“See those birds?” he asks. “Those are pigeons.”
I grin. “Flying rats.”
“Your mommy doesn’t appreciate the majesty of pigeons,” he whispers conspiratorially to Evie. “They are noble birds. They do what they have to do to get by. Nature didn’t give them the eyes of an eagle or the talons of a hawk, so they have to hustle to live.”
My grin widens. I didn’t know what to expect from him when it came to parenthood. I felt like I saw a sweet side of him that would be good with kids, but I had no way of knowing, except for a few glimpses of how good he is with Brendan. After only a few minutes with Evie, I can see he’s going to be an amazing dad.
She looks so small and heartbreakingly tiny in his big, tattooed arms. She’s only six pounds and two ounces.
Angelo is wearing a white undershirt and slacks, and every bit of his defined body is deliciously visible through the shirt.
“She has your eyes,” I say.
“You’d better give those back, thief,” he says to Evie.
“She can take anything she wants,” I say. “And it looks like she took your mouth, too. I guess she’s a daddy’s girl already.”
“Damn right.” He presses his fingers to his mouth and winces a little. “Darn right.”
“As much as I’m enjoying watching you with her, I really want to hold her again,” I say, feeling guilty but knowing I’m going to die of anticipation if I don’t get to hold her again soon.
He smiles and brings her to me, kissing her once and then kissing me as he passes her gently to me. “Careful with that baby,” he says. “She’s apparently a little thief.”
“Are you a little thief?” I ask, but her only response is to twitch her tiny, still-purple fingers and tighten them in a fist around my index finger.
Angelo leans back and takes a deep breath, clearly still mentally catching up with what just happened. “Remind me to never get you pregnant again,” he says.
“What?” I laugh. “Why? Was it because I called you names? I’m sorry about that, by the way. I seriously don’t know where all that came from.”
He chuckles. “I made mental notes of some of the more creative ones. But no. Because I never want to see you in that kind of pain again. It was too hard.”
“Seeing you with her was worth every second of it.”
Enzo, Gino, Damian, Neela, and Jamie all waited in the lobby while we had time alone to bond with Evie. Enzo and Neela are the first to come in once they’re allowed.
“Hey, how’s the new mom doing?” asks Enzo.
“Sore,” I say quietly and point to Evie, who is asleep on my chest.
I pat her little bottom and smile, marveling at how small she is, how fragile and precious.
“You look beautiful,” says Neela. Brendan is asleep in the stroller she’s pushing, but she peeks in on him to make sure he’s still out.
“It’s nice of you to say, but I sweated through my sheets, bled everywhere, and now my boobs leak. I don’t know if beautiful is the first word that comes to my mind.”
She laughs. “Well, I’m not going to go into the gory details, but from what you just described, you’re in a whole lot better shape than I was after Brendan came out.”
The slightly horrified look on Enzo’s face tells me she’s not exaggerating and that I don’t really want to know.
“Oh my God,” whispers Neela when she bends down to look at Evie. “She is the most beautiful little girl I’ve ever seen.”
Enzo pats Angelo on the shoulder and smiles warmly at him. The two men share a look that makes my heart melt. I don’t think they realize I’m watching, but I can see the pride pass between them as clear as day. Enzo is proud of his little brother, and Angelo is happy he’s making his brother proud. It’s a side of Angelo I haven’t seen much of, but he seems to be full of pleasant surprises.
“You did good, brother,” says Enzo after a while, then he squeezes Angelo’s shoulder again and smiles. “Real good.”
“Hey,” I say. “How’s Jamie doing?” I ask. Ever since her abrupt exit at the bonfire the night after Angelo broke me free from captivity, Jamie has stayed withdrawn from me. She never talks to me when we’re all gathered together, and she avoids eye contact if she can. Angelo gets the same treatment from her, too.
Neela sighs. “I’m not going to sugar-coat it. She still thinks she has some kind of soul bond with Angelo. Like this is all eventually going to work out like some romance movie where he realizes he made a mistake and comes running back to her. Don’t worry—” she says at the confused look on my face. “Her plan of action is basically to sit around and wait for him to realize it. I know my sister. She’s not going to try anything weird. She just might not… well, she’s probably going to have a hard time ever really liking you. As long as you’re with Angelo, at least,” she adds with an uncomfortable laugh.
“I married Ana,” says Angelo slowly, as if he’s explaining something to a slow-witted child. “I have a baby with Ana. What more does she need to see for it to sink in?”
“She’s not stupid,” says Neela with a little heat in her tone. “She knows logically it’s never happening. But my sister has always been an emotionally driven person. She can’t help what she feels. It’s just the way it is, okay? She’ll get over it eventually. Maybe.”
I nod. “Well, whenever she’s ready to talk about it or decides it doesn’t matter, tell her I understand. I don’t have any hard feelings, and I hope she won’t either, eventually.”
Neela gives me a small smile. “I’ll tell her.” She turns from me and kneels to admire Evie more before Enzo quietly tells her they should leave so the others can come see the baby too.
