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

by Aria R. Blue

  The small man solemnly nods.

  “Then why the fuck are you still standing here? Let her in.”

  Her.

  There can only be one woman who would have such an effect on a man like Nico.

  The little man scurries away to the front door.

  A hush falls over the room as we wait for her to enter. A feminine voice and light footsteps echo down the hallway leading up to this room.

  Nico’s chest rises and falls rapidly, even as the rest of him is as still as stone.

  “Nico?” Her voice rings like church bells.

  All eyes are on her as she enters.

  She brings with her a comforting scent—her earthy perfume of cinnamon and sandalwood.

  Luna.

  Her black hair and gold eyes paint the picture of a bright full moon against the midnight sky.

  A ripple passes through the air at her presence.

  Nico and Luna.

  They have eyes only for each other.

  It’s a chemistry that makes me feel like I’m intruding on something personal even as there’s distance between them.

  “Amore mio,” he rasps, closing that distance, and falling to his knees right in front of her.

  She smiles sweetly.

  Her hands thread through his hair, drawing his head towards her body. He wraps his arms around her hips, and presses his face against her stomach fervently.

  Now I really feel like I’m intruding.

  “I’m sorry,” he wheezes. “I never meant to hurt you. I just acted from a place of rage, Luna. I never meant to hurt you in the process.”

  “Shh,” she says, stroking his hair. “It’s alright. I’m here now.”

  He stands up, and cups her cheeks in his hands.

  “I’m not an idiot. I know you’re only here because of her,” he says, pointing towards me.

  Luna doesn’t even glance in my direction.

  Her eyes remain fixed on the man in front of her. Her husband. Her nemesis.

  “You’re right,” she says. “I’m only here because Leo called me. But now that I’m here…I don’t think I can walk away, Nico. Even if I wanted to.”

  Nico’s thumb brushes against her lips. “Don’t go. Stay this time. Give me another chance.”

  A silver tear rolls down Luna’s cheek. He brushes it away before it can fall.

  “I’m so tired of running,” she says in a raw voice. I can tell she means every single word. She’s speaking from her heart. “I think about you every day. I wonder if you’re doing alright. I wonder if you dream about me at night like I do.”

  “We weren’t meant to be apart, amore mio,” he says, bringing his forehead down to hers. “What we have is too strong for that.”

  She swallows, and brings her lips to graze against his.

  I know I should look away, but something about them has me transfixed. Maybe it’s the romantic in me that makes me want to keep watching, just to find out how this is going to end.

  He grabs the back of her neck, and pulls her into his body as he kisses her back harder.

  It’s not until his hands lower to her ass that I blink and look away.

  I glance at Ivy. Her long hair is spread around her like a blanket. She’s still wearing a scowl on her face as she sizes up the men surrounding us.

  Nico might have fixed one relationship tonight, but he did so by breaking another.

  “Don’t move,” Luna says, voice still sweet as sugar.

  I glance back at them.

  They’re no longer kissing.

  Everything about her has changed. Her demeanor, her stance, her face. The hands that were threading through his hair just moments ago now press a gun to his head.

  “Ugh. Finally,” says Ivy, getting up and clapping her hands once.

  Luna tilts her chin up as she holds her husband’s eyes. “Don’t you dare fucking move.”

  His men hold up their own weapons.

  A lethal stare from Nico has them putting their guns away.

  Nico smirks at his woman. “I was wondering how long it would take you.”

  “Why did you let me distract you then?” Luna asks, the gun still held against his skull.

  “Something to last me until next time,” he smirks.

  “You disgust me,” she says, shaking her head.

  “I’m fucking desperate, Luna. I’m willing to do just about anything to have you in the same room as me once more.”

  “Did it ever cross your mind that I didn’t?” Against her will, tears spill down her cheeks.

  “You see? This is why I still hold on,” Nico says, his throat bobbing as he swallows. “Your mouth says one thing, but your eyes always tell me a different story.”

  She shakes her head again, her chin wobbling. “We both know that there’s still a part of me that loves you. Even after everything you’ve done. Even after everything I’ve seen with my own eyes. But I despise the part of me that still cares for you. Because I know that people don’t change, Nico. Especially not people like you.”

  “But for you-“

  “Shut up,” she hisses. “Do you have any idea how much suffering you cause with your actions? All you ever think about is yourself. You held these women captive just so you’d get what you wanted. A pregnant woman and a girl who you call sister. This is the kind of man you are, Nico. Don’t fucking tell me that you’ve changed.”

  “I wasn’t going to hurt them,” he says.

  “But you used them, did you not? You used them for your own benefit. That’s just what you do. Use people and then dispose of them when they’re no longer beneficial to you.”

  “You know it’s not like that.”

  “Time and time again, it’s what I keep witnessing. I’ve moved on Nico. I suggest you do the same.”

  “Luna, please-“

  Ivy sighs and slings her bag over her shoulder. “Okay, enough chit chat. She’s done talking to you, asshole.” She pulls out a pink gun from her purse, and pulls the trigger on him.

