by Hamel, B. B.
The girl wasn’t just a member of the Healy family. She was straight up in the Healy family, one of the damn blood relatives. I didn’t think any of them went to those fuck parties, but clearly I was wrong.
If her dad was Colm’s brother, that meant she was important.
And I’d gotten her pregnant.
“What am I going to do?” she asked. “I can’t tell my dad, but I can’t keep this secret forever. I’m freaking out and I’m so sorry I’m dumping this on you, I know you didn’t ask for it, but—”
“Come stay with me,” I said. “You can stay with me for a while. I can protect you.”
Her mouth opened then closed. She looked like she wanted to say something, but only shook her head. “They’d come looking.”
“They won’t find you.” I put a hand on her leg. “Come stay with me, for a little while at least. I’ll keep you safe until you figure out what to do.”
This was a mistake. That much was obvious. The girl was blood Healy and I was a Valentino. The Don would kill me for getting her pregnant, and he’d kill me twice for bringing her back to my place, but I couldn’t leave her here to suffer. If her family was going to do something awful to her, then I had to help her.
She was my Sam and she was pregnant with my baby.
Even if bringing her home with me was a massive mistake and could have some serious consequences, I didn’t care. She needed help. I needed to take care of her.
That was all that mattered.
“I can’t ask that from you,” she said. “You don’t get it. They’ll come looking.”
“Let them,” I said. “Come to my place, at least for tonight.” I squeezed her leg gently. “One night, remember?”
She smiled a little. “One night,” she said. “The last time we did just one night, I ended up pregnant.”
“Can’t get pregnant again. Not for a while, anyway.”
Her smile faded. “God, I don’t know.”
“Go talk to your friend, see what she thinks. But I promise you, Sam, I can keep you safe. Even if you just need a place to crash for a night, or a few days, or whatever you want. Come back home with me.”
She stared into my eyes like she wanted to read something there then jumped up from her stool. “I’ll be right back.” And she left me, marching back over to her friend. She sat down and the girls began talking.
I drank down my beer fast. The Healy guys were staring at me now and it was time to get the fuck out of there. If Sam was blood Healy, then those goons knew exactly who she was. Once I walked out of this place with her by my side, there was going to be trouble. No fucking way those guys wouldn’t do something stupid.
My mind raced, thinking back to that night, trying to remember what I told her about myself. I didn’t say much—but I did heavily imply that I was in the Healy family. She likely thought I was a member, but god, she was so wrong. The guys sitting at that table knew the trust, they knew I wasn’t one of them, and the second I walked to that door with a blood Healy girl, they’d be fucking on me.
I asked for another beer, dropped some cash on the table, and started to plan. Sam and her friend kept looking at me, and I kept thinking, trying to pretend like I was waiting.
The young Healy guys, four of them in total, one with a shaved hair, the other two with faded buzz cuts, and all of them in baggy clothes like a bunch of fucking street idiots, they were all watching me carefully.
Suddenly, I was interesting.
Sam got up and came back over. She lingered next to my stool and I turned to face her. “Okay, Nessa thinks I should go with you and maybe we can—you know, talk about what to do.”
“Good,” I said, standing up. I finished off my beer and nodded to Nessa, who smiled back at me. “You’ve got a good friend there.”
“She’s the best.” She looked nervous. Fuck, it was cute. “Should we go?”
“After you,” I gestured toward the door.
She walked toward it and I followed close. I heard the shuffle of chairs, and I knew the Healy guys were getting up. I moved closer to Sam and put a hand on her lower back.
“I’m sorry about this,” I whispered in her ear. “Don’t hold it against me, okay?”
She frowned at me over her shoulder, looking confused. I turned away from her, grabbed the nearest chair, and threw it as hard as I could at the group of Healy guys coming my way.
They didn’t expect it. They probably planned on having a strong word with me, maybe refusing to let me go home with Sam—since she was blood Healy, that made her important. Those fucking goons probably thought it was their duty to make sure she was protected.
Fortunately, nobody expects to get a random chair thrown at them. It hit the closest guy on the left and ricocheted into the group, knocking two over like fucking bowling pins. It was glorious, but I didn’t have time to wait. I grabbed Sam by the wrist and pulled her with me through the door, slamming it behind us, and running as fast as I could toward my truck.
“Matteo!” she said, gasping for breath and struggling to keep up in her heels. “What the hell was that?”
“They weren’t going to let you leave with me,” I said, looking over my shoulder. The guys spilled out of the door and I cursed. “Come on, we have to run.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“You’re blood Healy,” I said. “And I’m not in the family.” Although they didn’t know that I was Valentino, thankfully. They probably figured I was just some hanger-on, some street guy looking to make good with the Healys by sleeping with one of their girls.
Otherwise, they would’ve come at me with guns instead of fists.
She stopped suddenly and pulled her wrist from my grasp. “You’re what?” She gaped at me. “You’re not in the family?”
“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry I misled you. I didn’t realize—”
I looked over as the four guys came barreling toward us.
“You lied to me,” she said.
