HIS BABY: A Bad Boy Hitman Romance

by April Lust

  Hannah rolled her eyes. Mind games. Great. Just what she needed right now. “How do you figure that?”

  “You would have left me for dead already if you were capable of it,” Evan said, his voice casual and light, like it was just obvious.

  She flexed her fingers around the steering wheel, trying to get some feeling back in her hands. Who the hell did this guy think he was, taunting her like this? Where did he get off belittling her when he was the one without the power in this situation? “You’ve got a lot of nerve, you know,” she said, “thinking you’re at all aware of what I’m capable of.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure you couldn’t do it. I’ve spent a lot of my life around killers and frankly, you’re just not one of them,” Evan said in that same self-assured tone of voice.

  Hannah took another sharp turn, smiling a little at the sound of Evan’s body hitting the side of the trunk, followed by Evan cursing under his breath in pain. Usually she’d feel bad and apologize for something like that, but he was a murderous dick, right? She could take out her anger and frustration on him without feeling guilty.

  “You still sure about that?” she yelled back at the hitman. She didn’t know why she felt like she had something to prove to this asshole. She knew what she was capable of. But for some reason it just rankled her nerves, having this guy basically tell her that she wasn’t tough. He had no idea what she’d lived through, what battles she’d seen.

  “Yeah, I am,” he responded. “You didn’t leave me tied up in the motel room. That says it all.”

  “Well, don’t be so sure about that,” Hannah replied. “When I find a new car, I’ll just dump this one and leave you in the trunk. But hey, maybe you won’t starve to death. Salvatore’s boys might find you before that happens.”

  Evan was silent for a long moment. Hannah shifted uncomfortably in her seat, bothered by the sudden return of the quiet. Her own words hung in the air, hovering over her ominously. Why did it bother her so much, saying stuff like that? She didn’t have any reason to feel guilty. This guy was a murderer. He’d admitted it. He would kill her at the first opportunity just to steal her son and bring him back to a life of mayhem and madness. He didn’t deserve any of her sympathy. But still…somehow her stomach turned over and over at the realization of what she’d said, how coldly she’d said it. My time with Salvatore changed me, she thought to herself. I’m not the person I used to be.

  But maybe the person she used to be was weak, she argued back to herself. Hannah from ten years ago wouldn’t have been able to survive tonight. She’d been through hell and the flames had forged her into something new, something a little terrifying.

  Sometimes to live you have to die inside, she thought. And living would have to be good enough.

  ***

  Evan

  Evan tried to quietly pry the duct tape off his wrists with his teeth, but it was no good. He sighed deeply, letting his arms fall back down in defeat. If he was being honest with himself, the girl had scared him, really scared him. He’d never been close to death before. Not really. But tonight, it was bearing down on him like a vulture, and he was the roadkill.

  What can I say to her to make her change her mind? Come on. Come on, think. You can do this.

  But really, he wasn’t so sure. He’d already tried and failed at one tactic. Intimidation clearly didn’t work on her. She was hyper-aware that she had the power in this situation, and from what Evan could tell, she was enjoying it.

  He’d have to come at it from another angle, leverage her fear to his advantage.

  “Salvatore won’t stop, you know,” he said. “With anyone else, he might, but you have his son. He’ll never let go of you. You know that.”

  Maybe Hannah hadn’t heard him, for Evan couldn’t make out any response from the front seat. He decided to keep trying anyway. “Salvatore told me to name my price, you know. He wants his son back more than anything in the world. He’ll never stop.”

  “Why—why are you saying this?” Hannah said from the front.

  Evan licked his dry lips. “You need help. Even if you’ve gotten them off your tail for tonight, Salvatore’s got eyes everywhere. He’ll find you. Maybe he’ll even put out an Amber Alert on your son, have the cops out there looking for you. You’re really fucked, Hannah.”

  Out of nowhere, Hannah slammed on the brakes, sending Evan crashing into the cage separating the trunk from the backseat. “Jesus fuck,” he muttered under his breath, wishing he could rub his head to get the pain to fade.

  “What the fuck are you playing at?” Hannah said, her voice elevated. She sounded more than annoyed now. She sounded angry.

  “I’m just being direct with you. You deserve the truth,” Evan said. “Look, Salvatore thought it would be best to send one guy after you, right? That way it’d be clean, simple. I’d come in, do the job, and you’d just be one more dead girl nobody knows in a motel room that nobody cares about. But I fucked up. You know what that means?”

  “You’re an incompetent prick?” Hannah suggested.

  “Besides that,” Evan said. He got the sense it wasn’t smart to argue with her about his competence right now. “I’m the best guy in his network. He knows that. He won’t send just one guy after you again. He’ll send a dozen; he’ll send a hundred. You won’t be able to fight them all off. You won’t get lucky every time. Eventually…”

  Evan could tell that Hannah’s brain was speeding up, rolling faster and faster with each passing second. She was terrified.

