"Unfortunately." I frowned.
"Well, let's take a look at you here. Stomach issues?"
"Yeah, I've thrown up a couple times the past four or five mornings." I felt like I was going to throw up again but it settled.
"I'd like to run a blood test if you don't mind. I'll keep you here while we run the test. I'll put in a rush and top priority for it. We just got a new lab thanks to your father. It's been a real help in treating your mom." She smiled at me again. "The nurse will come back and draw your blood. I'll come back when I have the results."
The nurse came in and stuck my arm with the needle. I winced not expecting to be so sensitive to it. She finished and put some gauze and medical tape over the needle mark. "I'll take these to the lab and Dr. Sciuto will be back with the results." She smiled and left the room. I pulled out my phone and texted Paolo.
Me: Hey, they had to draw blood. It could take 30 minutes before they get the results back.
Paolo: Okay, don't worry about it, Ria. I'm sure it's just some stomach bug.
Me: Hopefully, I really don't want it to be something major. Father is bringing Anna by this afternoon.
Paolo: I know, he just called and told me to let him know when we got back so that he could bring Anna up.
Me: Alrighty, she;ll be excited to go for ice cream with us!
Paolo: Absolutely, Ria!
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I sat in silence for a while and played Candy Crush Saga on my phone while I waited for Dr. Sciuto to return. I heard a knock on the door and she walked in. I put my phone away while she sat at her desk. "I have your results back, Maria." She sat the papers on her desk. This was serious.
"Okay, so what's wrong with me? Do I have what is making mama sick? Just tell me, please." I tried to stay calm but it wasn't really working.
"Maria, have you had unprotected sex lately?"
"I have an STD, that's what's making me sick?" I felt the tears form in my eyes.
"No. It's something else. Maybe you would like someone in here with you when I tell you? The gentleman in the waiting room?" I nodded and she walked out. I quickly gathered my thoughts. I thought back to when Niko and I had sex. Oh. My. God. She came back in with Paolo. He sat in the seat next to mine.
"Okay, Maria this isn't easy for me to say. It can be very scary but I want you to know that I will never betray your confidence. This stays between the three of us in this room unless you decide to tell people. Not even your father will know, he couldn't pay me enough to betray you, little Maria."
"Just tell me! Please." I felt some tears rolling down my cheeks. Paolo took my hand and squeezed it.
"Maria, you're pregnant."
Chapter Eight
Nikolay
I held her note in my hands and stared at it. It had been a month since I felt something. I wanted her to be mine. I wanted to be able to hold her every night in my arms. I wanted to make her feel like the only girl in the world. There was a knock on my office door. "Enter." Demitry came in carrying Anya. She was all smiles and so was Demitry.
"Papa! My papa!" She reached out for me and I took her into my lap and kissed her forehead. Demitry sat at the corner of my desk.
"So, have you found her?"
"We're still looking. You have no idea how hard it is to find someone when all you have is a first name which could have been short for something or not even her actual name." He frowned.
"It was her name and I need you to search harder, Demitry."I glared at him and Anya poked my cheek, softening my glare.
"Papa, who is Demmy looking for?" Anya whispered.
"Demmy is looking for a girl that I met at a party." I smiled at her.
"Demmy needs to find her cause you love her, papa?" She was a curious little girl and I loved her for it.
"No, sweet girl I don't love her but I like her very much." She smiled big and hugged my neck.
"Demmy, find her! Find her! She makes papa smile!" She looked at Demitry and pointed her finger at him. Demitry and I both laughed. I held Anya in my arms and stood up. Demitry and I both walked out of my office.
"I think we need to eat some lunch, little lady." Anya giggled.
"Mac and cheese, please papa!" I tossed her in the air and she laughed.
"Mac and cheese it is, malyshka." We walked into the kitchen.
"What's that word papa?" She poked my nose.
"It means baby girl. You are my baby girl aren't you?" She beamed up at me and shook her head yes. I kissed her nose and hugged her tight. The cook made Anya her mac and cheese and I had steak and a baked potato. She ate it all and drank all of her milk.