  No, not a gun.

  This is a different weapon—a taser.

  Nico drops to the floor, incapacitated by the electric shock.

  She turns to me and winks, “Sixty thousand volts. Impressive, right?”

  I look at the fallen man.

  Even in pain, his eyes remain on Luna.

  A slight crease of worry appears on his wife’s forehead, but she takes a deep breath and it’s gone.

  She cares, but she doesn’t want to.

  Ivy keeps the pink taser pointed at Nico as she makes eye contact with every single man present in the room.

  “You know who I am,” she speaks, her voice low, yet clear. “You know my family’s reputation. Lay a finger on my girls, and you won’t even have to deal with my family. Because I’ll be taking care of you myself.”

  And just like that, a skinny college girl strikes fear into the hearts of a dozen grown men.

  Luna stashes her gun away. “Ivy. There’s something you need to know.”

  43

  Leo

  The corridors are white.

  The walls are white.

  The lab coats are white.

  There’s only one source of color in this hospital waiting room—an indoor plant with thick stems and tiny leaves.

  It’s probably a decorative plastic piece.

  I stare at it anyway, absorbing the dark green and light brown of the plant.

  A name keeps flashing through my mind in hues of orange and red.

  Nico.

  We went from friends to brothers to enemies.

  That bastard thinks he can get away with anything.

  The only way I could think of to stop him was by using the one thing he puts above everything else—the love he has for his wife.

  When I called Luna and explained the situation to her, she said that she would take care of everything.

  Three hours later, I sent my men to pick her up from the airport. And I called her again to make sure that she was oka
y with this.

  “I got this, Leo. Don’t worry about me,” she said.

  “And the kids?”

  “I have a friend watching over them.”

  “Okay.”

  “So, what’s the plan, boss? What do you want me to do once I get there?”

  I didn’t even have to think about it.

  “Break his heart all over again,” I told her. “Go all out. Be ruthless.”

  “I think that would come naturally,” she replied. “I wouldn’t even have to put on a show.”

  “Good,” I said. “Good.”

  An hour has passed since we last spoke.

  My mind is racing now, in a thousand different places at once.

  Dad is inside with a team of specialists. They’re working on stabilizing him. They said that there’s a good chance that he’s going to wake up.

  I want to be there when he does.

  But a part of me feels like I should be somewhere else entirely.

  I’m worried. Inside Nico’s house are the three women I care about most: my fiancée, my sister, and my best friend.

  He’s a reckless fool. What if he actually hurts one of them by accident?

  I banish that thought from my mind.

  The three of them are more than capable of handling themselves.

  Belle has the gift to keep her calm even under immense pressure. Even if the ground beneath her feet was shaking, she’d remain level-headed.

  Luna is Nico’s kryptonite. His downfall with the face of everything he ever dreams about. She has his heartstrings wrapped around her fingers, and she’ll tug if she has to.

  And Ivy…she’s never been shy about using her pink weapons.

  “They’re going to be fine,” I mutter to myself. I turn to the man sitting next to me. “Right, Rocco?”

  The underboss of the Blackwood family coughs. “Uh. Yeah.”

  I nod, grateful for the small reassurance.

  My eyes dart around the waiting room. Some of the most powerful mobsters of Chicago are here tonight.

  The Reznikov’s and the Blackwood’s both.

  All of them are here to say farewell.

  Another arrow shoots right through my heart as I think about my Dad. It’s much easier to worry about Belle than to think about my father.

  I already know that Belle, Ivy, and Luna are going to be unharmed.

  Nico isn’t an idiot, even though he acts like one sometimes.

  There’s an unspoken rule between mob families: you don’t hurt family members. You simply don’t.

  He might torture me for as long as he pleases, but he won’t hurt them.

  On the other hand, the possibility of having another day with my father is far less certain.

  A door opens.

  Every gangster stands up at the sound.

  The nurse is a wisp of a girl. Her voice trembles as she squeaks, “He’s awake. You can go see him now.”

  When all of us move toward the door, she adds, “Only one person at a time. That too, only relatives.”

  “Spoiler alert,” says one of the Reznikov’s. “We don’t like rules.”

  I’m the first to enter the spacious treatment room.

  The doctors are gathered by an illuminated white screen with X-rays hung on it. They glance at us warily as the room starts to crowd up.

  I’m about to go talk to them, but Dad speaks up first.

  “Where’s Ivy?” he asks.

  “She’s on her way,” I breathe, taking a seat beside his bed.

  “Did you tell her that I’m sick?”

  “She’s coming, Dad. I gave her the address.”

  Maxim comes closer, and pushes a bunch of flowers down a vase. “The city won’t feel the same without you, Anthony.”

  Father glances at the flowers and snorts. “These aren’t get-well-soon flowers. They’re the ones you leave at a gravestone. You could’ve at least waited until I was dead.”

  “Dad?” My voice breaks.

  “You’ve done so well, son. I’m proud of you. I’m so, so proud of you and everything you’ve become.”

  “Dad.”