“Sam,” I said. “Please, I’ll explain everything, but I swear to you, I want to keep you and my baby safe. So please, can you trust me? Just a little bit, and I’ll make you understand.”
She glared holy hell at me and I loved the fire in her eyes, but the four Healy idiots were bearing down and we didn’t have time.
I grabbed her hand, and she let out a frustrated groan as I started running again.
She came with me. We sprinted as fast as we could with her wobbling on her heels the whole time, around a corner, and up to my truck. I got the passenger side open and she jumped in—
But the Healy boys were on me.
I ducked to the side and let the first one punch the glass window. He cursed and pulled back, shaking his hand as I elbowed the next guy in the side of the head, knocking him sideways. He dropped as I took a fist in the eye then got tackled sideways by the fourth goon.
I struggled with him and knocked him to the ground before I lost my feet. If I hit the sidewalk, I was dead. I lashed out with a fist, caught one in the jaw, and reached my other hand behind my back.
The gun came out fast. The closest guy was mid-swing and couldn’t pull up in time. I wove to the side then smashed the butt against his head hard enough to draw blood. He dropped and I shoved the barrel in the face of the next guy behind him.
“On the ground,” I snapped. “On the ground or I end you here.”
Slowly, the last two standing Healy goons knelt with their hands up.
I moved toward the truck. None of them got up. I wasn’t sure if they had guns or not, but I couldn’t risk it. I climbed behind the wheel, gun pointing across Sam. The guys on the ground slowly got up to their feet as I turned on the engine and peeled out of there.
“You can put the gun down now,” Sam said, staring at me with wide eyes and an open mouth.
“Shit,” I said. “Right.” I roughly shoved it back into my waistband. “Didn’t mean for you to see that.”
“You have a gun,” she said. “And you�
�re not Healy.”
“That’s right.”
“You can fight too.”
“I know a few things about fighting, sure.”
She sucked in a breath. “Who are you, Matteo?”
I glanced at her for a long moment then up at the road again.
She didn’t want the truth. She wanted some pretty lie that would make this all okay.
But it wasn’t okay, and I wasn’t going to lie to her, not ever again.
“My name’s Matteo, and I’m a Capo in the Valentino family. And I’m the father of your unborn child.”
She sucked in a shocked gasp, covered her mouth, then pressed herself against the far side of the truck. The color drained from her face. She looked like she wanted to scream but was barely holding herself together.
“Valentino,” she whispered. “Oh my god.”
“Now you understand how fucked we are,” I said and glanced at her. “But I swear, I wasn’t lying when I said I’d take care of you.”
She groaned, and I couldn’t tell if it was fear or something else, and I kept driving.
4
Sam
He took me over the South Street Bridge and into the neighborhoods to the left. I stared at him, trying to come to grips with what he said back there, with the sudden violence, with everything.
He was Valentino. An actual Valentino soldier, or maybe some kind of spy. I didn’t understand how he could’ve gotten into that party—the invitations were extremely limited and the location changed all the time—but I was kicking myself for letting my guard down.
For once in my stupid, sad life, I decided to do something adventurous. I normally played it so safe and didn’t do anything to put myself or my family at risk, and the one time I stepped out of bounds, the one time I decided to let loose and do something stupid, I paid the price for it.
By getting pregnant by the enemy.
He parked the truck in front of a nice little house in the middle of a quiet block. The window boxes were stuffed with hanging vines and flowering plants and the door was painted a slick black. He got out and walked up the stoop, but I didn’t move.
He came back down and knocked on the window. “Come on,” he said. “Don’t make a scene. My neighbors aren’t in the family.”
“I don’t want to go inside.”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. Then he yanked the door open before I could think to lock it.
I shrank away from him, a scream on the edge of my lips.
But he held up his hands and didn’t try to grab me.
“Look, I know what you’re feeling,” he said. “I should’ve told you that I was Valentino from the start, but would you have stayed that night if you knew?”
“No,” I said. “And you should’ve given me the chance to run off.”
He clenched his jaw. “I was at that party for a reason,” he said, and seemed about to say something else, but stopped himself. “You would’ve left if I said anything, okay? You would’ve told someone, and that would’ve been a problem.”
“So you slept with me instead,” I said, face tugged back in a mask of disgust. “Oh my god, did you only do it because I was good cover?”
“No, absolutely not.” Then he hesitated and added, “Although I did bring you upstairs because you were a good excuse.”
“Oh my god, you fucking asshole. Get away from me.”
He grimaced like I’d punched him in the throat then leaned closer. “I didn’t know what was going to happen between us, okay? You were a good excuse to get upstairs, but everything that happened afterwards was real.”
“I don’t believe you. Take me back home. Right now.”
He rubbed his temple. “I can’t do that.”
“Then I’m going to scream and you can explain that to your neighbors.”
He gave me an angry stare. “Think for a second, will you? Those guys I got in a fight with, the ones I pulled a gun on? They’re going to run back and tell your family that you got in the truck with me. They’re going to know.”
I opened my mouth then slammed it shut again. I hated that he was right, and hated even more that it scared the hell out of me. “They don’t know you’re Valentino.”
