His Secret Baby (A Bad Boy Romance)

by Waltz, Vanessa

  Oh, and the police are here.

  Silas said it was an anonymous phone call. Who would report child abuse that we all know is bullshit? Most of the men here have families. And what about those shots fired in the lobby? Who the fuck did that and what in God’s name were they thinking?

  I’ve got to get back to the infirmary, but the entrance is through the ground floor. The three bodies in my room can wait, but how the hell do I get through the wall of cops downstairs?

  I can already hear their voices drift up as they stomp through the hallways. “Police! Hands behind your head!”

  Jesus. They’re getting closer.

  The gun at my hip beckons.

  A man emerges from the stairwell, his arm outstretched.

  “Freeze!”

  12

  Christine

  I feel as though I’m floating on a cloud, and when I open my eyes, I see blue. I look down and up. Left to right. Blue, blue, blue. There’s nothing but blue. I wonder if the mellow sky rolling above me means I’m dead. If I am, why this lingering sadness? Why does the sky make me feel so down? It pulls at the very center of my body until I feel weightless.

  There are birds chirping. I feel the sharp pricks of blades of grass poking my skin. I roll to my side and see a field of bright green. Beautiful. I look up at the clear California skies. It’s warm enough to walk around in shorts and a T-shirt, but not hot enough to sweat. Perfect weather, really. Another mild summer day.

  I’m not wearing any shoes, and my toes are dirty. I wiggle them. Something feels off. I stand up, staring at my too-small hands. The world appears larger than it usually does. The field of green is actually a park. Mission Dolores Park, to be exact, but a lot cleaner. No one’s around, even though it’s a great day to be outside. There should be children running around the grass field, laughing. The swings look oddly still, like a freeze frame.

  I walk barefooted on the grass. It feels nice. I can’t remember the last time I let my toes touch the ground without some layer of protection. I keep walking for a while, growing unnerved by the lack of people. Still, it’s peaceful to listen to the birds singing. I haven’t heard that in a while. God, I never realized how much I missed hearing that sound.

  Finally, I see someone. A boy, sitting at the crest of the hill. He sits with his knees pressed to his chin, his arms wrapped around his legs as though he’s cold. Shane? Or was it—Thane? I think that’s him. Good. I wonder if he wants to play.

  I cup my hands around my mouth and I yell from the base of the hill. “Hey! Do you want to play?”

  He stands up, and even from this distance I can see the hope shining in his young face. “Chrissy. Come here!”

  It’s a really long way up.

  I walk up the hill. I slip on the grass, but I make get to my feet and keep walking. And walking. Even though I’ve been walking for five minutes, he’s still the same size. What the hell? I look behind me and back at him. It’s as though I stood in the same spot.

  “Chrissy, hurry!”

  I’m spurred by the urgency in his voice. I plant one foot after another, running faster. He hugs his middle.

  “Please, hurry! It hurts!”

  He doubles over, his face screwed up in pain.

  Oh my God.

  I sprint until my lungs burn, but I’m no closer to Thane, who falls on the ground, screaming in agony. His pained voice echoes throughout the empty playground.

  “Please!”

  Little by little, his body grows. I’m getting closer, but it’s getting so hard. My legs tremble and acid burns my muscles. I wipe my hand across my brow, suddenly hot. If only he wasn’t so far away.

  Thane rolls from side to side, his eyes shut as tears squeeze down his cheeks. He screams out one word: “Help!”

  Tears choke my throat as I hurry toward him, my lungs heaving with the effort. He’s my best friend. I’ve got to get to him. Desperation seizes me as I listen to his piteous moans. Not much farther now. Just a little bit more. A few more steps.

  The last few steps take a Herculean effort, and I collapse to the ground next to Thane. His broad chest spreads under my palm, and I look up into his adult face, which is filled with the same pain. It’s way too white. His eyes slide at me, listless.

  “Help me.”

  “Help you?” I say, my voice much deeper. “How?”

  He forces his lips to form the word. “Go.”

  I look in the direction of his sprawled arm, which points beyond the hill. I can’t see anything there, but it’s white.

