

They walked into the office, and Aria took one look at her expression and rushed to her. “Oh, God, what happened?”

Beth fell into her arms and sobbed. She was unable to talk for a long time because she couldn’t stop crying. She had to run to the bathroom and vomit once. She didn’t know if the baby was the cause of the upset stomach or the situation.

Aria got her settled on the sofa in her office and handed her the tissue box but said nothing, just waiting patiently for this to pass. Someone brought her in a glass of water, which she drank down.

When she was finally able to gain some control, she blew her nose and faced Aria. “I’m pregnant.”

Aria smiled and clutched her hand. “That’s wonderful.”

Beth shook her head.

“What? You don’t want the baby?”

Beth tried to laugh. “Oh, yes, I want it very much, but Alastair doesn’t.”

“It’s probably a shock to him. Give him time.”

Beth shook her head again. “No. He wants me to abort it.”

Aria gasped. “Surely he didn’t mean it.”

“He did. I said I couldn’t. He made me choose between him and the baby. When I said I couldn’t abort a piece of him, he kicked me out.”

Aria’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Mateo and then back to her. “Tell me what he said.”

Beth went through everything, and she could see the shock in Aria’s and Mateo’s faces and then anger.

“That bastard,” Aria said.

“He’s not,” Beth said. “He told me all along he didn’t want children. But even though we didn’t plan this child, it’s still part of both of us.”

Aria hugged her tightly. “You’re going to live here, and we’ll help with the baby. I’ll even go to Lamaze with you.”

Beth sighed and rested her head on her shoulder. “Thank you. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Alastair has everything I own.”

Aria patted her hand. “Everything will be okay.”

Beth nodded but didn’t believe a word of it.

Chapter Five

Alastair sent off a text as he watched Beth walk down the driveway and turn out of sight. He wanted to howl because the pain was more than he’d ever dealt with. He’d been shot and stabbed several times, and it didn’t amount to what he was feeling now.

He turned and looked down at his desk. He’d been going over some plans for a new business he wanted to build before she walked into his office. He’d been excited to see her, but now all he felt was anger, despair, disbelief, resentment, and anguish.

With a yell that came from his soul, he used his hands to swipe everything off his desk. He then started throwing anything he got his hands on. He could hear glass breaking, but he didn’t care. The door opened once, and he threw a book. It hit the wood hard and startled Graham.

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