Page 28 of Bread in The Oven

He raises his hand and slaps me across my face. I’ve learned not to cry out when he does this and my instincts kick in again. I need to protect my baby and find a way to get away from him. I let him pull me outside and into the car where my mother is waiting.

“We need to get Lucy,” she says to my father.

I laugh. “You’ll never get near Lucy.”

My father points the gun at my belly. “That’s why you’ll call her and have her meet you somewhere.”

“She’s not stupid. She won’t come and meet me, she knows you’re here.”

“Then you’ll go there and take her out with you.”

“You shot someone. Someone that my family will notice is missing.”

“Your ‘family’? You’re dumber than I thought. They’re not your damn family. They’re using you to breed. And you’re a whore so of course you went along with it.”

From the moment we got into the car, I had my phone on. As my father was opening the back door to get me out of the bakery, I dialed Romano. I heard him answer. But when my father yelled at me, he went silent. So I know he’s still listening. If there’s one thing I’m one hundred percent sure of? It’s that my Romano will never stop looking for me. And it’s at this exact moment I realizethat my parents are going to die. Even if they kill me first, they will die at the hands of my new family.

Romano

Every time I see Simone’s name flash on my screen, I can’t help the smile that spreads on my face.

“Farfalla,” I say.

Then I hear her father tell her to shut her mouth. And that they plan to take our baby and sell it. That man will be dead soon. I put my phone on mute. Luckily, I see Maeve coming out of class at this exact moment. I hurry over to her.

“We need to leave,” I say to her and lead her to the cage we rode in today.

“What’s going on?” she asks. “Is Franco okay?”

Recently we had problems with a rival club and Franco was shot. So I understand her worrying about him.

“Franco is fine,” I say as I put my phone down carefully in the car.

We hear Simone’s mother talk about how they need to get Lucy. And how Simone will be the one to get her to come out. The whole conversation is making me more and more angry. Maeve gasps beside me.

“I need you to do me a favor. Call Raziel and find out where he is and how those bastards got my girl,” I growl out. “Please.”

Maeve nods and calls Raziel. She puts him on speaker phone.

“What do you mean ‘where’s Simone’?” Raziel sounds genuinely confused.

“She called me. I heard that bastard take her. She’s in a car with them and they’re talking about getting Lucy.”

“Fuck! Give me a second. I need to go look, she just went to the back to get more doughnuts.”

“Hurry!” I yell as he hangs up.

I need to get Maeve back to the property before I can do anything. I would never forgive myself if something happened to her.

“Where are you going? The bakery is the other way.” Maeve frowns at me.

“I need to get you home. I can’t put you in any danger.”

“No, I’m going with you. You need to find her now. If you take the time to drop me off, you could lose her forever. I’ll call Franco and tell him what’s going on. I know he’ll meet us at the bakery.”

She gets on the phone to Franco and I hear him say he’ll meet us there, so I turn around. I just hope this isn’t the wrong choice.

When we get to the bakery, several of my Cimaruta brothers are there, along with some of the Mancini family. We get out of the cage and Maeve heads straight to Franco.

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