Knocked Up by the Beast: A Mafia Romance (Kingdoms Book 1)

by Aria R. Blue

  “I-um-I do. Love him. I love him.”

  I glance at Julie. She’s frozen, staring straight ahead with her eyes wide open.

  Hazel cocks her head. I look into her eyes—a sand storm of brown and green. Our mother’s eyes.

  She speaks again. “I’ve made some mistakes in the past. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes as me.”

  “What kind of mistakes?” I ask carefully.

  “Similar ones,” she says, expertly dodging my question. “This is about you and your babies though. I don’t want you to be worried, Belle. If you’re under stress, your body will be under stress.”

  Her hoarse voice makes me hold my breath.

  It’s been so long since I last heard it. I try to memorize every syllable that passes her lips. Every second of this moment.

  It’s not until you lose what you have that you realize its true value.

  I open my mouth to speak, but my voice leaves me.

  I clear my throat, and try again. “I’m not stressed out. It’s just…my heart aches. Everything else is fine.”

  Hazel nods. “Fine is good. Fine is great. But do you think that you would be happier if you had Leo by your side?”

  I think about it.

  I really think about her question.

  Of course I would be happier. But Leo had made it clear that he wanted to deal with some mob stuff in Chicago before seeing me again.

  I can’t deny that there’s an empty place in my heart where he once was.

  And my heart is swelling and beating.

  It holds too much love for him, and all of that love has no place to go.

  All I want is to just hold his hand for a moment. I just want him to squeeze my hand back reassuringly, and tell me that everything is going to be okay.

  Because it always will be.

  But this pain is taking over me.

  This emptiness is eating me alive.

  They say that love is beautiful, but why didn’t anybody warn me how lethal it could be?

  It’s a rose.

  It looks beautiful, but when you grip its stem too tightly, there’s always a chance that it will leave your fingers bloody.

  The Rose.

  His diamond. It still hangs from my neck, always hovering right next to my heart. He gave it to me so that I could never forget who I belonged to.

  As if I ever could.

  I hold it now. I draw power from it when everything else in my mind is slipping and I start to lose focus.

  Would I be happier if I had Leo by my side?

  “Infinitely,” I say. “I would be infinitely happier if he was by my side.”

  “There you go,” Hazel says. “You know what you have to do, don’t you?”

  “Call him and tell him about the baby?”

  She shakes her head. “You always wanted to tell him about the pregnancy in person.”

  “You mean, I should go to him? Go to Chicago?”

  The thought of going to him again fills me up with unexplainable joy. I’m levitating.

  How can the thought of meeting one person again make me so happy?

  I’ve lived my entire life without him.

  But I met him, and it changed the course of the rest of my life. That’s how it feels, at least.

  “He told me to stay here. Where it’s safe,” I whisper.

  “Is that what you want?” Hazel asks.

  I find myself shaking my head. “No. I want to go to him.”

  It’s the same energy I felt when I first heard Leo’s voice on the phone. A little brave, a little reckless. I set out to Blackwood Estate, not knowing what I would find. Not knowing what would happen next.

  Loving him was easy.

  It’s everything that came after that’s breaking my heart.

  “I’m going to Chicago,” I whisper. “I’m going to Leo.”

  Hazel’s grinning from ear to ear, more alive than I’ve ever seen her. There’s a light in her eyes. It had been dimmed for some time, but she’s back now.

  And she’s about to light up the whole world.

  Julie turns her head slowly, blinking at Hazel. She squeals and stomps and her feet before tackling her in a hug. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

  I laugh as I join my two sisters.

  Our father might have let us down, but him leaving has brought us three closer together.

  We lost him, but we found clarity.

  Julie turns to me. “I thought it would take a miracle for you to stop moping around.”

  “I wasn’t moping around,” I say defensively. “And besides, I thought you didn’t believe in miracles.”

  “Who told you that? Of course I believe in miracles. I mean, look at you. You’re a walking miracle.”

  My eyebrows shoot up.

  I’m usually just used to my younger sister creatively insulting me in a million different ways.

  “Your body,” she explains. “It’s a miracle in itself. The twins growing inside you—they need a perfect atmosphere, the perfect levels of hormones, the perfect adaption of your body in ways I don’t even know of. All of it is to make life come to life inside you. What greater proof of miracles can there be? It’s fucking magic.”

  Hazel laughs softly. “Look at you, Jules. So mature.”

  Julie looks up at her, blinking rapidly. “Don’t ever stop talking. I missed you so much.”

  My heart is unruly and steady in my chest—a contrast of emotions.

  From excitement about the future and happiness for all the blessings unfolding right in front of my eyes.

  I pull out my phone and call my bodyguards.

  They know about the pregnancy, but they vowed not to talk to Leo about it before I did.

  Michelle picks up. “Hello?”

  “I’m going to Chicago. Will you and Amy come with me?”

  “I knew this day would come. We’re supposed to say, ‘hell no'.”

  “What if I told you that I would try to sneak out anyway?” My heart beats wild and out of control as I wait for her answer.

