Baby for the Beast

by Penelope Bloom

  He sits down. “Glad you came,” he says. His voice is heavy and has a slight Italian accent. “I’m going to take your offer.”

  I try not to show the explosion of relief that floods me. If he was just going to take my offer, why’d he want to talk to me first? I wait for him to tell me more.

  He takes a swig of his beer and sets it down, clutching it with hands that are so big they’re more like paws. “You know I had a daughter a few years back. That was when I tried to get out. Michael Luciani doesn’t let men like me just walk away though. He held my past over my head and said he’d get me the lethal injection if I ever tried to leave the game. I don’t remember when it was exactly. Maybe a dance recital or something like that,” he says, a faint, reminiscent smile on his lips. “But I knew it was time. If he wasn’t going to let me go, I’d find a way. So I went to the feds. Told them I’d spill the Luciani family secrets wide open if they gave me a deal, as long as it was fair.”

  I nod my head. I hadn’t put much thought into why someone like Ice would suddenly turn rat, but it makes sense, especially after the way learning about my own impending fatherhood changed my perspective on things.

  “I asked you to come here because I wanted to tell you I’m going to keep you as clean as I can, Enzo. I heard your girl is pregnant. I know you’ve been trying to make a better life for yourself a long time now. I respect that, and I don’t want your kid to grow up with their dad behind bars, if I can help it. And hey, the money doesn’t hurt either,” he says, flashing a yellow-toothed smile.

  I grin. “No, it doesn’t hurt.”

  “Your dad though? He’s fucking buried.”

  The entire trial process takes three months. Within a few days of Ice’s testimony, my father was taken into custody. Within a month, almost every strong-arm and tough guy he had was brought in, too. His guys tried their best to repay the favor by ratting out me and anyone loyal to me they could think of, but I’d helped Ice by making sure his testimony covered all our crimes, which were primarily more than ten years ago. The combination of how long it had been and the lack of any other witnesses all-but negated the effect of finger-pointing from my father and his men.

  We placed the blame first, and everything that came after just looked like desperation.

  In the end, the only thing they could pin on me was related to the questionable acquisition of some of my funding. I’d managed to keep most of it under the radar, so I was slapped with a year of probation, some community service, a mark on my file, and a fine that didn’t even qualify as a slap on the wrist.

  I could barely believe it when my attorney finished translating the judge’s ruling to Neela and I. “That’s it?” I ask.

  “You’re sure?” Neela asks, doubtful.. She’s over seven months pregnant now and adorably swollen. She doesn’t seem to appreciate any mention of how big her belly is though, so I keep my amusement at her pregnant waddle strictly to myself.

  My attorney, a man in his fifties with a severe face, nods. “Your father’s men even did you the favor of putting a catch twenty-two on your alleged past crimes. Because you were cleared of them during this trial, you can’t be tried for them again. So long as you stay clean, Mr. Luciani, you’re a free man in the eyes of the law. Absolved of your past.”

  Neela looks like she might faint from relief. “You’re absolutely sure?” she asks again.

  My attorney laughs. “Yes, Miss Crowley. I’m sure.”

  We meet my brothers and Luke back at the club, which has become our de-facto place to meet ever since the whole ordeal with Neela’s kidnapping began.

  My crew is smaller now. I let a few of Chase and Niko’s crimes slip into Ice’s testimony, which landed both of them jail time. Even Cade, the guy who helped set up my blind date with Neela through Cassie ended up getting slapped with jail time. Neela was horrified when I explained the truth about that to her, but of course, being her, she forgave Cassie. Under the circumstances, I guess I can’t blame her. Cade was threatening to release nude pictures of Cassie to everyone she knew, so the girl felt understandably desperate.

  Of the three in my original crew, I might’ve pegged Luke as the most likely to betray me if given the opportunity, but oddly enough, he has proven to be the only one who stayed loyal. Go figure.

  Gino and Angelo are already playing a “celebratory” game of cards, but I know they’d be playing a mournful game of cards or a confused game of cards if things had turned out differently. The two of them always find a reason to play.

  Neela’s sister, Jess, is here too. I expected her and Angelo to have hooked up by now after the way they were looking at each other those first few days, but something seems to have happened between them that neither wants to talk about, because ever since, Jess has mostly kept her distance from him.

  Neela sits with her legs across my lap on the couch while we watch one of Luke’s dumb romance movies. “You ever going to just admit you watch these because you enjoy it and not because you think it’ll get you laid?” I ask.

  Luke considers for a moment. “Can’t it be both?” he asks. His face is so serious that I can’t help laughing.

  “Damn,” Gino says throwing down his cards as Angelo scoops up the pot. “Cheater.”

  “I’m always a cheater when I win, as far as you’re concerned.”

  “So,” Jess says as she sits down with a bowl of popcorn by the TV. “Now that everything is all cleared, which one of you is going to tell dad you two are an item.”

  “Wait,” Gino says. “You two still haven’t told him? Didn’t he see you together at the trial or something?”

  “He wasn’t there,” I say. “He just put together the evidence for the attorneys. It wasn’t like he was presenting the case. And he apparently didn’t watch it on TV.”

