Dangerously In Love: Mafia In Love Series, Book One

by Christine Black

  With all my love to our child,

  Nikolay

  I closed the card and felt tears softly rolling down my cheeks. I held the box and the card closely to my chest. I got up slowly and went into the office. I heard someone following me. I opened the door and sat in the chair. Paolo was sitting on the edge of my desk. "It was from Nikolay?" I quietly nodded. He stood up and took the box and card from my hands. Paolo pulled me into his arms and held me closely. "I know that you want to be with him, Maria. I wish I could make things better. I wish I could make everyone get along so that you could be together. I just wish..." he trailed off and kissed my forehead.

  "Would you take me to my appointment today?" I quietly asked.

  "Of course, you know it." Paolo hugged me tightly.

  "I'm supposed to find out the gender today..." I half smiled and looked up at him.

  "Are you wanting to find out or do you want to wait?" He smiled.

  "I want to know. Can we go see father after my appointment? I want to tell him everything." I sighed.

  "Absolutely." Paolo hugged me again.

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  We got to my appointment and I signed in at the intake desk. I went to sit back down next to Paolo. I decided to wear a knee length black dress with a pair of black boots. I twisted the rings on my ring finger and nervously waited for my name to be called. My phone started to buzz. It was a text from Xavier.

  Zay: Hey, let me know when you can talk. Some things happened last night at one of the clubs and we need to discuss a plan.

  I sighed, this was my life now. I would have to deal with these kinds of things every second of every day.

  Me: I'm at my appointment but I'll call you as soon as I can. I want to see father right after this and when I'm finished then we'll talk. Don't do anything until we talk.

  Paolo put a hand on my shoulder and I looked up from my phone. He looked so worried and I'm pretty sure my face mirrored his worry. I set my phone in my purse and was determined to just focus on the baby until I saw my father.

  "Maria?" I looked up and the nurse was standing there. Paolo and I both stood up and walked back with the nurse. It was a silent walk. She no doubt knew who my father was and was scared for her life. That had cost me a lot of friends growing up. My last name was going to be the death of me. Paolo and I had decided that we'd wait to share a last name until I was officially the Boss.

  "How have you been feeling?" The nurse asked as I sat in the chair.

  "Nothing out of the ordinary." I shrugged as she took my blood pressure.

  "Good, your blood pressure is a bit high but I'm sure that Dr. Scuito will find a solution. She'll be in soon." She smiled and walked towards the door.

  "Thank you," I smiled back at her as she walked out, closing the door softly behind her.

  "It's just the stress of everything going on, Ria. Don't sweat it. I'm sure that's all it is." Paolo took my hand and squeezed it. It only took about fifteen minutes for Dr. Scuito to come in.

  "How's everyone doing?" She smiled but looked puzzled when she saw Paolo holding my hand.

  "A lot happened." I half smiled.

  "Well, catch me up. We haven't spoken since your last appointment a month ago." She motioned for me to sit on the table.

  "Well, Paolo and I got married."

  "Congratulations! Where did you honeymoon?" She looked so happy for us.

  "We just stayed here, too much going on with father to go anywhere." I frowned.

  "I really am sorry to hear about your father, Maria." She frowned too. "Let's look at something happy though!"

  She helped me lie back and covered my lower abdomen and legs with a blanket after I pulled up my dress. Paolo stood up and walked over to me and held my hand. She flipped the lights off and pulled the ultrasound machine from the corner of the room. She squeezed some of the jelly onto my stomach and I shivered. She put the image reader on my stomach and the image came up on the screen. She looked intently at the screen and hadn't turned the sound on yet.

  "Is something wrong, Dr. Scuito?" Paolo looked over at her.

  "Nothing is wrong, but something we didn't catch is about to surprise you. I don't know why we didn't see this earlier." She smiled down at me as she turned the scree towards us.

  "What is it?" I looked up at the screen.

  "You're having twins."

  "Wait, what?!" I felt dizzy.

  "I apologize for the tech that missed it but you're having twins, Maria." She handed me a picture of the sonogram. There were two tiny humans in the picture.

  "Do you want to know the gender?" Dr. Scuito held the reader on my stomach still.

  "Yes." I was nervous. God help me.

  "It looks like we have a little girl and a little boy. Baby A is a boy and baby B is a girl."

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  We had pictures of the sonograms and were on our way to see my father. We got to the hospital and went to his room. He was laying there reading a book. I knocked on the door and he looked up, smiling at me. "Maria! My sweet daughter! What're you doing here?" I sat on the end of his bed and Paolo stood behind me.

  "Papa, we need to talk."

  "What is it, my love?" My father took my hand in his.