  “Then I would say that you left us no choice.”

  I grin. “We leave tonight.”

  36

  Leo

  Time slows down.

  She’s standing across the street from me. In the flesh.

  Cars and trucks pass between us, but all I see is her.

  The wind blows her dark hair to the right. Her light brown eyes appear almost golden in the sunlight. They widen by a fraction when she sees me.

  My eyes travel to her smooth neck.

  I freeze when I take in the rest of her.

  Dressed in a long dusky rose dress, she looks like an angel. But underneath it, I notice that her breasts are heavier. And…her belly is rounded.

  She’s pregnant.

  My Belle is pregnant.

  My eyes snap back to hers, and the tears in her eyes tell me everything she’s been hiding for months.

  Her lips part.

  She’s about to say something, but right then, a fist makes contact with my neck.

  Time speeds up.

  Pain brings me back to what I was doing before I saw her—fighting.

  A street gang decided to mess with the wrong family.

  They went straight for the king—my Dad. They attacked us on the roads, hoping to assert dominance and take over our territory.

  They picked the wrong people to fight with.

  We can use guns, but most of these men aren’t men. They’re boys—foolish teenagers. So we’re not going to use guns, but we are going to teach them a lesson.

  The Blackwood family owns these streets, and anybody who gets in the way will get crushed.

  One of them runs at me with a knife glistening in his raised hand.

  I suppress a yawn as I dodge his attack, twisting his arm back.

  I glance at Belle to make sure that she’s alright. She hasn’t moved an inch.

  I pry the knife away from him, and bend the metal in half. “I don’t
know why you even bother,” I say.

  “We are the Champions,” he chants. “We are the Champions.”

  The rest of the group repeats it after him as they fight. It’s their battle cry or something.

  “Just because you call yourself a champion doesn’t make you one,” I say, grabbing the boy’s neck and throwing him to the ground.

  This is how it is in my father’s world.

  Power equates to violence sometimes.

  When wannabes like this street gang try to wreak havoc and try to take what’s not theirs, they have to be taught a lesson. We have to roll up our sleeves, and teach that lesson with our fists.

  Because if we ignore them, other similar gangs will rise, complicating things for everybody.

  And Dad always said that he didn’t fear politicians or our enemies, but he did fear a small gang with hunger in their eyes.

  Desperation gives men power. When they have nothing to lose, they fight like it too.

  I look around me.

  We’re here because these boys tried to steal money from Mama’s Kitchen, the small diner with the strip club in the back. It’s the most profitable business in our territory. Even the Russians didn’t dare to touch it when they were on their burning spree.

  These boys knew what they were getting into.

  They knew we’d come to stop them. When we arrived on the scene, they attacked.

  Another one lunges at me, a baseball bat in his hand. One of my father’s men tackles him to the ground before he can reach me.

  I walk over to Baseball Bat and kneel down. His hair is white and his eyes are a stormy silver.

  I’ve been keeping an eye on him.

  He’s the boy that everybody else is taking orders and seeking approval from. He’s their gang leader.

  The one who tried to attack my father in broad daylight.

  “This isn’t a game of chess, boy,” I say, gripping his hair and pulling. “You don’t win by defeating the king. There’s a whole army to destroy before you get to the king.”

  He grins at my words. His teeth are bloody from the fight, a stark contrast to the pale white skin of his face.

  “What about the queen?” Baseball Bat laughs. “They say that the queen is the most powerful piece in chess. Don’t you think so?”

  It takes me a second to digest his words.

  My head snaps up when I realize their meaning.

  Belle.

  Sure enough, a man in an oversized hoodie is crossing the street, advancing towards her. He has a knife in his hand.

  This time, I don’t hesitate.

  I pull my gun out from its holster, and point it straight at the back of his head.

  And I pull the trigger.

  He falls straight to the ground, blood pooling around his head.

  A scream pierces the air.

  Belle.

  She’s holding her pregnant belly, and screaming. I want to go to her, but her scream has gotten everyone’s attention.

  Everyone connects the dots.

  Everybody realizes that she’s the queen. My queen.

  Defeating her would mean defeating us all. It would mean winning the game.

  Two other boys advance towards her. Again, I don’t hesitate. Bullets pierce their bodies.

  This time, I target their legs. They fall, crying out at the pain.

  Gunshots ring in the air now. After I pulled out my gun, the rest of my father’s men have done the same.

  More bodies fall, arms and legs injured. An almost-fatal lesson to not fuck with us.

  I have my gun out, but I use my fists.

  I fight until every single boy is on the ground.

  Everyone is bleeding from bullet wounds, except for their leader. The boy with the silver hair and silver eyes.

  “We are the Champions,” he says from his place on the ground. One of my men has his knee on the boy’s skinny chest. “We are the Champions.”

  “You’re kidding me, right? Look around you, boy. All of your men are down. You’ve lost.”

  “Kill me now. If you dare,” he says.

  I shake my head. “It would be a waste of my bullets.”