  “I don’t know where that goes!”

  Thane’s eyes close.

  “Thane!”

  I don’t think he can hear me. Oh my God, I need to get help. I walk away from him, into the white—

  Sounds. A man and a woman talking.

  “…removed her breathing tube a few hours ago. Looks like she might survive after all.”

  “Not for much longer. You’re a tough bitch, Christine.”

  God, I feel like shit. My body feels like it’s been beaten with a baseball bat. Every inch of my body throbs in pain. Fuck. My head.

  “Violet, dammit, are you trying to get me killed?”

  Ugh. Not her.

  Bright lights poking me hard in the fucking eyes. That’s what I see when I open them. Clouded shapes shift, sharpening. A beige blur moves over my head. Scowling, dark eyes, lavender lips, and a nose splint.

  “Fuck you,” I croak.

  A man with voice from a deep-barreled chest laughs. He’s broad-shouldered, and lanky blond hair hangs on the side of his oafish face. Violet picks up the chart hanging off my bed and reads it. Her eyebrow raises.

  “It says here you’re pregnant.”

  Pregnant?

  Happiness swells inside me like a balloon—Thane will be ecstatic. He probably already knows. Where the hell is he, anyway?

  Her face twists with taut rage. “You’re pregnant with my husband’s baby. That’s a pity. I truly hate killing the unborn.”

  Violet picks up a scalpel, rattling the tray beside her. She curls her fist around it as she points it down, toward my chest.

  “Say good night, bitch.”

  His thick hand shoots out, seizing her skinny wrist before she can plunge the blade in my heart. “You’re not killing her.”

  She smiles sweetly. “Oh, and I suppose you’re going to stop me?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Pierce, let me explain how this is going to work. I don’t think you quite get it. You kill me, she rats you out and you die. Do anything to stop me, and I throw you under the bus. I have an alibi for Paul; you don’t. So don’t fuck with me.”

  He laughs dryly, unsticking his hand from her wrist. “I should have never hooked up with you. You’re a fucking disaster, and you’re going to get us both killed.”

  “Kill her.”

  They both turn their attention back to me.

  Violet smiles at me in feigned concern. “Please tell me it really hurts. I pulled out all the stops to get that little cocktail, and you didn’t even die. Oh well. At least I get to watch you suffer. In fact, I prefer this way.”

  My heart slams against my chest as she slowly lowers the scalpel to my arm, the razor-sharp edge gently resting over my skin. She presses down and blood wells up around the blade immediately, and then she drags it down. The sharp needle slicing through nerves and muscle sends pain signals firing in every direction. Definitely not a nightmare. My throat tears with a sharp scream, and Pierce shoves her bony shoulders.

  “Fucking idiot. You’re going to get us caught. If you’re going to ice this bitch, do it somewhere they can’t hear her.”

  She breathes in deeply, her gaze transfixed on the scalpel, which gleams brightly with my blood. “You’re right. They’ll be here soon to take everyone’s kids away—everyone’s except mine.”

  A muffled voice sounds from behind Violet, and I prop myself up on the pillows as my arm throbs. Lara’s wide eyes stare as me through a duct-taped
face. Her arms are taped to the chair, and sitting in the middle of her lap is Daniel.

  I cry out, reaching for my baby as Violet rips her palm across my face.

  “Don’t you ever touch my baby again. Isn’t that what you said to me?”

  My cheek smarts as she stares at me, fury etched in every line on her face. I want to rip that hand from her arm, but my body feels like lead.

  “You had no right—he had no right to take him away from me.”

  “I had every right. Look at you. You’re a fucking mess.”

  My arm lifts a quarter of an inch in an attempt to block the blow at my face, which slams me back into the pillow.

  “Shut up. I’m going to take him. We’re going to leave this place, and you’ll be dead. Thane too. He lost his rights as a father the moment he ripped my child from my breast!”

  Violet raves, her eyes bulging from her sockets as she screams in my face. I fight to raise myself from the bed. Damn it.

  “You touch him, and I’ll kill you.”

  Pierce lowers the hand from his face and gives a long sigh. “This is getting really old. Come on, Vi. Let’s get out of here.”