"Can we go see Natalia today, please papa?" Natalia was her aunt. She was a nurse at a new clinic in the city.
"Of course we can! Let's go see her now, huh?" I picked her up and my car keys. I decided to drive myself today. Demitry met us at the door and so did Elana. When did she get here?
"Demitry, when did she get here?" I looked at Elana.
"She got here right after you all went into the kitchen. She has a doctors appointment with Natalia." He kissesd Elana's forehead.
"Well, that's just perfect. You can ride with us then. We're going to see Natalia too. She hasn't seen Anya in a couple weeks anyways." We walked out the door and got into the brand new SUV that I just bought. It was a sleek black 2016 Cadillac Escalade. It was ideal for our large family and for long distance travel if we weren't flying. I buckled Anya into her car seat as Elana got in next to Anya. Demitry was sitting up front with me. We drove into the city which took about forty-five minutes. We got there and all walked in. Elana signed in for her appointment while Anya and I waited for Natalia.
Natalia walked out and saw us in the waiting room and Anya ran to her and gave her a huge hug. "Anya! This is a surprise! I have some work I need to finish up but I'll be back okay?" She hugged Anya tight and kissed my cheek. She was Anastasyia's little sister and I always looked at her as the little sister I never had. Anya crawled back into my lap and slowly fell asleep. Demitry came over and sat with us while Elana went back with the doctor. A couple walked out and Elana stopped to talk to them.
Did she know everyone? Seriously, this girl had to know everyone. Elana glanced back at me as the woman looked up. Those eyes. Pure dark green eyes. I knew those eyes. I stared into those eyes a month ago. The girl looked at me with wide eyes, she had been crying. The man beside her was protective and had an arm around her.
Ria. That must have been the fiance she was talking about in her note. I stood up and handed Anya to Demitry. The man looked up and I instantly recognized him. He was an Italian enforcer. No, Ria couldn't be an Italian. Her parents must have been forced to do that to her. She whispered something to him and she began to walk over to me.
This wasn't happening. Natalia walked out and came over to me, kissing my cheek. Anya woke up and jumped up into Natalia's arms. Ria stopped walking towards me and instead I could see the tears forming in her already tear stained eyes. She ran out of the door and the enforcer ran after her.
"Natalia, take Anya to that ice cream place. I need to take care of something."
"Don't mess with that girl, Niko. She's the Italian Don's daughter. It'll get you hurt or worse...killed."
"I need to talk to her." I ran after Ria. "Ria, please wait! I need to talk to you."
"Don't take another step." The enforcer stood between Ria and I. "I will kill you if you come any closer to her, Russian."
"I could kill you faster than you could pull your gun. I just want to talk to her. Please." I tried to reason with him, but he was an Italian. They didn't reason well at all.
"I don't want to talk to you. I have things I need to take care of and honestly if I had known who you were before that night I wouldn't have done what we did." I felt my heart shatter. She regretted our night together.
"Ria, please just talk with me. You just walked out on me. You broke your promise."
"I'll give you five minute
s with her. Touch her and I'll kill you." The enforcer walked over to their car and got inside.
I stepped closer to her and she stepped back. "Ria, please."
"I'm sorry for what I did and that I broke my promise but I can't be with you, Niko. You know that and I know that. We'd be fools to think that we could be together. This isn't some fairytale. This is reality and reality is that your family and my family hate each other. We kill each other. For fucks sake you almost killed my brother and my fiance! Two years ago you, Niko, you almost killed my little sister and my mother."
"I'm sorry, Ria. Please. I don't like what I do but it's who I am."
Tears were rolling down her cheeks. "Today is literally the worst day of my life, Niko. The man I want to be with is the Boss of my sworn enemy but yet the universe decides that you're also going to be the..." she stopped talking.
"I'm going to be the what, Ria?"
