by B. B. Hamel
“Yes, boss.”
Annoyed, I looked out the window and watched the city flash by. This girl had complicated everything, way more than I could have guessed.
* * *
Back in the compound, I strolled through the hallways toward my rooms. As I drew closer to Kaley’s door, I heard the baby crying loudly from inside.
Without thinking much about it, I knocked on the door.
“Hold on,” she called out. “Coming.”
She pulled it open, looking flushed. Her face instantly dropped when she saw me.
“Expecting someone else?” I asked.
“I hoped you were Sonya. What do you want?”
“Heard the kid crying. Thought I’d check on you.”
“He’s fussy today,” she said. Alex was in her arms, crying away. She was bouncing him, trying to get him to relax.
“Need a hand?”
She eyed me, suspicious. “Why?”
“I’m trying to be fucking nice.”
“Fine. Come on.”
I stepped inside and she shut the door.
“Here,” she said. She handed me Alexei, him crying and all. “I need to use the bathroom. Just hold him for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait, no,” I said. “I was thinking a back massage, maybe get you off again. Not a crying baby.”
“Just a minute.” She was already walking away toward the bathroom.
“No. Hold on.”
But she was already gone.
I looked around the room, uncomfortable as fuck.
“There, there,” I said to Alexei, rocking him slightly. “There, there. It’s okay.”
He was screaming so loudly. I couldn’t believe that anybody could live with a baby that screamed like this. What was I supposed to do with him?
“It’s okay, little guy,” I said and began to walk. “It’s okay. Vince has you. I can throw you twenty feet in the air, I bet.”
As I moved and spoke, slowly the baby’s screams got quieter.
“Yeah? You think that’s funny? I could throw you like a football, I bet.”
And after a second, he stopped.
I laughed, looking down at him. He blinked back at me with these blue eyes, just like my own.
“You like when I talk to you?” I asked. “You like to hear my voice? Shit, maybe you are my son.”
He just blinked at me.
“What do you do, anyway? Aside from screaming, crying, pooping, and eating?”
Then he smiled at me.
I felt something weird in that moment. I had felt it before, but it was a little stronger, a little more intense this time. Alex smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Oh. That’s cute as fuck,” I said.
“Don’t curse at him.”
I turned and saw Kaley. “How long were you standing there?”
She was smiling at me. “Not long. He likes you.”
I looked back down at him, and he smiled up at me, squirming around.
“He moves a lot,” I said stupidly.
“Yeah. He’s a baby.”
She sat down on the couch, sighing.
“How long was he crying?”
“Too long,” she grumbled.
I kept walking around the room, bouncing him in my arms. He seemed to like it, so I just kept doing it.
I was playing with a fucking baby, not an hour after setting up a deal with a Chinese arms dealer.
What a weird fucking morning.
Kaley was watching me with this strange look on her face. I didn’t exactly understand it. It wasn’t anger, which was what I was used to. It was more like curiosity mixed with amusement.
“What?” I asked her.
“Nothing. You just look like a natural, holding him.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I said. “I had a moment of weakness.”
She smiled. “Yeah. Your baby can do that to you.”
I looked down at Alexei, and he laughed up at me again.
“Are you my baby?” I said softly.
And then my phone started buzzing.I walked quickly over to Kaley and handed him off, opening the phone.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“It’s me,” Rafa said. “I think I got a lead on some cash.”
“That was fast. How much?”
“About half of what we need. The Latinos are looking for some smack, and we happen to have a surplus.”
I nodded. “Set it up.”
“Will do.”
I hung the phone up. Kaley smiled at me.
“Work?” she asked.
“Work.” I looked at her for a second. “Call Sonya and give her the brat. Let’s go back to that jungle room and finish what we started.”
Kaley laughed. “No, thanks.”
“You sure? I’ve been thinking about slipping my thick cock deep inside you all fucking day.”
She blushed. “I’m sure.”
“Your loss.” I gave her another long look, her holding that damn brat. That warm, squirming little brat.
I walked to her door, opened it, and quickly left.
15
Kaley
I shouldn’t have been so surprised that Vince was able to calm Alexei down like that, but I was anyway. Vince was Alexei’s father, so it made sense that they would have some special connection like that. But it was still such an interesting surprise to see this tattooed badass mobster holding and talking to a little baby.
Then he had to go and ruin it with his dirty talk, of course. Not that I particularly minded it, but I was trying to keep my distance from him. It made it hard to stay away when he kept talking about doing to me exactly what I wanted him to do.
I wanted him to touch me, to run his coarse fingers down my soft skin. I wanted him to slip himself between my legs, press his cock deep inside me, make me beg for it, make me say his name. I wanted him to want me, to take me, to make me feel amazing again.
But our families were at war, and besides, I had Alexei to think about.
There was a knock at my door. “Come in,” I said, assuming it was Vince, back to tease me some more.
But it was Sonya. “Hi, Kaley,” she said. “And hello, little Alexei.”
