The Traitor’s Baby: Reaper’s Hearts MC

by Nicole Fox

  Once the vehicle had disappeared down the street, Xavier advanced on the house. He made sure to stick close to the big shade trees, hoping that it would at least keep him from being right out in the open and completely noticeable. Moving down the fence line that ran between the Labriola mansion and the neighbors, he jumped on top of the wall and paused a moment while he surveyed the backyard. It was massive, with trimmed grass, extensive flower beds blooming in a riot of colors, and a pool big enough for a small boat. He saw no evidence of gardeners, pool boys, or mafiosos on Speedos, but he knew the chances of the house being empty were incredibly slim.

  Xavier headed toward the back door, touching the weapon at his side to make sure it was still in its holster and ready when he needed it. Even if Matteo was gone, there was very little chance that he wouldn’t encounter at least one of the hooligans. How he would love to see the look on Matteo’s face when he came home to a house full of slaughtered mob men and a missing daughter. It was only part of what he deserved, and Xavier would gladly give it to him if he had the chance.

  The back door was locked, which wasn’t a surprise. Xavier slipped several long, skinny pieces of metal out of his pocket. Beads of sweat formed on the back of his neck, and not just because the midday sunshine was beating down on his back. He was an easy target, right there by the door. But he was good at picking locks, and he was inside in less than a minute.

  He didn’t have time to appreciate the blast of cool air that greeted him as the door swung open. He was in a back hallway with white tile flooring and freshly painted walls. If a guard had been assigned to this part of the house, he had left his post. Xavier quietly shut the door behind him and advanced toward the front of the home. He knew from his previous visits that the stairs ascended from the living room. Kenzie’s room was on the second floor, and he had to get to her as soon as possible.

  A rattle sounded to his left. Xavier swung around a corner of the wall as he whipped his pistol out of its holster and held it at the ready. He waited for the attack, but it never came. He peered around the corner, expecting to see a man in a black suit ready for him, but he only saw an empty kitchen. The rattle had come from the ice maker.

  He shook his head at himself. This was no time to imagine danger when there was plenty of real danger ahead of him. Xavier made it to the living room without incident, and he paused to listen. If Matteo was in his office, he ought to be able to hear him from there. The man didn’t seem to feel the need to be quiet, at least not when Xavier had run into him before. But once again there was no sound, and so he moved toward the stairs.

  This was too easy, and it worried him. A man like Matteo ought to have guards stationed near each door at all times, no matter what other business the family had going on. If he was careful enough to vary his routine each day, then why had he left his mansion unguarded? It made the hairs on the back of Xavier’s neck prickle as he wondered just what waited in store for him. He had known he might be walking into a trap. It was the same thing he would have done if he had expected Matteo to break into his house. But it was a trap he had no choice but to spring, since Kenzie was the bait.

  The upstairs hallway was much as he had imagined it during his fantasies of rescuing Kenzie. The pale, plush carpet was lined on either side with heavy oak doors. Thinking about where the window to Kenzie’s room had been, he took a left and listened for movement at the first door. When he heard nothing, he twisted the knob and slowly cracked it open. Just a bathroom, unoccupied.

  Xavier performed the same steps at the next door. It was just as silent, but when he opened the door he knew he was in the right room. While most of Matteo’s house was decorated in a sleek, modern style, this room had a definitive feminine touch. The dark cherry bed had carved posts and a dark purple canopy that matched the expensive rug over the hardwood floor. The closet door was partially open, revealing a few dresses and tank tops. Near the window was a desk with several notebooks and pens scattered on it, and Xavier’s heart raced as he imagined Kenzie sitting there writing to him.

  As he slipped through the door, his pistol at the ready, he knew this had to be Kenzie’s room. It wasn’t the den of pink lace he had envisioned, but it was much more her than anything else he had seen. The problem was that Kenzie wasn’t in it. The bed had been made, the deep purple bedspread pulled over the pillow. There was no sign that she was there or that she had been anytime recently. Only the open closet door gave him any indication that someone had at one point been in the room, but it didn’t mean that she had left in a hurry. The dresser drawers were closed, and as far as Xavier could tell, most of her belongings were still there.

  Anger and concern welled up in his chest. That car that had just left the house could have held Kenzie and been destined to take her to the doctor, but he highly doubted it. Had Matteo seen her throw the note to Xavier? Had he moved her in anticipation of Xavier’s arrival? Anything was possible now, and he didn’t like it. If Matteo had taken her out of the house, then she could be anywhere. It would be impossible to track her down, and the Reapers didn’t have the kind of resources the Labriolas did.

  Xavier reached for his cell phone and was about to update Chrome on Kenzie’s absence when a different idea struck him. Since he couldn’t snatch Kenzie from her room and carry her down the street to his bike, the next best thing was to check the rest of the house. He would be an idiot to have come this far and not at least peek into the other bedrooms to find her. What if Matteo had put her in a different bedroom to throw Xavier off? Or he could have even decided to let her out for a little while, and she was just somewhere else in the house. This last scenario was unlikely, but still possible. He would check the rest of the place until he was satisfied.

