Hang Em' Up: A Bad Boy Sports Pregnancy Romance

by Ashley Stewart

Carson looked over his shoulder at me." Are you crazy?"

  "Just do it Carson," I insisted.

  "You know what she's gonna say. She ain't gonna be happy."

  "I know," I said.

  "Who in the world is the widow maker?" Cierra asked.

  "Just an old friend." The less I told her the better.

  "Yeah right," Carson scoffed.

  "Just drive." I looked at him through the rearview mirror so that he could see my serious expression.

  "Why are we going there?" Cierra asked.

  I chose my words carefully. The widow maker was an older woman I knew who lived in the Wilmington area. She was very good at several things, not the least of which was forging and falsifying passports and other identification information. We would need her help to leave the country.

  "You are going to stay with her for now. At least until I come back for you," I said.

  "No, I don't want us to separate again," she said.

  "It's just for a little while," I assured her.

  "Why do we have to separate? Where are you going?" she asked.

  "I have to take care of some things."

  "Dammit Giovanni, why can't you tell me the truth just once. Stop trying to protect me."

  I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "I promise everything will be fine. I just have to take care of a couple of things. You are just going to have to trust me."

  Tears streamed down her face as she put her arms around my neck. I knew she was frazzled and scared but I also knew that if I didn't go after Gino, he wouldn't stop until we were dead. That was no life for either of us to live, always on the run and I wasn't going to allow our child to be born into a world like that.

  This all had to stop now.

  If it didn't we would be running forever.

  I kissed her slowly. The warmth of my mouth burned into hers reassuring her that I would come back for her and the baby.

  Chapter 13

  I left Cierra in Carson's hands. I knew he would deliver her safely to the widow maker. What I needed to do now was go back to Gino's house. Not exactly my first choice. If it were up to me we would be on a plane for Rome by now, but I knew better. I knew that it didn't matter where we went, Gino would find us.

  The house was crawling with guards. This time I wasn't going to sneak in. I was going to walk in the front door. Screw him and his henchmen. I had Smith & Wesson and they were all the friends I needed.

  There was only one problem.

  Gino brought in reinforcements and now the mansion was swarming with security and more guards. I estimated there was probably 15 to 20 men walking around, prepping the grounds. It was too many for anybody to handle by themselves. This pissed me off because I was hoping to take care of this once and for all. I couldn’t deny the fact that Gino had the funds and the ability to protect himself. This meant I was going to have to get creative, but it also meant that I was going have to retreat for now and come back for him later.

  I decided the best thing to do would be to get back to the safe house after I picked up Cierra and together we would figure this out. I don’t think she quite understood that they wouldn’t just go away. She was of the opinion that if we disappeared, there would be no need for him to come looking for us. I knew him better than that though. Gino couldn’t refuse a bloodthirsty hunt where the prey was human and the prize was revenge. Italian families took the murder of one of their own very seriously. He would never relent or recall the hit until he saw both of us dead.

  There was no way to start over or go back. The only way to end this was to go through it. I understood all too well that it could get to a final showdown between him and me, and only one of us was going to leave that alive. The other one would be dead and buried. I didn’t even mind if I never made it back if Cierra’s life was spared. That’s all I really cared about anymore. She deserved a long and happy life. Raising our baby. Ideally I would like to be part of that family and help her, but if I had to sacrifice my life for hers. I would gladly do it. It was the least I could do for getting her into all of this in the first place.

  Chapter 14

  It was 10:30 PM when I got to the widow maker’s house. I pulled around back so that nobody could make out the car that I had to steal to get here.

  Stealing wasn’t usually my thing. I didn’t really enjoy it, actually. It might sound crazy to say, but even though I kill people for a living I did believe in working for and earning your money. Call it a conflict of morals or whatever you want, that’s just how it felt.

  “Giovanni is that you?” An old gray-haired woman stepped out on her front porch letting the door behind her swing shut.

  She hobbled down wearing her long black shawl and a dress that came to her ankles.

  “Miss Annie, it sure is,” I said.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  What do you mean? I looked around suddenly suspicious, not understanding why she wouldn’t expect me. Surely Carson had dropped off Cierra by now.

  “I came by to pick up Cierra,” I said.

  “Who?” she asked.

  “Cierra, my girlfriend. Carson dropped her off earlier. Didn’t he?”

  I looked at her face, searching for any kind of recognition. She was 80 years old, but hardly senile at all. She was very quick-witted and still had her charm about her.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nobody’s come by here all evening.” she said.

  That old feeling of panic rushed through me again and I searched my mind thinking for any kind of miscommunication that could’ve happened. I had to find Carson figure out what happened to her.

  “Sorry to bother you, ma’am. I will stop back by another time,” I assured her.

  I put the car in drive and mashed down on the gas pedal. I had to get back to the safe house and to Carson to figure out what happened.