  "Marco was the one that killed Mother. He admitted it."

  "When? Where is he?" I looked down at my hand in my father's.

  "You'd have to ask where Xavier buried the son of a bitch." My father gasped at me as I looked up at him.

  "What happened?" He gripped my hand tightly.

  "I killed him to protect you and Anna. He was a threat and I took him out."

  "I am so very proud of you, my dearest daughter. You are strong and brave. I feel as though that isn't the only thing you have to tell me..." He looked up at Paolo who had placed his hand on my shoulder.

  "I married Paolo, father." He smiled at me.

  "He is a good match but why didn't you come to me before you married him? What was the rush?" My father stared at me. I handed him the sonogram picture. I had to have him believe that Paolo was the father. "You're...you're carrying his children..." My father's eyes welled with tears.

  "Yes father. We're having a little boy and a little girl. I'd like for you to bless them and us." I smiled at him. "Your legacy will not end with me. My children will carry on all of the hard work and time you’ve spent protecting our family, father." My father smiled at me once more.

  Chapter Twenty

  Nikolay

  I was sitting at the breakfast table with my mother and Angelicka when Anya came running in. She was covered in glitter and looked up at me with those gorgeous blue eyes of hers. "Papa! Papa!" I sat my cup of coffee down and laughed. She crossed her arms and pouted.

  "What have you gotten into now my sweet girl?" My mother laughed and so did Angelicka.

  "Demmy let me give him a makeover! He looks so pretty!" She giggled and grabbed my hand.

  "Are we going to get to see this pretty makeover?" Angelicka asked Anya.

  "You gotta follow me!" She pulled at my hand so I got up and all three of us followed her. I was hoping someone would get pictures so we could torture him with all of this years from now. Anya opened the door to her playroom and started to giggle. Demitry was sitting there on the floor with glitter all over him.

  "I never thought you were gonna back little lady." Demitry hadn't noticed that the three of us had come back with Anya. I pulled out my phone quietly and opened my camera. He would never ever live this down.

  "Smile, Demitry!" I laughed as he turned around and I snapped a couple of pictures. His face was priceless.

  "If it makes Anya happy then take the damn pictures!" He stood up and picked up Anya and rubbed his glitter beard all over her face. She laughed so hard that she was kicking and screaming for Demitry to let her down.

  "Now who's gonna clean up this mess?" I looked between Anya and Demitry. I was not going to clean it up and the housekeeping staff had the weekend off.
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  After Demitry and Anya cleaned up her playroom I cleaned up Anya and got her dressed in an entirely new outfit. I threw the glittered outfit in the washer by itself and pressed start. Angelicka came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. She had been my distraction since I made the final realization that Maria and I will never be a couple.

  "What're you doing?" I turned around and pulled her into my arms. She smelled like lavender and vanilla. It was intoxicating.

  "Taking an opportunity to spend some alone time with you." She bit her lip. She knew what that did to me.

  "We can't do that right now so please baby stop biting that lip." I kissed her hard.

  "I know. Maybe we could go away tonight. Just tonight. I know how you hate to be away from Anya." She was right. I didn't want Anya to leave my sight since the things that happened to Natalia. I pushed business out of my mind and just focused on Angelicka.

  "You know what, we're going to go away for the night and we'll come back tomorrow sometime. I want to share that with you." I smiled and just hoped that Maria hadn't gone up to the Hampton's house this weekend. I would have to slip away for a bit and call her. I quickly kissed Angelicka again and we walked hand in hand out of the laundry room.

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  I dialed Maria's phone number after Angelicka left to go back to her place to get some things. It rang and she picked up. I knew she was busy with things but I really need to make sure she wouldn't be there. I didn't want Angelicka to know about her. "Hello?" She spoke quietly.

  "Hi, it's me. I need to make sure you won't be at the Hampton's house this weekend." I wonder if she even went there yet.

  "I went there last night..." I heard a couple of voices in the background and footsteps, "Paolo and I left this morning though. I can't thank you enough Nikolay. It's so beautiful and they'll be lucky to grow up there. Well, for at least sometime. I don't know how this will work for you and I am raising them but, we'll just have to figure something out. I don't want either of the children to grow up wondering if a part of them is missing."

  "I'm going up there tonight and will be back here tomorrow afternoon. Did you see the nursery?" I smiled.

  "It was perfect except well I'll tell you when I get a better chance to. It's nothing bad. It will make things a bit harder for us. I really have to go now. I'll call or text you when I get the chance. Thank you for being an amazing father, Nikolay." She hung up before I got the chance to respond to her.