Gino comes in next. He’s dressed a little sharper and some of the usual easy-going humor in his features seems to have been replaced with a more serious edge, as though leadership has already started to harden him. He splits the serious look on his face with something approaching his usual self when he sees Evie.
“My first niece,” he says. He turns his attention to me. “How are you holding up?”
“I think Angelo might have been more traumatized by the experience than me,” I joke.
Angelo gives me a wry look. “Only slightly.”
Gino chuckles. “Honestly, I think women underestimate how horrible it probably is to see a little human come flying out of the holiest of holies.”
I snort. “I can’t tell if that’s a really bad pun or just inappropriate.”
Gino thinks about that for a second, then smiles wide. “Both,” he agrees.
“How’s business?” Angelo asks.
Gino sighs and sits down in one of the chairs by the wall. “Could be better. Could be worse. Ana’s old man has been laying low. I snagged up a good chunk of businesses in the neutral zone and never got any backlash for it. Not sure if he’s trying to lull me into complacency or if he’s still intimidated.”
Angelo studies the floor, deep in thought. “I don’t buy Rosiano Torretti giving up like that. I’d keep a close eye on it. Make sure you’re not walking into something.”
I shift a little uncomfortably. I’ve mentally disowned my father and put my mother in a kind of purgatory zone. I don’t even know where my father would have to start to win me back over, but my mom just needs to make an effort. I don’t blame her for what she became, not exactly, at least. Maybe expecting her to make the first move of contrition is expecting too much or too selfish, but it’s the only way I’ll feel like she really wants to start fixing what is broken. She needs to come to me, to show me she’s ready to try. Until then, she can stay on the outside.
Neither my mother or my father have even tried to contact me since Angelo freed me. I haven’t talked to Joe, either. Angelo told me that Joe had a chance to get me freed months earlier and chose my father over me, and while I probably shouldn’t fault him for showing loyalty to his boss and doing his job, I haven’t gotten over that betrayal. I thought he was a real friend, but it turned out he was
just a better actor than the rest of them.
Angelo doesn’t directly talk to me about father, and his little check-ins with Gino are the only updates I get. It’s for the best, though. I have a baby to raise. I’m going to raise her the right way, too. I don’t need bitterness and anger in my heart while I’m trying to be a mom, so I’m perfectly happy to let my old life drift away and become an afterthought.
“You think it’s some kind of trap?” Gino asks.
Angelo shrugs. “Could be. I don’t see what harm could come from buying businesses. Not legal or physical harm, at least. Maybe he’s trying to play the financial angle. Wants to take your legs out from under you somehow. He could try to run your investments out of business, but if he thinks that would be more than a nuisance, he doesn’t understand how deep the family funds run.”
Gino nods. “Well, don’t let me get you too sidetracked today. I shouldn’t have even brought it up, man. Congrats on the baby. You did good landing yourself a nice girl. I don’t know how you convinced her to like your mean ass, but you did it.”
I laugh. “He’s very convincing.”
Angelo gives Gino a light punch on the shoulder. “If I can do it, you can too. I’ll be waiting for another sister-in-law.
Gino waves over his shoulder on the way out. “Maybe when you’ve gone gray,” he suggests, then closes the door.
Damian comes in next, and I’m starting to feel a little bit overwhelmed by all the guests, like I’d just close my eyes and take a long nap with Evie in hopes that everything will ache less when I wake.
He looks different. Damian always seemed untouched by the stress and strife the Luciani men carry with them. They lived in a world of kill or be killed for so many years, and I always feel like I can see the shadow of that behind them. Damian, on the other hand, usually has a kind of careless confidence, like he knows he could talk his way into any woman’s bed with fewer than ten words if he felt like bothering. At the same time, he was never anything but immensely respectful of the boundaries not only between active relationships, but past relationships. I never saw him flirt or make an inappropriate look at any woman who had been involved with his friends. He was a gentleman and a rogue, if that was possible. I liked him for it. He seemed like a good influence to have around Angelo. A good friend.
So seeing him look like he does now almost makes me sit up with shock, but the aches across my body and Evie on my chest keep me from moving anything but my eyebrows.
“You okay?” Angelo asks before I can.
Damian looks like he hasn’t been sleeping, and his normally perfectly groomed hair is a little tousled.
He waves off our questions with an easy smile that isn’t completely convincing. “Forget about me, man. Congrats on the baby. She’s beautiful. Did you come up with a name yet?”
“Evie,” says Angelo.
Damian nods. “I like it. Really pretty.”
“Come on,” says Angelo. “You look like shit, Damian. What’s going on?”
Damian sighs before plopping down in a chair and staring at his hands as he twists them together. “Just girl trouble, I guess.”
“What kind of girl trouble? I’ve never known you to keep one around long enough for her to cause trouble.”
“Well,” he says with a small smirk, like he’s calling up a cherished memory. “Technically I didn’t keep her around long. Might’ve been an hour or two, at most, before everything went to shit.”