"I have to go, Niko. If my father finds out I even looked at you, I'm dead. I'm dead already. Plus, you have a girlfriend and a child. How could you even sleep with me knowing what you had? You clearly love her." She got in the car and drove away. I fell to my knees and cried. She thought Natalia was my girlfriend and that we had a child. No, Ria. My sweet, Ria. Natalia and Anya came outside with Demitry.
"Demitry, get me a secure line to her phone. Now." I got up, picked Anya up and put her in the car seat. "I'm going back to the house with Anya. Sorry Natalia, you can come by for dinner tonight but we have to go." She nodded.
I called the number I had for Marco's fiance. Low and behold Ria picked up. "Hello?"
"It's me. Go to a place where you can be alone. We really need to talk."
"No." The line went dead. She hung up on me. We got home and I took Anya inside to my mother and called a meeting. I was angry and pissed off.
"What's the situation at the nightclubs?" I yelled at them. My father stepped up.
"The Italians took the lower east side club by the river but other than that we found a soft spot in the Italian Don. A sick woman, said to be his mistress, is residing not but thirty minutes from here. We kill her and we'll break him."
"Good, I need to kill something and that gives me reason. Lure the Don away to the club. Send him information that we're attacking. I want that house vulnerable."
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I dialed Demitry's number, "Meet us at this address." I hung up and sent him the address of the house that my father had talked about. I grabbed my gun and got into the Escalade with five of my strongest guys. We drove to the house and it was dark, no lights were on that we could see. We went in from the back. None of the guards were there, we quietly walked farther in.
Two guards were outside the main door. I shot them both quickly. The shots resonated through the hall. I expected more enforcers to be here. The decoy worked. I got a text from my brother Viktor saying that the Italians at the club were slaughtered and the mess was cleaned up. I kicked open the doors and saw the woman lying in the bed. She looked at me with pleading eyes. I didn't think twice about what I was going to do.
"Don't do this. Please." She begged.
"Do svidaniya."
Chapter Nine
Maria
I woke up to a loud banging on my door. I got up, wrapped myself in a blanket, and opened my door. Paolo was standing there with a face as pale as if he'd seen a ghost. "Ria, something's happened to your mother." I fell to my knees and saw Anna in Belle's arms sobbing and screaming for mama.
"What..what happened?" I held back tears as Belle brought Anna to me. I held her close as she cried and stroked her hair.
"She was killed. Your father came back to the estate to find that the guards had been killed and so had your mother. He's positive it was the Russians because he had gotten intel that they were going to take one of his clubs on the upper east side by the river and they showed up ready for a fight but no one showed. He thinks it was a distraction to draw him away from your mother." Paolo sat on the floor next to me and held me in his arms. He was an amazing friend and an even better man. Belle would be happy with him one day.
"What's father planning as a retaliation?" I felt heartbroken and thought of Niko. Did he order the hit on my mother? Did he know that it was my mother? He had felt terrible about what he had done two years earlier and said he never knew that he was potentially hurting my mother and sister.
"He hasn't said. He's locked himself away and hasn't spoken to anyone or given any orders other than to leave him alone and for Xavier to plan your mother's funeral and to tell you to call your brother Pierre." He hugged me tight.
"I'll call him in a few minutes." I hugged Anna tight. She finally stopped crying and looked up at me with sad eyes.
"Mama gone?" I started to cry as soon as she spoke. I didn't know what to tell her.
"Your mama is in heaven, piccolo. She is with God and in a much better place. She doesn't feel sick and isn't hurting anymore, amore." Paolo spoke for me and I was so very grateful that he had the words to say what I couldn't. Anna put her arms around my neck and hugged me tight.
"Ria hurts." She said as she hugged me.
"Yes, piccolo. Ria hurts very much." Belle joined us on the floor and wiped my tears away as she responded to Anna. She looked at me, "I called Pierre for you. He'll be here in a few hours. He was already en route from Rome to Seattle. He said he's cancelled the rest of his plans for next month."