“Oh, so it’s fine for you to lie, then?”
“Only when it’s life or death,” I said, throwing up my hands.
“And for me that night, it was life or death.” He shook his head slowly. “Come on, Sam. Come inside and let’s talk about this.”
I felt dizzy and shifted in the seat away from him. I had to think—had to come up with some way out of this. He was right that my father and the rest would know I ran off with some guy, and they might even realize that he’s Valentino. But if they didn’t figure that part out, it won’t be so bad.
At least until I tell them I’m pregnant.
God, what a nightmare. Pregnant and by a Valentino, and now I was stuck with him, because I couldn’t go back. Not yet anyway, not until I was sure they didn’t know whose side he was on.
I unclipped the seatbelt.
“We’ll talk,” I said. “And that’s all. Then I’m going to leave, okay?”
“Whatever you want.” He offered me his hand, but I brushed it aside and got out of the truck myself. My feet were sore from running in the heels and I thought I might have a blister but I wasn’t about to take his help if I didn’t need it.
He walked past me, up the stoop, and unlocked the door. I followed him inside, into a cool, dark entryway. He stopped and took off his shoes.
“You too,” he said, nodding at the neat, orderly shoe rack.
“I’m not wearing socks.”
“I can get you a pair.”
I rolled my eyes but slipped out of my heels. I was instantly a few inches shorter. He smiled at me and let his eyes roam down my body, which only pissed me off even more. Maybe I could bludgeon him to death with one spiky shoe, but based on the way he fought off those four Healy goons, I doubted it would go over well.
He walked further into the house and I followed. Stairs were on the left and disappeared up to a quiet second floor. The living room was shockingly cozy—deep, brown leather couch with lots of blankets and simple pillows, black and white photography on the walls, and so many houseplants that I thought I stepped out into a forest at some point. He whistled a tuneless song and gently brushed his fingers over some of the plants like he was welcoming himself back home as he headed past a small table and a few bookshelves, and disappeared into the kitchen.
I didn’t follow right away. I looked around with my mouth hanging open. It was like I’d stepped into some Pinterest album for cozy academia or something like that. The sheer amount of plants was almost shocking, and it wasn’t at all how I pictured a Valentino mobster would live.
“Tea? Since you can’t drink. I’ve got decaf.”
“Please,” I said and drifted to the table. I sat down as he appeared in the kitchen door.
“Make yourself at home.”
“This is your place?”
He nodded. “Bought it a few years back. It wasn’t much then but I’ve done a lot of work. Put in the floors, built half this furniture, rearranged the entry. All that good stuff.” He shrugged like it was no big deal and went back into the kitchen.
I pulled out my phone while I had the chance and texted Nessa. I’m okay, with Matteo. Don’t worry.
She responded instantly. Worry? I was Flipping. Out. What the hell happened??
Misunderstanding, I typed. Don’t worry about it. Everything’s okay.
How’s Mr. Baby Daddy taking the news?? He’s HOT, btw.
He’s taking it shockingly well. I hit send and shoved the phone back into my small purse as Matteo returned with my decaf tea and a tumbler of something dark for himself.
He settled into the chair across from me and leaned on his elbows while I blew on the hot tea.
“All right, Sam,” he said. “So you’re here now.”
“So I’m here.” I took a sip. It burned
my tongue, but that was better than talking.
He looked almost pained. “When did you find out about the baby?”
“Today,” I said and barked out a little laugh. “God, I can’t believe it’s just been today. It’s like this day’s lasted forever.”
“I know what you mean.” He leaned back and sipped his drink, studying me.
I felt almost naked under his gaze. I was wearing a tight dress with the goal to draw his attention from the start, but now that I had it, I almost wished I’d worn something simpler and baggy. Maybe that sweatshirt from this morning would’ve been better. But then I remembered that night, the way he touched me and whispered in my ear, the way it felt coming again, and again, and how insatiable he was—
And maybe he told me the truth. Maybe everything else was real. It started out as a lie, but that doesn’t mean everything needs to be fake.
Or maybe his handsome, sparkling eyes were making me question myself, and I should try to stay angry instead.
“What were you doing at that party, anyway?” I asked. “You never said.”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I actually do.” I tilted my head slightly. “I want to know what kind of man I’m dealing with.”
“I was there to kill a man,” he said and leaned toward me. “Is that what you wanted to hear? I’m a killer for the Valentino family, princess. That shouldn’t come as a surprise.”
And yet it did. My heart stuttered and I covered my sudden fear by taking a sip of the tea. Matteo didn’t look like a killer—too handsome, too pretty by half. But I saw what he could do in that fight earlier, and if he somehow managed to sneak into the party, that meant he had skills.
I shouldn’t underestimate him just because he’s attractive and we had one good night.
“What’d you plan on doing then?” I asked. “Kill a man and leave me alone?”
“Pretty much,” he said, shrugging. “Except you distracted me.”
“Distracted you.” I made a disgusted face and felt my skin crawl. “So you’re telling me that sex with me was more interesting to you than murdering a guy?”
“Exactly,” he said, showing teeth. “It’s a compliment.”