  “Yeah.” Neela makes a sour face. “He’s been completely normal around me for the whole thing. The most I got out of him was that he was surprised you and your brothers managed to make it through everything without jail time.”

  “We’ll tell him after the baby is born,” I say. “I’d like to know what it feels like to be a father before I’m murdered in my sleep.”

  “Nah,” Gino says shaking his head thoughtfully. “The FBI would get you with a car bomb or something. Soon as you turn the key in the ignition? Boom.”

  “More likely they’d toss you in a dark cell in some secret prison and never let you out,” says Luke. He doesn’t look away from the TV as he talks. “I claim this place if they got you, Enzo.”

  “Like hell you do,” Gino argues. “He’s my brother. If he dies, I get his shit.”

  “I’m older,” says Angelo. “You get whatever I don’t want. Maybe you can have that pharmacy he owns.”

  “Fuck off. What am I going to do with a pharmacy?”

  “Neela gets all my shit if I die,” I say, squeezing her leg a little. “And I’m harder to get rid of than that, anyway.”

  Despite my assurances, I hear Angelo and Gino having a quiet but heated argument about who would get what for the next few minutes.

  I know the reality of it all hasn’t fully settled in yet. Right now, I just feel good. I feel calm. I’m in my spot. I have Neela. I have the people who are still loyal surrounding me. It feels like more than I deserve, and if I didn’t have Neela and our baby to protect, I’d probably have let them put me in jail where I belonged. Because of them, I’m going to find a way to earn my spot here. I’ll stay clean, and I’ll make sure I never do anything to bring danger into my family’s life.

  Any more danger than telling her father about us, at least. I groan inwardly at the idea. In an ideal world, I’d get his blessing to ask Neela to marry me, and I’ll still ask. One way or another, I’m putting my ring on her finger. I claimed her body when I knocked her up. I claimed her when I took her hostage and brought her under my protection. The only thing left is to make her my wife, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to wait much longer.

  22

  Epilogue - Neela<
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  Epilogue - Neela

  One Year Later

  I can’t believe our honeymoon is finally here. We had to keep pushing it back because I was still breastfeeding and felt too guilty leaving little Brenden behind, even if it was only for a short trip and he’d be in good hands. So we waited and waited until Enzo finally decided to just pay a traveling nanny to follow us on our honeymoon. I’ve come to realize over the past year exactly how rich Enzo is. For some reason, knowing he owned an entire club and some other real estate never quite gave me a grasp on how well-off he was.

  After the trial ended and we moved in together, I really understood. His penthouse downtown is like a palace. It’s actually three stories at the top of the building that makes up a multi-level downtown mansion, complete with an infinity pool on the deck, several patios, and the most breathtaking views imaginable. Despite all that, my favorite moments have been in some of the more modest places we’ve stayed in outside the city whenever we wanted to get some quiet time with Brendan. We’ve stayed in a cabin in the mountains, a cozy country house, and even a average-sized suburban house in a neighborhood full of young parents with kids. The last might have been my favorite, because of the secret thrill I held inside when we’d stand out in the front yard and chat with neighbors. The thrill that their husband with the great job they couldn’t stop bragging about wouldn’t ever be able to give them a story like the one Enzo had given me. I felt like some exotic, exciting, and sexy thing because of him, like I’d lived a double life that gave me a new perspective on everything else.

  I’m not just a mom with a nine-month-old, I’m the wife of an ex-mafioso who had done more to keep me safe and by his side than the husband of any woman I’d ever meet. It is my own, private boast. I keep it deep inside because I knew it would be silly and obnoxious to brag about, but there’s nothing wrong with being proud as hell of your husband on the inside.

  I look out the window of our room at the ski lodge. I told Enzo I’d never been skiing, and he got so excited about the idea of taking me for my first ski trip on our honeymoon that I couldn’t resist agreeing. He’s probably the most unselfish man I’ve ever met. Even after being together over a year,

  One of his favorite things is watching me experience something new, or surprising me with something he knows will make me happy. Well, and I think it’s fair to say getting my clothes off definitely ranks among his favorite. I never thought of myself as someone with a very high sex drive, but the problem was apparently that I hadn’t met the right man. Enzo has a way of always finding an excuse to put his hands on me, like a prized possession he can’t resist stealing a touch from every chance he gets. Among many of the other things he does, it has done wonders for my self-confidence and made me feel like I’m sexy instead of a boring, too-tired woman who works too much.

  “You know,” Enzo says coming up from behind me, wrapping his long arms around me, and breathing in the scent of my hair. “You get sexier every day.”

  “Older, you mean?” I ask with a grin.

  “No,” he growls, turning me around so he can kiss me. “It’s like watching you come out of your shell every day. You get more confident. More you.”

  “Hmm.” I tap my chin, grinning. “I wonder what could’ve possibly changed.”

  Adorably, he looks like he’s trying to figure it out too.

  I kiss him again. “It’s hard not to feel confident when I have the sexiest man I’ve ever seen for a husband. And you’re too good to me. And you’re an amazing father.”

