Page 15 of A Mafia Christmas

Alastair pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew his father wasn’t asking him but ordering him to talk. “All I’ll say is Beth betrayed me, and now she’s gone.”

Angus looked surprised and then sad. “I see. Where did you take her?”

“Nowhere. I had a guard take her out of the house, and I told her to go.”

“Who drove her?”

“No one. She walked.”

His father’s face darkened with fury, but his dad kept his cool. “Did you consider the fact that we have a lot of enemies and the things they’d do to her if they got their hands on her?”

Alastair hadn’t thought of that. He shrugged.

“So, that’s it. What did she do that was so bad? Tell me, what could be so horrible to do that to her?”

“She got pregnant.”

His father’s mouth dropped open. “Is that it?”

Alastair nodded. “She knew I didn’t want to have children.”

“I didn’t know that. Why?” Angus asked.

Alastair felt his anger build again. “Does it matter?”

“Hell, yes, it does. Don’t take that tone of voice with me, son.”

His father waited for an answer, but the one he always used sounded crazy to him. “I don’t want to bring a child into our lifestyle.”

“Are you kidding me? Do you think I shouldn’t have had so many kids?”

“You were able to handle it. I don’t think I’d be able to deal with it.”

“Losing someone you love?”

Alastair nodded. “Yes.”

“But you already did, son, and it was all your doing. You should have just taken her out back and shot her in the head.”

“You don’t fucking understand.”

“You take extra measures to protect them just like you did the girls. You can’t live your life saying what if…” Angus wiped a hand down his face. “Dammit, life is too short already. Why waste time on what could happen? Thinking like that poisons your mind, son.”

Alastair stiffened.

Angus sighed. “So, you’re going to give up the one thing in the world that made you happy?”

Alastair didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “You live your life the way you want, and I’ll do the same.”

“Do you really believe that Beth did this on purpose?”

“It doesn’t matter. I asked her to choose, and she chose the baby.”

Angus looked confused. “What did you want her to do?”

“Abort it.”

His father looked sick, sad, and pissed at the same time.

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