  “Eventually they’ll find you, Hannah,” Evan said. He needed to keep pushing. The more desperate she felt, the better his chances were. He needed to knock her off-balance as much as possible. Goddamn, I’m a piece of shit, he thought to himself. But oh, well. You do what you have to in order to survive, right?

  “So what? What’s your point?” she finally said, but her voice was softer than before.

  “How do you think you’re going to survive here? The odds are stacked against you.”

  “Not that it’s any of your business,” Hannah said. “But Salvatore’s not as big as he thinks. He doesn’t have shit going on outside of this country. Soon enough me and Alex won’t even be on this continent anymore, and he won’t be able to touch us.”

  Evan considered what she said. It wasn’t a bad plan. He almost laughed at the realization that they had the same dream. He wanted nothing more than to leave all of his crime connections behind forever and find paradise on a South American beach. “Smart,” he said. “You’re smarter than you look.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re dumber than you look,” Hannah shot back.

  “You’ve still got problems, though,” Evan continued, ignoring the insult. “How are you gonna get out of the country without anyone noticing you? Do you know how to do that?”

  Hannah said nothing but took another sharp turn, causing Evan to slide into the side of the trunk again.

  “You need help,” Evan said. “You need someone that can recognize the guys Salvatore’ll send after you. You need someone that can help you in a fight, because it will come to that. You need me.”

  Hannah cackled loudly in the front seat, but there was no humor in the sound. She grumbled under her breath after she finished laughing.

  “What was that?” Evan asked, starting to feel more annoyed himself.

  “Why the fuck should I want your help? Like you said, you fucked up. For all I know, you’re useless. I can’t afford dead weight.”

  She’s right, Evan thought. She has no reason to think I’m useful. “Just give me a chance,” Evan said. “Think about it, Hannah. What do you have to lose?”

  “Um, you could fucking kill me and steal my son. No, thank you,” she shot back.

  Evan’s stomach dropped. She really was smarter than she seemed. He was still biding his time, thinking of ways he could get her to let her guard down so he could finish the job. She was right not to trust him.

  Except…he was struggling to picture how he would do it.
The Christmas lights were gone, and somehow without that detail it didn’t seem worth it anymore. He used to think of himself as an artist, controlling every last detail of his crimes, molding every aspect of his murders with his hands. Most of the time, they were utterly immaculate. But now…Hannah had ruined it. There was no way he could kill her now and feel any sense of satisfaction from it. He’d already failed.

  Rule number three of killing: if you’re not having fun, what’s the point?

  So much for one last job before his retirement.

  But if I don’t kill her…Salvatore will have my head, he argued to himself silently.

  Unless I get out of the country before he finds me, he answered himself.

  Evan almost laughed out loud. He’d made himself an escape route without even meaning to. Somehow in bullshitting Hannah, he managed to make a real alternate plan.

  “You need help,” he repeated himself. But this time he meant it. “You need someone who’s used to this shit. I can protect you.”

  Hannah was quiet in the front seat. A second later, the car slowed down and then rolled to a stop. Evan heard the front door open and then slam shut. Hannah had gotten out of the car. For one beautiful moment, he thought she was about to walk around the car and let him out of the trunk. But instead he heard her walk past the car and continue onto the gravel on the side of the road.

  Evan breathed heavily, his entire body tense with anxiety. What was she doing?

  A minute later, Hannah returned to the car and pulled Alex out of his car seat. “What are you doing?” Evan asked loudly, trying to get her attention.

  “I found a car,” she said. “Alex and I are gonna keep going.”

  “How did you—how did you find a car with keys in it that quickly?” Evan asked, completely confused.

  He could see Hannah shrug through the open spaces in the cage. “I guess you could say I’ve got a secret talent. I’m adaptable.”

  “And what about me?” Evan asked, his heart pounding in his throat.

  “Well, I don’t know. I guess that’s up to you,” Hannah said, cradling Alex in her arms.

  Evan bit his lip, using the pain to anchor him. He couldn’t afford to panic. He had to be calm. He had to be smart. He had to talk his way out of this situation.

  “You know that if you leave me here, you’re leaving me for dead,” he said softly, trying to keep his voice steady and still.

  Even through the metal bars of the cage, he could see Hannah frown. “Look, you keep saying you’re the number one hitman, right? Fight your way out if you’re so badass.”

  “I’m a sitting duck like this, you know. Can’t defend myself. They’ll shoot me in the head, just as soon as they pump me for information on you.”

  “And I’m sure you’ll be happy to tell them,” Hannah said bitterly.

  Evan sighed deeply. This wasn’t working. She was too distrusting, for very good reasons. He couldn’t get her to believe him. So he’d have to try a different approach. “You’re right, you know,” he said. That made her lock eyes with him, those deep eyes staring at him through the cage. “You don’t have any reason to believe that I’m not still trying to kill you. And hell, maybe I am. But the longer it takes, the more pointless it’d be for me to try. If I kill you twelve hours from now, it won’t save me. Salvatore will kill me for being incompetent. You were supposed to be dead hours ago. I was already supposed to be on my way back. The longer you keep me alive, the more Salvatore will want me dead.”