“Hi, Sonya. I don’t need you today. I’m going to watch him.”
She smiled at me. “Actually, I was sent here by someone.”
I raised an eyebrow. “If it was Vince, forget it.”
“It wasn’t Vince.”
I cocked my head. “Can you tell me?”
“Actually, I’m not supposed to.” She was smiling hugely.
I sighed. “Are there always this many secrets in this place?” I asked her.
“Of course there are, sweetheart.” She walked over, and I handed Alexei over to her. “But you’re from a mob family, so you should be used to it.”
I laughed, shrugging. “You’d think.”
“Go ahead on outside. You can’t miss her.”
“Her?”
Sonya smiled. “Whoops. Just go before I say anything else.”
I smiled and then turned and left the room, walking out into the hallway.
Just ahead, I spotted her. Louisa Barone, the beautiful, strange daughter of Arturo. I walked over to her. “You got me in trouble,” I said.
“I know.” She shrugged. “You’re fine.”
“I guess so.” I stopped in front of her. She was wearing tapered sweatpants and a loose white T-shirt, and her hair was piled up on her head in a messy knot. She looked absolutely ravishing, and I felt a little jealous.
“Why’d you call me out here, Louisa?” I asked her. “Want to drag me somewhere I shouldn’t be again?”
“No,” she said. “Someone wants to meet you. I was told I have to make introductions.”
She didn’t seem happy about it.
“Who?”
“Come on.” She turned and started walking. I hurried to catch up.
“Where are we going?”
She didn’t
respond or look at me.
Louisa was an odd bird. I didn’t know what to make of her. One second she was kind and outgoing, and the next she seemed totally withdrawn and uninterested in me. She was clearly just doing what someone had asked her to do, and I wondered who had the power to order around Louisa Barone.
There were rumors about Louisa, things I had overheard the men whispering about. Apparently she was a mad woman, totally crazy, and Arturo kept her locked up in her room. That was clearly not true, though she was a little weird. She also supposedly was hideously deformed.
I was beginning to learn not to trust most of what I heard second-hand.
Of everyone in the Barone family, Louisa was the most enigmatic. Lucas worked for the family, and so he was out in the world all the time. But there were rare sightings of Louisa outside of the compound, and none that I’d heard of in the last few years. I liked her, but I was wary of her.
We quickly moved down the hallway and finally stopped outside a door. She knocked once and waited.
The door slowly opened. A very pretty woman was standing there, maybe around my age or a bit older. She had long hair, sparkling eyes, and an easy smile that instantly made me feel at ease.
“Hi, Lou,” she said.
“Natalie, this is Kaley. Kaley, this is Natalie Barone.”
And then it clicked. This was Lucas’s new wife. I had heard of her but had never met her. Supposedly she had nothing to do with the mob and was a pretty normal person, although she lived in the mansion.
“Thank you, Lou,” Natalie said, and then she smiled at me. “Sorry about her. Lou can be weird.”
“Can I go?” she asked, annoyed.
“Yes. Thank you for leaving your room.”
“Sure.” Louisa turned and walked quickly away.
I stood there, self-conscious. “Uh, she’s interesting.”
“Lou doesn’t get out much.” Natalie opened the door farther. “Come in, please. Call me Nat.”
“Okay, Nat.” I stepped into her room.
It looked very similar to mine, though she had redecorated it. Where my rooms were austere and fancy, Nat had changed her little living room to feel like a normal person’s house. The expensive furniture had all been replaced by modest but comfortable things.
And sitting on the couch were two little boys.
“Kaley, these are my boys. This is Stokes, and this is Cooper.”
They were busy staring at the television, which was playing some brightly-colored kid’s show, the sort of thing that looked like someone on drugs had made it.
“They’re so handsome. Hi, boys,” I said.
Stokes was older and looked exactly like his father. Cooper was younger and looked more like his mother. They were both very handsome boys and seemed very well behaved.
“You caught them at a good time,” Nat said. They’ll be hypnotized for a bit. Come on, sit with me.”
We walked over to a table across the room. I sat down. “Can I get you anything?” Nat asked me.
“No, thank you.”
She sat down and smiled at me. “So. I hear you have a son.”
“Alexei. Three months.”
“Ah, that’s a good time. He started sleeping through the night yet?”
“Most nights. We still have bad ones, though.”
She nodded. “You will, but it’ll keep getting better. These two idiots keep me up sometimes, too.”
I laughed lightly. “They seem good though.”
“Come by sometime when that show isn’t on.” She shrugged. “Anyway, tell me about yourself.”
I felt a little nervous. What did this woman want with me? She was close to one of the most powerful men in the whole mob, and I wasn’t sure what I could say and couldn’t.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m pretty boring. I was going to school until I got pregnant. My family is pretty conservative, I guess, and they weren’t happy about it.”
She gave me a knowing smile. “I bet.”
“I didn’t know what else to do, so I ran here, hoped that Alexei’s father could help us.”