  But when he slipped back out Kenzie’s door and into the hallway, he found Matteo waiting for him at the top of the stairs. “Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked calmly, his thin lips curving up into a smile. He was the very picture of a mafia boss, from his fine suit to his carefully combed hair to the confident look on his face.

  Xavier swung the barrel of his gun straight at Matteo. It would be so easy to shoot him right there and send his lifeless body careening down the stairs. It wouldn’t solve all of Xavier’s problems, but it would go a long way. “Where is she?”

  Matteo took his hands out of his pockets and held them up to show they were empty. “Go ahead. Shoot me and get it over with. You know you want to.”

  Adjusting his grip on the pistol, Xavier kept his eyes focused on the mob boss. Where had he been hiding? How had he known Xavier was there? “Just tell me where she is, and I don’t have to.”

  The older man laughed, and it echoed through the open space around the stairs. “I’m not going to tell you anything. You forget that she’s my daughter. You come in here and act like you have some sort of claim to her, but we both know that isn’t really true.”

  Xavier took a few steps forward. “She’s carrying my child. I think that’s claim enough.”

  “That child also happens to be my grandson. You can’t really imagine that I would give that up, can you?” Matteo maintained his position at the top of the stairs, undaunted by the gun pointed at him or the biker advancing on him.

  “What I can’t imagine is a father who uses his daughter like you’ve done to Kenzie,” Xavier spat. It made him sick inside when he thought about it, and so he had tried not to. But he was right here with the old bastard, and it was impossible to ignore. “You made her sleep with me just so you’d have leverage over me. You can see that it hasn’t worked out in your favor. The Reapers haven’t given in to your demands, and we won’t. I’m not in jail, and I won’t be. You’ve lost, Matteo.”

  “Have I? You’re the one relentlessly chasing a woman who willingly used her body to trick you. How do you know she isn’t still doing the same thing? How do you know whose side she’s on?” He raised a thick eyebrow, challenging Xavier to think about things from a different perspective.

  He was trying to g
et into Xavier’s head and feed into his doubts. It might have worked if Xavier hadn’t seen the fear in Kenzie’s eyes when she had come to him about the baby or seen the rushed handwriting of her note. There was a possibility that she was still on her father’s side, but Xavier doubted it. Nobody was that good of a liar. “If that’s true, then why don’t you bring her out here to tell me herself? Let her be the one to tell me that she’s been stringing me along all this time.” At least then he would know where she was, and that she was safe. That would be enough, at least for the moment.

  “She’s not interested in seeing you.”

  Xavier had come closer, and he was now in point-blank range. It would be so simple to just send a bullet flying right through Matteo’s skull and watch the blood spatter on the carpeting behind him. Xavier had no doubt that some of his thugs were waiting in the wings for the right opportunity to do the same to him, and he would never make it back out of the mansion alive, but it was almost worth it. “Prove it,” he growled.

  “I’m her father,” Matteo replied, concern wrinkling his brow. “My daughter got nothing from you but a black eye and an unwanted pregnancy. It’s my job to keep her safe from men like you, and if she doesn’t want to see you then I’m certainly not going to make her.”

  “Liar. You’ve never done anything to keep her safe, and you know it. Just bring her out. Let me see her. Let her tell me the truth. And then I’ll leave, and you’ll never hear from me again.” If he managed to get Kenzie out in the open, there was still a chance he could escape with her.

  “I’m afraid you’re just going to have to take my word for it. Kenzie isn’t even here anymore. She’s gone to stay with her cousin in Sacramento for a little while, to rest up and prepare for the child.”

  “Boss, can I just shoot him now?”

  Xavier looked over his shoulder to see Tiny standing in a doorway on the other side of the hall. They’d been waiting for him, or they had at least seen him come in. His chances of getting out of her alive were getting slimmer by the minute.

  His looking away gave Matteo just enough time to grab at Xavier’s gun, but the biker’s grip was strong. He yanked the weapon back and reached out with his left hand, pulling Matteo close to him. The older man stumbled, and the duo went careening down the stairs. They were carpeted, but the edge of each step slammed into Xavier’s back, ribs, and legs. The air flew out of his lungs, but he kept himself together enough to hold Matteo close. Tiny couldn’t fire if he thought he might hit his boss. It would keep him safe for the moment, and that was all he had time to think about.

  When they skidded to a stop in the living room, Matteo groaned and reached for his head. Xavier fired toward the top of the stairs, just missing the big man’s shoulder as he backed toward the front door. He was outside and took off like a bat out of hell, running for his life toward his bike and cursing. It took little effort to get to his ride, fire it up, and take off. He dodged onto every side street and alley way he knew, winding his way through town with no real direction. If the Labriolas had bothered to follow him, they would never have been able to find him.