  I scream at the top of my lungs when Violet plucks my baby from Lara’s lap. Daniel bawls as she hugs him against her chest. My scream is punctuated by a cry of pain as Pierce backhands me.

  “You make another fucking sound, and I’ll give a slap to your baby.”

  Violet snarls at him. “You do that and I’ll cut your hand off. Come on.”

  “What about her?”

  Lara shakes the arms of her chair, her hair flying wildly around her face.

  “She’s not going anywhere.”

  Sighing, Pierce slides his arms underneath my head and legs, lifting me from the bed. Words can’t describe how uncomfortable it is. A complete stranger, cradling me like a baby, and I can’t do a thing about it. Whatever Violet gave me knocked me on my ass and stole every last reserve of energy. Lara wrenches at the tape binding her hands as Pierce carries me out of the room. When the door shuts, her howling cuts off sharply.

  “Police!”

  “Shit!”

  For a moment I consider screaming at the shadowed figures moving throughout the infirmary, but I swallow my tongue. I can’t risk Daniel when he’s trapped in that psychopath’s arms. No matter how strongly her delusion drives her to protect him.

  “This way!”

  Pierce awkwardly grabs the door under a blazing Exit sign, opening it into an empty stairwell. They start climbing flights of stairs, Violet jogging up the steps as Pierce wheezes behind her.

  “Slow down, damn it!”

  She throws him a contemptuous look. “What’s wrong? All that beer finally catching up to you?”

  “Fuck you.”

  Pierce’s heavy footsteps resume their steady climb. I let my arm flap uselessly at my side as a needle-like pain pricks my skin. I twist my arm, and blood rushes to my face.

  Don’t let them see.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “We’re taking you somewhere to die.”

  * * *

  Honestly, I could accept the fact I’m going to get killed in the syndicate. It’s a building packed with criminals. Tempers are bound to get out of hand. This place is full of hotheaded assholes. Two years ago, they almost destroyed each other in a bloody bid for power.

  Never in my wildest fever-dreams would I have ever imagined I’d meet my demise by the overachieving, narcissistic, completely insane darling of the syndicate. She’s a creampuff. It’s almost embarrassing.

  I make myself look diminished as Pierce props me up against the wall. They dragged me into Violet’s freak-show apartment, which no longer smells of blood but still has a giant red stain in the entry. My head swims with the effort of keeping myself awake.

  Violet bustles around the kitchen with Daniel, who keeps squalling, as Pierce leans against the counter and glares at her.

  “Will you shut that baby up?”

  “He’s a baby. Babies cry.”

  “Do you want the cops to find us? Why the hell are they here, anyway?”

  “I called them.”

  “You what?”

  She holds the baby to her breast, her dark eyes swirling with potent rage. I feel it radiating from her. “I want everyone in this place to die. Every man who kept me from what I needed in my life.”

  “You called the cops.”

  “I wanted a bloodbath. I used George’s gun.”

  “So you’re the one who fired those shots at the police. When Silas finds out, he’ll fucking kill you.”

  “He will find out, but I’ll be gone before then, and his kid will still be in the hands of the government.”

  Jesus.

  Pierce sweeps his hand over the marble counter, knocking over a knife block and a stack of dishes, which crash to the floor.

  Violet backs away, fear flickering on her face for a moment. Daniel is red in the face, screaming his head off.

  “You crazy, dumb bitch! I did not sign up for this!”

  Her hair flies around her face. “No, you just wanted to fuck around and have some fun—is that right? You had no problem getting rid of Paul, so don’t pretend like you’ve suddenly grown a conscience!”

  I watch in horror as he lunges around the counter. Violet bends over and picks up one of the knives from the floor, pointing at his throat. Daniel bawls louder than ever, looking around and reaching for me.

  “Violet, please don’t! It’s not safe!”

  She ignores me, glaring at Pierce. “Stick this through and you’ll be in the clear.”

  A dangerous smile spreads across his face. “You’re in way over your head.”

  “No, you are!” The hand holding the knife wavers. “I’m in control.”

