“Explain what? What was my daughter doing in your house last night, Carl?” Mike barked and I looked up at him and met his eyes.
“She was in my house because we wanted to spend some time together,” I said and he narrowed his eyes at me like he was trying to understand. This was the most difficult conversation I’d had with anybody, and I just couldn’t get the words out of my system.
“You wanted to spend some time together because you’ve grown close over the trip? Why didn’t you go for a meal? Or come over to our house?” Mike was jerking his face from mine to Virginia’s and back to mine again.
“Dad, we’ve grown close over the trip, yes, but we wanted privacy,” Virginia tried explaining.
“Privacy for what? Tell me what the fuck is going on!” Mike was screaming again and I could sense Virginia shuddering beside me.
“Mike, you need to calm down. There is no need to scream at her. I will explain everything to you,” I said. Mike clenched his jaw at us and then sat back down on his chair with a thump.
“Explain it then, Carl. Explain to me what exactly my daughter was doing in your house last night and why you didn’t bother telling me about it,” he snarled.
“Mike, I will understand if after hearing this, you never want to see me again. I want you to know that I am prepared for that to happen,” I said.
Both Virginia and her dad were staring at me as I spoke. I knew she was nervous. She had been nervous the whole journey here. She was happy that I had decided to speak to her father about it and that I wasn’t pushing her away from anymore, but she was also afraid of the rift that this was going to cause in our friendship and in her own relationship with her father.
“Just tell me, Carl!” Mike growled and banged his fist down on the table. I sensed Virginia flinch beside me.
“I’m in love with your daughter and I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner,” I said.
There was a deathly silence in the room. Mike’s face had turned red and he was glaring at me like he had just been slapped. When a few more moments of silence had passed between us, I knew I had to say something more.
“This isn’t just a casual fling, Mike. I am in love with Virginia and as absurd as it sounds to you, she wants to be with me too,” I said. Mike glared at me and then at his daughter again.
“Dad, I am in love with Carl. I always have been since I was a teenager. I haven’t had any boyfriends because of my feelings for him,” Virginia spoke up and I could see Mike’s mind whirling. He didn’t know how to comprehend this information; he didn’t even know whether to believe it or not.
“Take a shot at me now, Mike, if you have to. Or else I’m going to leave and we never have to pretend to be friends again,” I said and stuck my hands into the pockets of my jeans.
“Daddy . . . ” Virginia cried and Mike gulped. It was like he had lost the power of speech.
“I’m going to go,” I said when I realized that there was no point in just standing there and glaring at each other.
“Carl, wait!” Mike thundered and he had jumped out of his chair again. I was in the middle of turning from him and I stopped in my tracks. I was fully prepared for a punch. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to hit me. I had fucked his daughter and now I was claiming to be in love with her.
“I don’t want to hit you,” Mike said, and I noticed that his voice had turned somber.
“I deserve it,” I said and faced him again.
“No, you don’t. You are a man and I know that my daughter is amazing,” Mike said and looked over at Virginia. There was a weak smile grazing his lips now, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“If this isn’t a casual thing like you are claiming, what do I have to complain about?” Mike said and Virginia clamped a hand over her mouth. I could sense that she was happy to hear her father say it. All her nervousness had washed away. I still couldn’t get over how well Mike was taking it.
“I mean it, Mike. I’m in love with her,” I said.
I watched as my best friend stepped away from his chair, walked around the table, and approached me.
“If she loves you, too, then I couldn’t have hoped for a better man for my daughter than you, Carl. I’ve known you all my life. I know what kind of man you are. I know that you will keep her safe and you will do your best to make her happy,” he said and then I watched in disbelief as Mike stuck a hand out to me.
I shook his hand while Virginia squealed with joy beside us.
“Dad! I can’t believe this. You just made me so happy, Dad,” she screeched and threw her arms around her father. I watched as the father and daughter hugged, after which she pulled herself away from him and came over to me.
“Carl, you don’t have to be guilty anymore,” she said and there was a wide satisfied smile spreading on her face.
I nodded my head and stretched a hand towards her. She took it and I pulled her into my arms. Mike was watching us, and even he had a smile on his face.
I kissed the top of Virginia’s head as she hugged me tightly. I caught Mike’s eye and I tipped my head to him. He did the same. We both knew what that was about—we were acknowledging each other’s good decisions. Virginia was right, I didn’t have anything more to worry about. Mike had given us his approval and now as I held the woman I loved, I didn’t feel like I was doing so while betraying my best friend. She wasn’t just Mike’s daughter anymore, she was my woman.
Virginia looked up at me with a bright, shiny face.
“I love you, Carl,” she said and I kissed her lightly on her lips.
“I love you, Virginia,” I told her.
It was Mike’s humorous voice that interrupted us.
“Now get out of here before you two make me sick!” he said with a laugh. Virginia and I both looked at him with smiles on our faces. Today was the day that was going to mark the beginning of the rest of our lives.