  “Tell your sister that the two of you are the biggest gifts I’ve received in this life.”

  “Dad.”

  He’s talking like he won’t be around to tell her that himself.

  Instead of looking at me, he talks to everyone else in the room.

  He’s surrounded by people he’s known his entire life. His own men and his own enemies.

  Everyone kisses his hand before leaving.

  A few minutes later, it’s just the two of us left in the room.

  He points towards a large window. “This is the best room in the entire hospital. They said that it has the best view.”

  I glance at the window.

  All I see is darkness.

  “In the mornings, it’s flooded with natural sunlight and you get to look at the flower garden right outside. I paid for the best services, Leo. Chefs to make bland food taste like gourmet. Entertainment services that make this hospital feel like a resort. So much floor space I can have a dance party if I wanted to.”

  I let out a slow breath as I listen to him.

  “You know what I’m trying to tell you right, Leo?”

  I swallow. Hard. “I think so, Dad.”

  “Don’t be so preoccupied chasing tomorrow’s that you forget to live today. That tomorrow might never come. But you’ll always have the one moment you’re in right now. Live, son. Show up for every single day like it might be your last. Do the things that make you happy. Tell your girlfriend that you love her. Take risks. Help strangers. Watch butterflies.”

  I almost chuckle. “Watch butterflies?”

  “It sounds like something your Mom would’ve said, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Your mother was a smart woman, so you could do with some of her wisdom.” The corners of his eyes crinkle as he smiles.

  Every other time he talked about her, all I saw on his face was an immeasurable sorrow.

  But now, he appears to be blissful. I wonder if he thinks that death is going to bring him closer to wherever she is.

  I scramble to replace the darkness filling up my heart. “I asked Belle to marry me.”

  He wheezes out a breath and sits up straighter. “Really?”

  My gaze remains fixed on the darkness outside the windows. “And we’re having babies together.”

  He clears his throat. “Well, yes, babies may come in due time.”

  “I mean, she’s pregnant right now. Twins. A boy and a girl. They’re due ten weeks from today.”

  His breathing becomes labored, and I turn to him.

  His hands are trembling more than ever, but the smile on his face tells me he’s going to hold on for a little while longer.

  Brainstem glioma.

  The doctors filled me in on his condition when he was still under anesthesia.

  It’s an aggressive disease that has invaded the tissues of his brain. He found out about it less than a year ago, and has been on medication since. But it was only getting worse.

  He was running out of time.

  Finding out that any day in the next year could be your last day on Earth forces you to prioritize.

  The Blackwood men told me that he started to get his affairs in order soon after. The only thing on his mind was his estranged son.

  He closes his eyes.

  He knows.

  I know, too.

  “Dad,” I sob. “Ivy’s going to be here any minute now.”

  “I’ve left a letter for her. She’ll get it a few weeks from today, after she has had time to grieve.”

  I kiss his hands, and rest the right side of my face against his arm.

  He reaches down, and runs his knuckles down the malformed part of my face—lovingly.

  I want to scream at the unfairness of it all. Just when we finally got close to each other again, he’s being ripped from my life.

  But at least
we had what we had.

  Nothing is ever guaranteed or promised in life. It’s what we make of it that counts in the end.

  “I’m happy I got to spend these last few months with you,” I whisper.

  It’s how I’m going to remember him.

  Not as the man who abandoned a young boy.

  Not as the man who thrust that young boy into a world of monsters.

  I’m going to remember the version of him that he let me glimpse only recently. The man who’s stroking the side of my face that repulses everybody else. The man who let go of his pride to make room for his son.

  “I wish Maisie was here to see you now. She would have been so proud of the man you’ve become.”

  I’ve been holding back tears until now.

  But when he speaks my mother’s name, the tears come spilling out.

  The hand on my cheek goes limp. I suck in a breath, and stand up.

  It’s the ambulance all over again.

  Everything happens way too fast.

  The machines attached to his body start to scream. The healthcare workers rush in, trying to resuscitate him.

  I’m pushed outside to the waiting area, where the men are still waiting.

  Everybody stares at me expectantly, as if I hold all the answers because I was with him last.

  I ignore them all, and stare at the potted plant—the one with the thick stems and tiny leaves.

  A commotion outside catches my attention.

  Time slows again.

  Ivy.

  Mascara tears stain her cheeks. Her green eyes are wild. “Leo. Tell me it’s not true.”

  I suck in a breath, preparing myself to deliver the bad news.

  But the door to his room opens again. The nurse delivers the news for me with a simple shake of her head.

  I catch Ivy before she crumples to the floor.

  “He never told me, Leo,” she sobs, clawing at my shirt sleeves. “I was with him every single day, and he never said a word.”

  “He didn’t want us to know,” I say, each word burning my throat. “I just found out tonight too.”

  “At least you got to say goodbye,” she says between hiccups. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

  A stone sits heavy in my own chest. I step around the stone so I can be there for Ivy. She needs me.

  “He said that you were the biggest gift of his life,” I say.

  Hearing that only makes her cry harder.