  “What’s stopping me from grabbing that knife and killing you, her, and bringing the baby back to his father?”

  “The tied-up woman we left in the infirmary.”

  His fist crunches the marbled counter as he slowly approaches her. Violet backs away, her arm shaking.

  “So I go down there and kill her too.”

  “You’ll never make it. Right now the SFPD is busy rounding everyone up, and the infirmary is right on the ground floor.”

  He slams his fist into the refrigerator, and it rocks from his blow. My heart beats faster. It’s torture watching this, being completely unable to stop whatever hellish thing she has planned.

  Her composure crumbles as she holds Daniel one-handed, trying to calm him. “Why does he keep crying?”

  “Because you’re not his mother.”

  The acidic tone creeps back into her voice. “Keep insulting me, Christine. I’ll make you pay back every word.”

  “You’re not his mother,” I say, louder than ever.

  And to cement my point, Daniel turns his head around, groping the air toward me. “Mama!” His face crumples into a sobbing mask. “Mama!”

  Pierce laughs at Violet’s confusion.

  “I don’t…I don’t understand.”

  Daniel whines, looking at me as he repeats the word. The ball of hurt inside squeezes hard, and I shut my eyes as tears slide down my face. I can’t protect him. I can’t even stand up.

  “He doesn’t want you. He wants her.”

  She shakes her head, crying. “He spent too much time with her. He’s bonded to her and not me. How’s that possible?”

  “I am so glad you can’t get knocked up.” He looks at me across the room, laughing. “Imagine if I had actually gotten her pregnant. What a disaster that would’ve been.”

  “Stop!”

  Violet lunges forward with the knife in a shriek of rage and buries the blade in his shoulder.

  “Fuck!”

  Then two things happen at once. Thane bursts through the doorway as Pierce gives Violet a vicious backhand, making her fly backward with Daniel.

  “No!”

  He lands safely on Violet’s chest as Pierce yanks the knife from his s
houlder and turns around just to meet the tornado of fury that is Thane. They clash like two giants, shaking the walls of the apartment. Thane wraps his arm around Pierce’s throat, dragging him away from Violet and the baby. He breaks free and sinks his fist into Thane’s stomach. I feel the blow as if I’ve been hit. Thane doubles over, gagging, but it’s a feint. He knees Pierce in the face, who stumbles back, swearing.

  Violet scoops the baby to her chest and runs past them into the nursery.

  I command everything in my body to stand up, and all I manage to do is roll over. Fuck. I push with my feet, crawling like a newborn as vicious meat-pounding smacks reverberate through the apartment. Pierce is taller with broader shoulders, but the injury to his shoulder slows his movements, and Thane’s fighting for more than his life.

  He’s fighting for his family. I’ve never seen him look so determined.

  He laughs in savage triumph as Pierce takes a few steps back, holding his arms out.

  “That all you got—you cringing piece of shit?”

  “I’m not with that crazy cunt! She blackmailed me.”

  Thane throws a coffee table out of his way, and it cracks the plaster in the wall. “You tied up my sister.”

  “I had no choice!”

  “You brought my wife here. You killed George and Paul and the guards who were supposed to watch my family.”

  “She killed George!”

  A thrill runs through my body. It was her. And she went to that funeral and cried her eyes out. No one was the wiser. It all clicks in my head—the lack of explanation of security camera footage. They did capture the murderer. It was her!

  “So you let some cooze order you around? You call yourself a Dragon?”

  I drag myself on the carpet, pushing as hard as I can with my legs. The floor shakes as Thane launches himself at Pierce again, who screams at him to stop. It’s not his fault.

  Good riddance, asshole.

  I’ve got to get to Daniel.

  I claw my way to a standing position, seizing an end table. The porcelain vase standing on it wobbles and crashes to the floor. I use my arms to brace myself against the walls of the hallway, but my legs feel like Jell-o.

  The sound of a woman singing floats from the nursery. Singing occasionally punctuated by a sob. I stagger through the doorway as the last of my energy disappears. My body crashes into the bright pink room, and I get a sideways view of Violet sitting cross-legged on the floor, holding my son in her lap.