Nat nodded. “Vince is a good guy. Maybe he doesn’t seem like it on the surface, but deep down.”
“He can be an asshole.”
I couldn’t believe I had said that, but Nat just laughed.
“They all can, these men. They’re tough people, Kaley, but you know that. You grew up around mob people.”
“I did,” I said. “But you didn’t.”
“Go ahead, ask me.”
I bit my lip. “How’d you end up here?”
She laughed softly. “It’s a crazy story. I’ll tell it to you sometime, I promise. But believe me, I never in a million years thought I’d end up being the wife of a mobster.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s totally okay.” She leaned back in her chair and looked over at the boys. They were blissfully staring at the television. “Truthfully, I just wanted to check up on you.”
“Why?” I asked her. “I don’t mean to be suspicious, but you’re very close to this family, you know.”
“Of course. Honestly, there aren’t a lot of mothers around here. Oh, how is Sonya working out?”
“She’s great,” I said. “Honestly. She speaks Russian too, which is nice.”
“Good. I thought you’d like her. She takes care of my boys a lot. I don’t know what I would have done without her.”
I raised an eyebrow and put that into the back of my mind. Sonya helped raise the grandsons of Arturo Barone. But that made sense, considering she had helped raise his son.
“Can I ask something else?” I said.
“Of course.”
“Do you think I made the right decision? Coming here, I mean. I’m safe, aren’t I?”
Nat nodded slowly. “They don’t hurt kids. They say a lot of things, but they don’t hurt children.”
“Okay.”
“As for whether you made the right decision, I don’t know. If Vince really is the father, I think he’ll step up and help you.”
“He is,” I said firmly.
“I believe you. I know it’s frustrating to be second-guessed, but you can understand. These men don’t take chances.”
“I know,” I said, sighing. “It’s still very frustrating.”
“Of course it is. But tell me, what do you want from Vince?”
I looked over at the window, staring outside. It was a beautiful day and the grounds were so green, just an ocean of blue and green stretching into the distance.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I don’t know what I want from him. I’m not looking for a father, or maybe I am. I just want what’s best for Alex.”
“Of course,” Nat said softly. “It’s okay if you don’t know.”
“It would be good for Alexei to have a father, but I don’t know if Vince can handle that. I just need help right now until things settle down.”
“I understand.” She smiled at me and glanced at the television. “Listen, you should get going soon.”
“Oh, of course. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to babble on.”
“No, no. It’s just that the show is almost over. The monsters will be released.”
I laughed. I loved the way she talked about her kids, with such loving honesty. She called them monsters, but I could tell that she was a great mother, loving and kind and patient.
“I don’t mind,” I said.
“No. No need to subject you to that.” She stood up. “We’ll get together again soon. I want to meet your son.”
I stood. “Okay. I’d like that.”
She walked me to the door. Once there, she opened it. “Listen, Kaley,” she said softly. “Maybe you don’t believe it, but you have an ally in me. I think us women should stick together.”
I blinked at her, surprised. “I’m a stranger.”
“Yes, you are. But you’re a mother in need, and I’ll always help a mother in need.”
“Thank you.”
She nodded. “I don’t have much power, but I’ll do whatever I can for you.” She paused and then smiled. “And so will Lou, though she may not seem it. She’s more of a feminist than I am.”
I laughed. “That’s a surprise.”
“Come by again soon. Anytime, really.”
“Okay. Thanks, Nat.”
I turned and left the room. She shut the door behind me carefully.
I walked back to my room in a curious daze. I had just spent time with one of the most powerful women in the whole mob, and she seemed just like an ordinary woman. And more than that, she had pledged to help me however she could.
I didn’t know if I could trust her, but every instinct in me said that I should. I was so afraid to make the wrong move and get kicked out, but Nat had seemed totally sincere.
I headed back to my room and to Alexei, my head a dizzying combination of uncertainty and hope.
16
Vince
The only thing on my mind was war.
I should have probably been more attentive to Kaley, but I couldn’t be. I had to prepare my crew for war, get everyone geared up, and finish this Chinese deal.
The threat of violence was hanging over everything.
And truthfully, I didn’t fear it. Really, I welcomed it. I wanted to crack some fucking Russian skulls, break some kneecaps, kill some of those fucking scumbags that would go to war over something so fucking petty.
I didn’t see her for the rest of the night or at all the next morning. My mind was firmly stuck on the crew as we moved around the city, preparing safe houses, giving instructions to the foot soldiers, basically rallying the fucking troops.
Spirits were high, but they always were before the first bullets flew. I needed to make sure we didn’t crumble as soon as the real shit hit the fan.
Rafa was driving as we cruised through my territory on our way to speak to some local businesses about what was coming, just in case something happened on their turf.
My phone started to buzz in my pocket, and I pulled it out. The number was from the Barone mansion, but I didn’t recognize it.
“Hello?” I answered. “Vince here.”
“Vince, this is Doctor Ridgewood.”
I cocked my head. That was the doctor who worked full time at the mansion.