  Hannah shrugged again, rubbing the back of Alex’s head. “So?”

  “So, my incentive to kill you shrinks and shrinks every second. And every second, Salvatore gets closer and closer to finding us.” Hannah flinched a little at that, so Evan pushed forward with it, capitalizing on her emotional reaction. “Yeah, that’s right. Us. We’re both in danger here.”

  “Why should I help you? You deserve to be killed by Salvatore,” Hannah said, but her voice shook a little.

  “I do,” Evan admitted. “You’re right. So I guess it’s up to you.”

  Hannah cleared her throat and left the car with Alex in one arm and the car seat in the other. Evan flinched as the door slammed behind her. So that’s it. That’s the end, Evan thought to himself. Here’s where I die, in the back of a shitty stolen SUV. So much for South America. So much for a life worth living.

  ***

  Hannah

  Hannah inhaled deeply, trying to get her arms and legs to stop shaking. Evan’s words had disturbed her somehow. She didn’t even know what it was exactly that had her so shaken up, but his voice echoed in her head. “I guess it’s up to you.” Why was that so terrifying, having control over a man’s life?

  She hurriedly opened the door of the new car and secured Alex in the car seat in the backseat. What do I do? Do I leave him? Salvatore’ll kill him. But if I bring him, he might still kill me, no matter what he says about the timeline.

  He offered to help me, Hannah thought. She wasn’t sure how useful he’d be in a fight. She’d overcome him easily enough with the frying pan. But Evan was right that he’d be better at recognizing other hitmen at least. Hannah didn’t know that many men in Salvatore’s employ. Any random guy on the street could work for him and she wouldn’t be able to tell. For instance, she’d never seen or even heard of Evan before.

  Salvatore had tried to hide things from her when they were together. She never really knew the extent of everything that was going on in his organization. Whenever she asked about his business, he’d get angry. Sometimes he’d just yell, but other times… Hannah shook her head, trying to dislodge the bad memories from her mind and focus on the matter at hand.

  Evan had to be a good hitman, she realized. Alex was worth too much to Salvatore. He wouldn’t fuck around and send an unqualified guy after Hannah and his son. Hannah wasn’t sure what to think about that. On one hand, that meant that Evan might be able to hurt her later on if she let her guard down. But on the other hand, he could actually help her if some of Salvatore’s other men found them. Hell, maybe he’d even be valuable to Salvatore. It could buy her some time if Salvatore didn’t want to send other goons after them right away.

  Okay, Hannah decided. I can always dump him later on if I need to, if he gets too suspicious for my taste. But for now, I’ll take him. Maybe I can use him as a human shield if things get dicey.

  But deep inside, she knew that reason was bullshit. I’m just too much of a pussy to kill a guy, she thought as she shut the door of the new car and walked back over to the SUV. It’s ridiculous how weak I am. She opened up the door to the backseat first, taking out the bag that held her few belongings and grabbing the frying pan with her other hand. Then, she walked back around the car to pop the trunk, revealing a red-faced, panting Evan, who looked like he was in the middle of a panic attack. “You all right?” she found herself asking before cursing herself for showing any sign that she cared. I have to be tough. No bullshit allowed. He should be scared of me.

  Still, Evan nodded in response, wiggling his body to the front of the trunk until Hannah grabbed his arms and pulled him out of the car and onto his feet. “Come on,” she told him. “Hop over to this car. Hurry up, already. We don’t want anyone to see us.”

  “Can you untie me, please?” he asked as he hopped up into the trunk of the new SUV.

  “Don’t push it,” Hannah replied, shutting the trunk and rushing around to the front of the car, quickly turning on the engine. She pulled out onto the road, hunting for the nearest entrance ramp back onto the highway.

  “Why did you take me with you?” Evan asked from the back. Hannah was keenly aware that there wasn’t a cage in the back this time to keep him from sliding up and trying something. She kept checking the rearview mirror, trying to see if he’d moved at all, but so far he hadn’t budged.

  “I don’t—I don’t want to leave an obvious trail,” Hannah said. “You’re a big fucking clue and I’m not letting them find you. Not yet.”

  “So you’re
going to dump me later?” Evan asked.

  “Depends,” Hannah said without thinking. Dammit. I should’ve just said yes. I don’t want him getting too comfortable.

  “On if I’m useful?” Evan suggested.

  “Yep, and if you’re not annoying the shit out of me,” she said in a warning tone. Hannah sighed deeply before taking a ramp to return to the highway. They were dozens of miles away from the motel now, but she needed to keep going and get as much distance as possible. Still, her eyelids were starting to get heavier, and she could tell her reaction time was dulled. She needed some way to stay awake, stay alert for another few hours until she could find a safe place to stay.

  “So why’d you run away?” Evan asked from the back.

  Hannah scoffed. “Do you really think I’m going to tell you?” Where did this guy get off, thinking he deserved even a modicum of trust?