Epilogue – Virginia
It was graduation day, and it was made even more special by the fact that I had everyone I loved around me. My parents and Carl were all there to see me receive my scroll onstage and nobody clapped harder than the man I had been in a relationship with for the past year and a half.
Afterwards, we had taken photographs of each other and Carl declared that he wanted to take us all out for a family dinner.
We were sitting together at the table in a fancy Italian restaurant. Dad and Carl were deep in conversation as usual, and as I looked at them. I knew that I couldn’t have asked for a better relationship. The fact that my boyfriend and my father were friends – were still best friends – was a gift. It almost felt like Carl had brought our family even closer together.
Even though it had taken Mom a few weeks to get accustomed to the fact that I was in a relationship with a much older man, she trusted my decision. She had seen how happy Carl made me and just like my dad, she couldn’t complain.
“I am so happy for you, honey,” Mom said to me and I turned to her and she placed a hand on mine.
“Are you going to apply for your Masters in sociology like you planned?” she asked and I nodded my head and tore myself another piece of garlic bread.
“I want to stay in academia,” I told her and she patted my hand like a proud mother.
My relationship with Carl had been a smooth, effortlessly happy one, even though it was my first serious one. It felt like I had been in a relationship for years, especially since I had been in love with him forever.
It was amazing how easily we had fallen in sync with each other and how happy it made me wake up in bed beside him. He made me more confident in myself. He made me feel beautiful and cherished every day, and it wasn’t until we got stares from people when we walked together hand in hand that I remembered he was much older than me. I couldn’t imagine myself being with anybody else – he was the man for me.
Carl stood up from his chair abruptly in the middle of his conversation with my dad. We all turned to him to find him crouching down beside my chair on
one knee.
“I’m sorry, beautiful, I was going to wait until dessert but I can’t concentrate on anything else,” he said and I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.
I didn’t want my mind to go there. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I saw him pulling out a small blue velvet box from the pocket of his pants.
“Virginia, I have a question to ask you and I hope you say yes,” he began and I clamped a hand on my mouth. I could feel my hands shaking as I stared at him opening the box. There was a beautiful solitaire diamond ring in the center of the box and it blinked at me while he remained kneeling on the floor.
“I am in love with you, and this past year and a half has been the happiest of my life. I want this to go on forever, and the only way I know how to make that happen is by asking you to be my wife,” Carl continued and I could feel my breath caught in my throat.
I hadn’t seen this coming. We hadn’t even moved in together yet, even though we had talked about it. We had decided a couple of months ago that we would seriously think about moving in together after my graduation; after I had decided what I was going to do with my life after school. Carl didn’t want to discourage me from the idea that I might have to move to a different city for graduate school, even though I had already decided that I wasn’t going anywhere.
“I’ve already spoken to your parents, Virginia, and they had graciously given me their blessings. All you have to do now is say yes,” Carl said and I stared at his handsome, happy face. This was the same man who my mom used to joke about being a confirmed bachelor when I was a kid. This was the same man who had awakened the woman in me when I was a thirteen-year-old gangly teen.
I had always fantasized about being in a relationship with him, about sleeping with him, but never even in my wildest dreams had I imagined that we could be married.
“Virginia . . . ” he began to say and I jumped out of my chair and hurled myself at him.
“Yes, Carl, yes, a thousand times yes! There is no other man I would rather marry than you!” I was laughing and crying at the same time. It felt surreal to be proposed to by him; to see him on a bended knee asking for my hand.
Carl kissed me, even though he usually shied from kissing me in front of my parents. How did it matter anymore? He was going to be their son-in-law soon!
I kissed him back fiercely, and I could hear cheers and claps around us. It wasn’t just my parents who were cheering for us, it was the whole restaurant.
When we broke away from our kiss, Carl was still holding me, and with his free hand, he was slipping the ring onto my finger. It was a perfect fit, exactly the way he was for me. The diamond sparkled on my finger as I wrapped my arms around him again.
“You have no idea how happy you just made me, Virginia,” he whispered into my ear as we hugged each other again. I was smiling, my soul was soaring, all my dreams were coming true, and then some!
“You have no idea how I wish I could go back to my teenage self and tell her that everything is going to be all right,” I said, just as Carl leaned in to kiss me again.
*****
THE END
The Mobster's Secret Baby
Description
“Without manners, we all turn into animals,” he said.
“And what’s wrong with animals?” she whispered.
Sylvia
All my life I’ve been on my guard, looking over my shoulders because my dad’s a mobster. And now he has made me a prisoner in one of his friend’s homes. Fedor Volkov, the big Russian mafia boss.
I expected a cold-hearted monster, but he’s sexy as hell with a beard that sets my belly on fire. He stands for everything I despise, yet I can’t stop thinking about him. I want him to be the one to take my virginity. Especially since that would royally piss off my dad.
But I got way more than I bargained for...
Fedor
Every two years I take a vacation in my holiday home, alone. But this time, Will Stern has begged me to take in his daughter and protect her against his enemies. I couldn’t say no. Will is one of my best friends.