  “You’re giving me way too much credit,” he says. “I’m just trying to get into your pants, and all those things seem to work.”

  I laugh, swatting at him but he catches my wrist, grinning in the way I’ve come to know means it’s not long before I’m going to end up in bed with him—or against the wall, for that matter.

  “Enzo?” I ask, putting a pause to the momentum I know will carry us to the bed soon.

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you think it’s really all over? I know you said—”

  “Hey,” he says, bending his neck to stare straight into my eyes. “My brothers are handling all the loose ends now. The only business I touch is legit, you know that, sweetheart. We’re safe now. You’re safe. You always were, because I would’ve died before I let anything happen to you.”

  “Or you would’ve kidnapped me.”

  He smirks. “Or that.”

  “Do you think we’ll ever tell Brendan? About all this, or about who you were?”

  "Someday," says Enzo. "My father kept me at arm's length my whole life. I did so much stupid shit trying to get him to trust me. Eventually, a relationship like that just snaps from all the strain. He's dead to me now. Keeping everything a secret from Brendan would take us down that same path, and I won't do that to him. I'm going to be the man my father should've been for him. I promise you that."

  I smile. “I know you will. You’re a good man.”

  “Say that again,” he says with a half-smile.

  “You’re good,” I say, kissing his chin. “Better than any of us deserve.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. You deserve the world. And, I think you deserve to have your first orgasm in a ski lodge.” He scoops me up under the arms, letting me wrap my legs around his hips as I laugh. “It’s still early. I bet I could fuck you on top of the mountain before anyone caught us.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “That would be unique. And cold.”

  “We’d wear jackets. I’m not insane.”

  “Oh, of course. Because having sex on top of a mountain in the snow isn’t insane so long as you’re wearing jackets.”

  “Now you’re getting it.”

  “Should we tell Barbara where we’ll be? I think she was planning on bringing Brendan by in half an hour or so.”

  Enzo grabs our jackets from the coat rack by the door and carries me out to the hallway, still refusing to put me down. He bangs his hand on Barbara’s door twice. “Hey,” he says. “We’re going to go have sex on top of the mountain. If you need us, just make a lot of noise before you sneak up on us.”

  “O-okay?” comes Barbara’s voice from inside the room.

  I cover my face with my hands, blushing but unable to stop smiling. I let Enzo carry me outside, not caring about the looks we get from people who are in the lodge’s main hall grabbing the complimentary hot breakfast and drinking their coffee before a day out on the mountain skiing or snowboarding. I don’t even mind the way the cold bites through our jackets, because I have Enzo to hold on to. I bite my lip when we’re near the top, because I think it’s finally a good time to ask him something I’ve been thinking about for months now.

  “Hey, Enzo?” I say.

  “Yeah?” he asks.

  “What do you think about trying for another baby?”

  He stops in his tracks, snow crunching under his feet. I take a mental snapshot of him there. He’s wearing a woolen cap tight over his head with a thick ski jacket. His tanned skin looks so dark against the snow and so inviting, so warm. His eyes are like green pools flecked with bits of gold, and I’ve lost track of how many hours I’ve spent getting lost in them by now.

  Even the day is perfect. There’s a fresh coating of snow on the mountain that catches the rising sun until it sparkles like something out of a fairy tale. There are trees on either side of us as we make our way toward the ski lift, and mountains in every direction I look.

  I take it all in. The smell is cold, woodsy, and clean. The mountain is beautiful. My husband is gorgeous. And the smile that slowly spreads across his face as he nods eagerly is just the icing on the cake.

  23

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  “Yes, Sir.”

  Two simple words changed my life.

  One night. Complete surrender. Total submission.

  That was supposed to be it, but there’
s one complication,

  I’m pregnant, and he has no idea.

  24

  Miley

  Am I really going to do this?

  My heart is thumping, my hands are clammy, and I can’t seem to catch my breath, but I’m here. I told myself if I just drove here, maybe the conviction would melt away. Maybe I’d realize how ridiculous I’m being and just go home--back to waiting for the next handsome tragedy to come walking into my life.

  When I close my eyes I can still hear the sound of his shouting last night. I can feel the hot sting of pain on my cheek and the slow afterburn of shame that followed. His words still linger in my mind like poison. Fucking cry. That’s all you’re good at.

  My hands clench and my eyes sting, but I hold back the tears. I push them back with the force of my anger alone. I won’t cry over him. I don’t care how much pain he caused me or that my eye is still dark and bruised from when he hit me. He doesn’t get any more of my tears.

  I told myself I would stay away after Cade. He called himself a Dom and he called me his submissive. I trusted him to show me the kind of relationship I’ve craved in the deepest corners of my mind. Instead, he took advantage of me and abused me.

  So I’m swearing off dominant men. But after one look at my overdrawn bank account, I can’t give up my job at the club. It pays triple what I could get anywhere else. Besides, my brother, Kyle, will be there to keep an eye on me, and if Cade has the nerve to show his face at the club again, I’ll just stay near Kyle until he’s gone.