  Did Carson betray me and kidnap her? Was he working for Gino? That was hard to believe considering I had known Carson, since he was a young kid. Even though he knew about the Geremia crime family, that was definitely not his area of interest or expertise to work for them. I knew for a fact, he’d heard too many stories and wouldn’t have put himself in that position.

  No, this was something else. I feared this in the back my head several times. Cierra was headstrong and willful, I prayed that she didn’t take off on her own, although that would be better over the option of her being kidnapped again. I knew that Gino would not go as nicely as he did the first time on either of us, if he caught us again.

  But he would track her down, and without her understanding or knowing how to get away, she would feel herself safe by traveling. She was as good as dead if he got his hands on her again.

  I lay the gas pedal all the way down on the floor hoping that I would get to the safe house in time to get some answers.

  Chapter 15

  There was no phone call this time from Gino saying he had her; no threats had been made. It was quiet all the way around.

  I got to the safe house and threw open the car door, fell out of it and ran up to the steps.

  “Is she here?” I asked

  “Is who here?” Carson said shocked at seeing me.

  “Where is she?” I asked him more aggressively

  “Cierra is at Miss Anne’s where else would she be?”

  “No, she’s not. I was just there,” I said.

  “That’s impossible. I dropped her off myself.”

  “Did you watch her go in?” I asked him.

  Carson sat in his seat, pausing for a minute. My tone became more aggressive and I grabbed him by his shirt collar. “Did you watch her go in?” I said a little louder.

  “No we were in a hurry. Everything was crazy. You told me to get her there. I dropped her off. She assured me she would walk in and that the widow maker was waiting for her. Isn’t that what you told me?” Carson scrambled to try to give a reason for not watching her walk in.

  “Dammit!” I screamed.


  “What are you saying?” Carson asked. “She wasn’t at Miss Anne’s?”

  “No. She said she hadn’t seen anybody all night.”

  I paced around the room, my breathing intensified. I was trying to think clearly, but my mind was running.

  “Why would she leave on her own and make me think that she was going to stay?” Carson asked.

  “I don’t know, but I have to find her and fast. Gino’s men are mobilizing; there’s too many of them for me to fight off by myself. He’s going to send out a killing party and this time he’ll get both of us.”

  She was pregnant and alone. How would she think that she could take care of herself with all of this going on? She did have a good amount of money that I gave her in case of situations where we got separated. So maybe she went somewhere that she thought she would be safe away from all this. But where? She had no family to speak of and she had very little friends around here.

  “Why would she do this?” I asked myself out loud.

  “You know why,” Carson said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Dude, she’s about to give birth. All of this is going on, she’s in danger of losing her life and the life of her baby. I’m sure she did what she felt she had to, to get away from that and protect her child.”

  “It’s my child too, and I was the one protecting her.”

  “What are you going to do?” Carson asked.

  “I have to find her before Gino does, and I have to do it fast.”

  “Are you going to find her first, or are you going to take out Gino first?” Carson asked.

  “I’m gonna take out the threat first,” I said.

  For whatever reason Cierra left. I couldn’t blame her. I had brought her nothing but death and destruction and she finally jumped ship. Truthfully, I was surprised she lasted this long with me. What’s happened has happened and I can’t do anything about that. However, I can fix the one eminent threat that was sure to ruin all of our lives. I needed to focus on getting to Gino and taking him out. It was our only hope. Even if Cierra decided she never wanted to see me again, I wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t come looking for her. If she wanted a normal life, I was going to ensure that she got one free from all of this dysfunction.

  Even if that meant I never saw her again.

  My Hitman’s Secret Baby Book 3

  Bella Rayne

  Chapter 1

  She broke through the wooden gates of a neighboring fence and ran out into the street. Terrified, Cierra tried to find solace in an unfamiliar neighborhood. It was almost dusk and she was running from a terror that wasn’t new to her, but continued to scare her just the same. She had been running for months, but this time she was on her own.

  She looked around to see if anyone was following her. The taillights of cars driving past did little to light the way, or help her find safety in the small North Carolina town. Most families were sitting down to dinner right about now, not a care in the world and with no thoughts of running from a Mafia boss who wanted to kill them because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Cierra envied their situation. She wanted to be one of the oblivious masses who led a normal life. She wanted to be setting dinner on the table for her family, dishing mashed potatoes out on Giovanni’s plate and planning her menu for the week. She wanted to go grocery shopping during the day and take her time strolling up and down the aisles without worrying about someone recognizing her.

  None of those things were possible right now. She and Giovanni had been on the run for over six months. He had taught her how to live away from society and how to blend in when necessary. She had gotten good at it, except that now she was six months pregnant and alone. Granted, she left Giovanni and all the drama behind in an effort to save him, but how was she going to protect herself and her baby? She relied on him to make her feel safe.