  Finally coming to a stop in a back alley behind an old greasy spoon, Xavier got off his bike and kicked the brick wall. “Fuck!” Where the hell was Kenzie? What had Matteo done to her? Why had Xavier been stupid enough to go in there on his own? But he already knew the answer to the last one. He’d wanted nothing more than to rescue Kenzie and for her to see him as someone more than just a biker she had tricked with a night of passion. He’d wanted to be the man to pull her out of her life and show her a different world. At the very least, he’d wanted to know that his child would be safe. Xavier could never guarantee that Kenzie would stay with him willingly, even if everything Matteo had said was a lie, but there was so much more at stake here.

  Resigned and frustrated with his failed efforts, he headed for The Scythe.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Kenzie

  The dim light flickered overhead. It was deathly quiet in the new jail cell her father had moved her to shortly after she had thrown that note down to Xavier. She had promised to stay in her room and be quiet, terrified of just where she might be going, but Matteo hadn’t bothered to listen. He wasn’t going to believe her no matter what she said. A secured room in the corner of the basement was her new home, and as far as her father was concerned she would stay there until the baby was born.

  Angelo had been commanded to bring down her books, a small concession. What was the point of worrying about schoolwork when she wouldn’t be able to attend classes? There was no telling what might happen to her now, and she couldn’t possibly concentrate on studying when she knew her life was on the line. Kenzie rubbed her still-flat stomach as she lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. It showed the exposed joists of the floor above. Not a very attractive scene, but it went perfectly with the concrete block walls and the concrete floor.

  Kenzie knew that this was essentially her father’s panic room. It was a secure fortress within his own home, where he could retreat if things got bad. She had seen the inside of it once before, when she was very young, but at that time Matteo’s men had been filling it with guns and strange little suitcases. All of that had been removed now, and her father had had his goons carry in an small, uncomfortable bed and a few sparse pieces of furniture. It was a prison, indeed.

  “I’m so sorry, little one. I’m bringing you into a horrible world, one that may be even worse for you than it has been for me. It might not be so bad if I knew I could be around to protect you, but I’ve gone and messed that up already. Your last hope is going to be your father, but your grandfather will never let that happen.” She swiped at a tear as it trickled down her cheek. “I should have played along for a while and let Matteo think I was on his side. At least then I would have been able to see you grow up. But once you’re born, I’ll either be dead or wishing I was. I guess the most I can hope for you is that you are a boy and that you want to be a part of this crime family. You’ll have a short life, but maybe you won’t know the kind of pain that I do.” It was sick to think that her child cooperating with her father was the best potential outcome, but she couldn’t change the way things were. She was alone in the world.

  Kenzie thought back to the moment her father had found out for sure she was pregnant. He had been happy, as any grandparent should be, but for all the wrong reasons. Matteo only wanted to use the child for his own purposes. That was no reason to bring a baby into the world.

  The heavy footsteps overhead told her that she wouldn’t be alone with her thoughts for long. Kenzie cringed as the door was flung open and her father entered. His face was red, and he had his shoulders hunched up around his ears. “I suggest you tell me everything, right now.” Matteo’s voice was icy cold.

  Kenzie sat up, adrenaline buzzing in her veins. At one time, she had loved her father and had looked forward to seeing him when she came home from school. She hadn’t felt that way in a long time, and every encounter now was just Kenzie holding her breath to see what would happen to her. “About what?”

  Matteo held up two fingers. “Twice now that shithole biker has come here looking for you.”

  “Twice?” She blinked and turned away from her father. She had known about the first time, because that was when she had thrown down the note. Clearly, she had missed something.

  “Yes, twice.” He emphasized the second word, making it drip from his tongue like something foreign and disgusting in his mouth. “He just broke into the back of my house looking for you. It’s only because Tiny is such a buffoon that he got away. Both of us nearly got shot, and I have a feeling this is all your fault.”

  Her heart thundered in her ears, and she didn’t dare stand up for fear of passing out. Maybe there was hope for her yet. Xavier hadn’t given up on her, not yet. Her mind raced with ideas as to why he would be coming and what he had planned. “I don’t understand.”

  “I don’t either,” Matteo affirmed, crossing the room toward he
r. He left the door wide open, but there was no doubt that several of his men were standing somewhere on the other side of it. If Xavier had broken in, the boss had likely increased his guard. “Why is he so desperate to find you?”

  It wasn’t going to do her any good to tell the truth. Kenzie wasn’t even sure she knew what the truth was, other than Xavier had agreed to help her. She couldn’t say what his motive truly was. “I don’t know. The baby, I guess?”

  Matteo’s eyes flashed to her stomach and then back to her face. “What did you tell him? He already knew about the baby when he showed up here the other day, and then he comes sneaking in like he’s going to whisk you away somewhere. I have a suspicion that you’re working with him to bring me down, Kenzie, and I’m not going to stand for it.”