"Thank you, Belle." I moved to stand up and Paolo helped me as I held Anna close to me. Marco came in the door. He had healed and was about doing father's dirty work so he was probably in the neighborhood. He came up to me and kissed my forehead and took Anna from me, holding her tightly in one arm as he took me in the other arm.
"I came as soon as I heard. I'm so sorry, il mio amore. I wish I could take away your pain." He kissed my forehead again.
I nodded, "How is my father doing?"
"He's not doing very well. They took away his heart and soul by doing what they did." He was filtering for Anna's sake.
"I need to get dressed and call Xavier. We all need to be together when Pierre gets here." I took Anna from Marco and went to my room, locking the door behind us. I laid her in my bed. She didn't fight it. She curled up into my pillow as I laid the blanket I had wrapped around me on her. She closed her eyes and I kissed her forehead. I picked up my phone and texted Xavier to come here as soon as he could. I walked into my closet and grabbed a black lace long sleeve dress and a pair of black Louboutin's. I laid them on the bed and I went to shower.
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I got dressed after putting on my makeup and straightening my hair. I woke Anna up and took her to her room to get dressed. Belle came in and curled Anna's hair. I picked out a long sleeve black sweater dress for her and some black sparkly flats. After Belle finished curling Anna's hair I got her dressed and put a black bow in the back of her hair, pulling the curls out of her face. She hated when her hair was in her face.
"Comfy, baby girl?" I asked her as I kissed her forehead. She nodded yes and I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder. Belle and I walked into the kitchen. "Are you excited to see Pierre?" I asked Anna softly. She didn't answer and I looked at Belle.
"She's asleep. We should leave now, he'll be arriving at the airport in about forty-five minutes." She was wearing a knee length sleek black dress that was sleeveless matched with a pair of black boots. She hated wearing heels unless it was to a party. Both Louis and Paolo were wearing suits. I looked around for Marco.
"Where's Marco?" I quietly asked Paolo.
"He got called away to deal with some club checks and business." He sighed and shook his head. I knew exactly what he was thinking. We were both thinking that same thing: he should have delegated and come to support me and my family. I made a mental note to yell at him for it later tonight. We all made our way downstairs and Xavier had pulled up right as we made it to the cars in the
parking garage.
He parked his car and walked over to us. He pulled Anna and I into his arms and held us there for a few minutes. "Let's get moving." He whispered and kissed my forehead. We got into the two black Chevy Tahoe. Anna, Xavier, myself in the first with Louis driving. Belle, the other two guards that came with Xavier were in the other car with Paolo driving. We got on the road to the airport. It would take about forty-five minutes to get there. Pierre should be landing in the next ten minutes.
My eldest brother walked out of the mafia life when he told Father that he wanted to go to college. My father had allowed it knowing that he had Xavier to fall back on when he was gone. Pierre studied biology at NYU and then went off to medical school at John Hopkins. He was a trauma surgeon and decided that he wanted to move to Italy. He got an amazing job offer there after medical school. He was very wealthy and decided to go back and get a degree to become a plastic surgeon too. He bought his own private jet, a villa in Tuscany, a country house in France, and a mansion in Seattle. He was very successful and my father was very proud of him but would never say it.
My brother had the normal life that I craved but being a girl I had no way to escape so I gave up dreaming of college and a normal life. I accepted that this was my path in life and I would follow it wherever it went.
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We were on our way back to the condo after picking up Pierre. Belle and Xavier traded spots in the cars so that Pierre and Xavier could catch up. They were joined at the hip when we were all younger. We may be the Italian mafia but our family dynamic was just like everyone else's. Our family came first over everything. Family first was apparently not something that Marco agreed on. Anna was watching a movie on my ipad with her headphones in so I knew she wouldn't hear Belle and I's conversation.
"Xavier got a call from father on the way to the airport. He cremated mama and we're having the ceremony tonight. Immediate family only and then in a couple of weeks we'll have a huge ceremony. Pierre is staying for a couple of months. I also really need to talk to you when we get back to the condo." I whispered as my phone buzzed three or four times.
Dangerously In Love: Mafia In Love Series, Book One Page 4