  “My name is Arrow. Remember my name, because you’re going to see me again. We are the Champions,” he says, and closes his eyes. A ghost of a smile lingers on his lips.

  An uneasiness passes down my spine.

  I’m not afraid of macho men with bodies of steel.

  But I do fear men who have minds of steel.

  Bodies can be built or bought, but a strong willpower is a rarity. It’s the sign of a true leader.

  Kill me now, he said. Remember my name, because you’re going to see me again.

  My gun lifts, but a streak of pink in my peripheral vision makes me pause.

  Belle is watching.

  She’s about to watch me shoot down a skinny boy who’s lying on the ground with his eyes closed.

  The decision I make in this split moment will define the rest of my life.

  I drop my hand, and look at my father.

  He nods.

  “Let this day be a lesson to all of you,” he says, addressing the defeated men. “You don’t rise to power by stealing somebody else’s. You don’t rise by making enemies all over the city. And you sure as hell don’t rise by messing with the Blackwood’s. If you want power, then start by building some integrity first.”

  I look back at the street. My heart beats off-kilter in my chest.

  She’s nowhere to be found.

  The only sign that she was ever even here is the dead man lying in the middle of the road.

  37

  Belle

  Time slowed down.

  He was right there.

  All I’d have to do is cross the road and I’d be in his arms.

  A black mask covered the left side of his face. His cheekbones were sharper, making shadows dance on his face. His scowling face was harsher than I’d ever seen it.

  His white dress shirt was blinding under the sunlight. It seemed to stretch on and on across his broad chest.

  An endless sun-kissed ocean.

  Right there.

  I wanted to rest my head right there.

  And then he saw me watching him.

  The scowl and the shadows disappeared. His face softened while his body tightened.

  His eyes traveled down my body, giving me chills on a warm spring morning. He stopped at my belly, and that’s when his eyes snapped back up to mine.

  I wanted to nod. I wanted to say something or do something, but I just stood there as my eyes welled with tears.

  It felt like falling in love all over again.

  Like breathing for the very first time.

  Pure oxygen infiltrated every cell in my body, bringing me back to life. I couldn’t remember the last time I breathed so easily.

  My heart was racing the entire plane ride here.

  But with his eyes on me, my heart beat steady. Slow. Happy.

  And then I noticed everything that was going on around him.

  Time speeded up.

  The joy of seeing him was a pink sunset. It lasted for barely five seconds before it was gone. Replaced by other emotions. Nasty ones. Fear.

  Everything happens at once.

  A man is running towards me with murder in his eyes. And the next thing I know, those same eyes become vacant as his body drops to the ground.

  It’s not until I see the blood that I start to scream.

  It only gets worse from there.

  More noise.

  More guns.

  More blood.

  If it weren’t for my bodyguards, I would’ve just stood there and witnessed all of it.

  “Belle, it’s not safe here,” says Amy now, tugging at my hand and dragging me back into the car.

  Michelle holds me as I freak out. “It’s okay, it’s going to be okay,” she says, smoothing my hair.

  “No, it’s not,” I say, my eyes still glued to the lifeless boy on the ground. “H
e killed him. Leo killed him.”

  “He would’ve done much worse if that boy had laid a finger on you.”

  I hug my knees to my chest, making myself as small as possible, trying to erase the picture from my memory.

  “Take me away,” I whisper.

  “Don’t you want to wait for him?” Amy asks, even as she starts the car.

  I shake my head. “No. Just…just take me away from here.”

  And we’re on the road.

  The streets are empty, as if the people know that it’s not wise to interfere with the crime family’s business.

  Michelle clears her throat, and tucks her shiny black hair behind her ears. “For what it’s worth, the Blackwood family were just doing what they had to do.”

  I close my eyes.

  My ears are still ringing from all the gunshots. I can still picture that man’s body on the ground.

  “He wanted to protect you from it. The only reason he’s back in Chicago in the first place is because of you.”

  “What does any of this have to do with me?”

  “Everything. It has everything to do with you. There’s a war between two of the most powerful mob families in Chicago. If the Blackwood’s lose, it will have an impact on every single person that’s valuable to the Blackwood family. As Leo’s woman, that list includes you.”

  “Those boys,” I whisper. “Were they the other family?”

  Both of them laugh at that. “Lord, no. They’re just wannabes. Riff-raffs who think that they can steal from the Blackwood’s and get away with it. So they were being taught a lesson.”

  “That…that was a lesson?”

  Amy looks at Michelle through the rearview mirror. Her hands tighten on the steering wheel. “Leo will explain everything to you soon.”

  “I’m not sure I want to see him anymore,” I whisper.

  All of that joy I felt just moments ago is nowhere to be found. I’m spent. So tired.

  I’ve seen things that have changed everything.

  “I’ll send him a quick message that you’ll see him later,” Michelle says, pulling out her phone.

  I hold her wrist.

  She looks up at me.

  I shake my head. “I don’t want to see him. He’s going to come after me if you text him, and I’m not ready for that. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for that.”