“An hour or two? And you’re this beat up over it?” Angelo asks. “When did it happen?”
“Couple weeks ago,” he says.
“What happened?” I ask.
Damian looks up at me from beneath loose strands of his dirty blonde hair. “I met the right girl. The one. We were in an airport… She was wearing a bathing suit in the terminal with this little cover-up dress, holding a big-ass suitcase like it was her lifeline. She had this kind of armor of innocence around her like nothing I’ve ever seen. It was like she had somehow managed to dodge every bit of shit and muck the world throws at people and wound up right there, right in front of me.”
When he doesn’t say anything else for a moment, Angelo leans forward. “And then something bad happened?”
Damian stirs, like he forgot he had stopped talking. “Y-yeah. Fuck,” he growls, letting his head fall back to bang against the wall so he can stare at the ceiling. “Sorry for the language, Evie,” he murmurs. “Look. I need to get out of here. I wanted to be here for you guys, but you two don’t need my dark cloud hanging over today.”
He gives Angelo a quick man-hug and slap on the back and then gently hugs me, leaving before we can stop him.
Angelo watches the door after Damian leaves. “Well, at least we’re having a good day, I guess?”
I laugh a little. “I feel bad for him. And Gino. They seem so stressed.”
“It’ll blow over. It always does.
“Well, Damian was right. We should be enjoying today. We have this little baby to think about now.”
I look down at Evie and feel an unexpectedly strong welling of emotion that nearly brings me to tears.
I’d heard so many stories of people loving their babies at first sight, but I honestly thought it had to have been some kind of cliche. Now I know the cliche didn’t even begin to describe reality. It wasn’t just love, at least not any kind I’d ever known. It was an immediate and unbreakable bond that I knew could never be broken, no matter what she did or who she became. She’s my little baby. My little girl.
“We’re going to raise you the right way, Evie,” I whisper to her. “You’ll have a mommy and daddy who love each other,” I say, sneaking a look up at Angelo who is watching me with a loving glint in his eye and a smirk on his lips. “You’ll have everything you need, but not more than you need,” I add, smiling. “We don’t want to spoil you. Too much, at least.”
I run my fingers through the wispy little hairs on top of her head, marveling at how impossibly soft they are. They’re dirty blonde, just like Angelo’s. She makes the tiniest sound before she smacks her lips a few times and then nestles deeper into my chest, her little fists opening and closing into tight balls.
“You’re going to pick the perfect man to marry some day, just like your mommy did. You’ll only ever be what you want to be. Nobody will try to change you. Nobody will force you to be someone else. And all the love in your life is going to be real.” My voice breaks a little as I say the last few words and the tears finally do come. Angelo moves to my side and leans in, hugging me while we look down at Evie. “You’ll never have to worry that anyone is pretending to love you, little baby,” I whisper.
“Neither will you,” says Angelo, who kisses me softly on the temple. “You know that, right?”
I nod my head, wiping away some of the tears. “I do now, yeah.”
Please don’t forget to leave a review!
Thank you so much for reading Baby for the Brute. Whether you loved it or not, it would mean the world to me if you left an honest review on Amazon. I read every single review and take them all to heart, so it’s not just a great way to give me your feedback and help me improve, it’s also one of the best ways to support me and help me find new readers.
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Want More of Enzo and Damian?
Both characters have their own books already! Enzo and Neela’s story can be found here, in Baby for the Beast. I’ve included a sneak peak of Baby for the Beast just after this page, so scroll on if you’re curious!
Damian’s story takes place after the events of Baby for the Brute (but the scene in the epilogue with Damian is after he meets Kylie in the opening scenes of his book, Knocked Up by the Dom). You can find his story here.
Sneak Peak - Baby for the Beast
I didn’t know his secrets when he knocked me up…
I only knew the heat of his touch,
The bite of command in his voi
ce,
He demanded submission. Complete surrender.
For one night, I was someone else. Then I learned the truth.
Neela
It’s just one blind date. One silly night to get my sister and my friend off my back. They say I’m letting my best years slip by and that I need a man in my life.
Me, though? I’m happy on my own. I have a good job and my life is fine. A little boring sometimes. Maybe just a little depressing and lonely here and there, but it’s comfortable.
But that one little blind date turns my life upside down.
All I gave him was a single night, just a few hours of recklessness. A few moments of release. For just a night, I was someone else.
The scary part?
I’m starting to like the person I am with him, and my comfortable, easy life seems a whole lot less appealing now.
Enzo
I’ve always done my job. My duty. I’ve sacrificed my life for the Luciani crime family, so what difference does it make if I have to kidnap some girl?
Her father is on the verge of cracking a case against my father and our family wide open, so using his daughter as leverage is our best shot.
My job is simple. Meet the girl for a “date”. Tempt her back to my place and hold her until her dad cooperates.
It should have been simple.
But then I saw her. Those wide, innocent eyes and that mischievous little smile. Those curves barely hidden under her dress that practically begged to be explored and worshipped.
Baby for the Brute_A Fake Boyfriend Romance Page 16