  She had to be separated from Giovanni in order to survive. She couldn’t rely on him any longer. The two of them together were one big moving target and it was easier for Gino to find them if they stayed together. She reasoned that Giovanni’s best chance would be if she left him without letting him know where she went. He would be able to move around much faster without her and with less of a chance of being spotted. Besides, he needed all his focus on tracking down Gino and didn’t need her to weigh him down.

  She carried a bag of clothes with her which was the only thing she owned at the moment. Although it was relatively light, it felt like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Giovanni taught her to pack light so that if the time came and it was necessary to run, everything that she needed would fit into one simple duffle bag.

  She tried not to think about how much she missed Giovanni. It broke her heart to leave him and not tell him she was going, but she knew if she mentioned her plan to him he would try to talk her out of it. Giovanni meant well and did everything he could to protect her, but she couldn’t weigh him down anymore. It wasn’t just that though. She also had her baby to think about.

  Their baby.

  She didn’t want her child to start its life in this world running from a vengeful mafia boss. It wasn’t fair to the child. No, the best decision she could have made was to leave Giovanni and start a new life in a place that no one knew where they were. Her first problem was to escape the danger of Gino and his men. Right now panic was overwhelming her since she found out that Gino and his men were staying here in town. The city she hoped she would finally be able to settle down in was tainted by his arrival. Wilmington, North Carolina was no longer an option as long as Gino was alive. She had to look elsewhere.

  Exterior lights illuminated a house that looked like a safe place. She ran over to it and knocked on the front door. Interior lights were on indicating that the resident was still awake. She looked through the kitchen door window, banging on it in a desperate attempt to get someone’s attention. She was hysterically crying, fear engulfing her. Gino and his men could be behind her right now. She had a close call with them earlier and wasn’t sure if she had lost them or not. She credited her fast running to having been a runner before she got pregnant. It was the only thing that appeared to save her now.

  She banged on the door, begging and pleading for someone to answer her plea. A woman with short silver hair answered the door, a concerned expression on her face. As she opened it, Cierra immediately embraced her, thankful to her savior.

  “What’s wrong? What’s going on? Are you okay?” she asked.

  Cierra was inconsolable. She was crying and muttering over and over again, “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know. Please help me.”

  The woman let her in trusting that the one thing she needed right now was a friend.

  “Come in and sit down,” the woman said. “It’s okay. I’ll get you a glass of tea.”

  Cierra sat there and cried uncontrollably. She was completely alone now. There was no one else that was going to help her. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t have a plan and nothing in her life was certain. She tried to calm down.

  “Can I stay here tonight?” she asked the woman.

  “Of course. Do you need me to call someone?”

  “No!” Cierra overreacted before more calmly repeating herself. “No, thank you.”

  She felt better now that she knew where she would be sleeping tonight. She was grateful that there were still kind people in this world who would help a stranger. She quietly reminded herself to remember this lesson for a time when she was in a position to help someone. Now that she knew where she would be staying for the night, she was going to have to turn her focus to devising a plan to get out of the city. It was no longer safe to stay in Wilmington. She needed to get as far away from this charming town as possible. It was such a shame. She had grown to love this seaside town with its friendly residents and the beach cottage she shared with Giovanni. As scenes from the past several months flashed through her mind, her eyes became heavy and she drifted off to sleep with thought
s of where she would be staying tomorrow and after.

  Chapter 2

  The rain fell all night long causing patches of flooding in the streets. She waited until night fall the next night to leave the nice woman and head for the bus station. She had to leave town as soon as possible and thought that venturing out under cover of darkness would be a better idea than in broad daylight.

  Cierra hid her face underneath a gray hoodie. She cut her hair to her shoulders hoping that it would be enough of a change to be unrecognizable to Gino and his men. She maneuvered through the streets to get to the bus station, hoping that nobody would identify and recognize her.

  She walked up to the bus attendant, “One ticket to Asheville, please.”

  “Here you go, young lady,” the man behind the counter seemed very kind.

  She accepted the ticket through the small slot at the bottom of the glass window.

  “Thank you.”

  She rushed off trying to find her bus and get on so she could finally relax. In her haste, she accidentally bumped into a man.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said barely giving herself enough time to apologize.

  She was sorry but she didn’t have time to lament over it. She needed to move fast. She didn’t know if Gino’s men were surveying the area. They could be around, watching, and right now she needed to get as far away from this town as possible. She walked down the corridor and past all the people who were about to embark on their own journeys, and the family and friends who were there to see them off. It was surprising how many people still used the bus system. The place was packed. As she was busy shuffling to get to her bus, she noticed a SUV pulling up to the bus station and realized that she had seen that car before. Panic gripped her as her head tried to make sense of the surreal moment that was unfolding. It felt like she was watching someone else’s life play out in a movie. Maybe she was mistaken. After all, there were probably a couple dozen black SUVs that graced the city of Wilmington. Her brain could be paranoid given the extreme stress she had been under, especially in the past twenty-four hours.