I didn’t expect her to be all grown up, though, a sexy young twenty-three-year-old with endless legs and a cleavage to drive me mad. But I can’t break the code, I am her guardian. I know I should stay away from her, but it’s almost like she’s out to make me fall.
How much longer can I resist?
Chapter One - Sylvia
“I don’t understand what the need for this is!” Sylvia stood aside while her father threw open the doors of her cupboard and started flinging clothes into a large duffle bag that he had brought with him.
“Think of this as a vacation, sweetie,” Will Stern said, barely looking at his daughter while he continued the task at hand - packing his daughter’s belongings.
“A vacation? I don’t need a vacation, dad! I just got done with college. I need to find a job.” Sylvia took a few steps in her father’s direction, trying to follow him around the room, but he now laid an arm on her dresser and just swept all her makeup and boxes of little trinkets into the bag. Sylvia shrieked with fright.
“Be careful with those, dad!” she yelled, but he wasn’t really paying attention. He had only one thing on his mind, and he didn’t look like he was going to take a break.
“I’ll get you a job when you come back. It’s just for a couple of weeks. It’ll be a nice break for you, after all the hard work you’ve put into your studies. You’ve never been to Puerto Rico,” Will said, finally zipping up the bag. He thought he had packed everything, but Sylvia had already made mental notes of all the stuff that he hadn’t put in - her shoes, the scarves, her prized collection of perfumes.
“Okay, dad,” she said softly, hoping that a gentler approach might work better. She walked towards him as he stood bent over the duffle bag and put a hand on his shoulder. Will Stern whipped around with a crazed look in his eyes.
“Dad, I thought those days were behind us,” Sylvia asked, the color rising in her cheeks. She was so tired of this. All her childhood had been spent running away, hiding, always looking over their shoulders to see if they were being followed. It was what had killed her mother. All that nerve wracking will to survive, to live. Her father had been a small-timer then, he worked for someone else, one of the Russian mob bosses. But now that he had a gang of his own, his own security, his own source of income, Sylvia thought that those days of looking over their shoulders were over. That their lives were never going to be in danger anymore.
“It’s never truly behind us,” Will said, sitting down at the edge of her bed with a thump. He looked exhausted.
Sylvia put her hands on her hips, standing with her legs apart. She could feel the rage rising up her shoulders, she was exhausted too. When would she ever be able to lead a normal life?
“You have the money now, dad. You can pay off people. Frighten them…I don’t know what. You can do something. You don’t have to run away!” Sylvia breathed in deeply, nearly pleading with her father. She didn’t want to leave New York. Not when she was just beginning her job hunt. No matter what promises her father made, the kind of work he’d find her was not the kind of work she wanted to do. She wanted to get away from the mob world, away from the world of money laundering and thugs and stories about people getting killed or beaten to pulp for not paying their dues.
Sylvia wanted to lead a normal life, work at a startup, have a regular desk job, get a cat.
“I’m not running away. You’re going to Puerto Rico by yourself. I just don’t want you to get caught up in this. I don’t want your life to be in danger,” Will said, running his hands through his closely cropped dark curly hair. Sylvia noticed the graying of his sideburns. She hadn’t realized before but her father was getting old. But this didn’t mean that she wasn’t still angry with him. For trying to snatch a normal life away from her, again!
“Well, I’m not running away either. I’ve had enough of this. I’m staying right here. What the Hell am I going to do in Puerto Rico o
f all places?” Sylvia folded her arms across her chest, and then she saw the shift in her father’s eyes. He was determined. She had seen that look in his eyes very often in the past. She knew it scared people, but it didn’t scare her. She looked back at him directly, defiantly.
“You’re going. You’ll be staying with my friend. He owns a mansion there. He’s on holiday there and he’s agreed to take you in for a few weeks. You’ll be safe with him.” Will stood up from the bed and picked up the duffle bag up. Sylvia could feel tears bubbling up in her eyes, from the rage. She knew she had lost the fight. There was no convincing him now.
“I know what all your friends are like. They are all like you. Dirty criminals. You’re all alike. You’re all disgusting!” Sylvia screamed after her father as he left the room, expecting her to follow him as he went.
Sylvia clenched and unclenched her fists, she stamped the floor repeatedly, and then breathed out deeply to calm herself. This was not going to work. Her father would eventually get his men to physically drag her to his waiting car outside if he had to. Her struggle, her reasoning was useless.
So instead, Sylvia just opened her cupboard again. She pulled out one of her Louis Vuitton bags and started stuffing in the shoes her father had forgotten to pack, and then her scarves and her perfumes.
Just a few more weeks of this life, she told herself as she packed. Then it’d be over. Then she’d be done with this life and would start afresh. Maybe she’d leave the country. Maybe she’d move to London or Sydney or somewhere else where her father couldn’t hunt her down. Sylvia could feel the blood boiling in her veins, but she knew there was absolutely nothing she could do about it now.
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