  What could possibly make things harder than they already are? Wait, she said children. Are she and Paolo going to have kids? I thought it was just an arrangement to keep her safe and the baby? I guess it was no longer my business. My phone vibrated and I picked it up. "Hello?"

  "Hey, it's Elana. I need to ask you something?" She sounded worried.

  "What's up, Ellie?" I sat down in my office chair and started up my laptop.

  "I need you to tell me something and be completely honest with me, please." She was starting to worry me now.

  "Anything, you know that."

  "Is Demitry cheating on me?"

  "What do you mean?" I would kill him if he was.

  "He left this morning in a hurry and left his phone. It was ringing off the hook so I answered and a woman was on the other end. She said her name was Nastia. She asked who I was and I told her and she hung up." She was crying now.

  "I promise you that if he is, he'll pay for it. I'll talk to him and see what's up. Don't worry, Ellie." I tried to calm her from the other side of the phone but I knew it wasn't working.

  "He can't cheat on me. I'm pregnant and I can't do this alone." She was sobbing and hung up. I was in shock. He didn't say anything to me about Elana being pregnant. Did he know or had she been too worried about him cheating on her to tell him?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Maria

  I woke up and felt so nauseous. I ran to the bathroom and quickly shut the door. There was a small knock and Paolo walked in. I washed my face off and brushed my teeth. We had fallen asleep talking last night. I felt so overwhelmed with everything going on in my life. I cried over everything the past couple of days. This wasn't the life I imagined for myself. Paolo pulled me into his arms and the babies kicked. I looked up and he had a weird look on his face.

  "What was that? Is something wrong?" Paolo dropped to his knees and put his hands on opposite sides of my belly. I started to cry. This man was my best friend and was going to make an amazing father. I knew that one day soon we'd separate because he was so in love with Belle. I was so jealous of what they had.

  "Mhm, I felt them kicking all through the night. They're stubborn little boogers." I laughed through my tears. Paolo stood up, his hands still on my belly, and just looked down at me with pure joy on his face. For a split second I hoped that he was going to kiss me. Anna walked in and we immediately pulled apart. I think it was just my hormones that was making me think I felt something for him.

  "Hey little love, what's up?" Paolo picked her up and she giggled.

  "Auntie say that Xay call and Ria need to see Papa." She laid her head on Paolo's shoulder and yawned. I nodded and we all walked into the living room. I sat on the couch and Paolo put Anna right next to me. Anna put her head on my stomach and kissed it.

  "What're you doing, silly girl?" I chuckled as I looked at her continously kissing my stomach.

  "I kissing babies!" She smiled and giggled again. I pulled her up and gave her a couple of kisses on her cheeks.

  "Hey, how're you feeling this morning?" Belle sat down and handed me a cup of tea.

  "I feel a little sick but it's okay. Anna said Xavier called. What'd he want?" I took a sip.

  "He said the doctors were asking for you to come to the hospital. He said it wasn't anything terrible but there are some concerns." She frowned.

  "Okay, well I guess I'm gonna get ready and head over there." I took a couple more sips of the tea.

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  When Paolo and I got to the hospital, my father was still asleep. I sat there and held his hand as the doctors started to explain that he wasn't getting any better and that he maybe had a couple of days left to live. They suggested that we take him home to live out his last few days with his family and loved ones. I tried to hold back the tears but I just couldn't. My father started to wake up and he smiled. "Let's go home, daughter." He wiped away my tears.

  We packed his things, helped him into the wheelchair and went to the car. I ordered a heavy presence of our enforcers to ensure that things would go smoothly and safely. The drive home was pretty silent, mostly because father slept the entire way. I sent a text to Xavier to have father's favorite meals prepared and a cake made to celebrate him coming home. I wouldn't have my father thinking that he only came home to die.

  When we got to the mansion and walked in the door, all of the houses staff, immediate family, and extremely close friends were standing in the foyer. "Welcome home, Papa." I whispered to him as I stepped back so our family and friends could welcome him home. I felt the babies kick again and tears slowly and softly fall down the sides of my face. I would make my father proud of me. I would raise my children to be as strong as my father and as loving as my mother. I had to be strong now and stand tall for my family and those we protected. Paolo smiled softly at me and kissed my forehead. "Belle and I will look after your father for now. Go and kick ass, my Donna." He chuckled and I walked upstairs and stood at the top of the foyer. My father's council knew what I silently asked as they joined me in my father's office.

  "As my father has so proudly boasted to our family, I will confirm to you that I carry two children. Two Salvatore children who will be as fierce as my father and loving as my mother. This is a new generation that I expect you to protect with your lives. As my father has appointed me the new Donna, I wish that you all take these gifts before the crowning ceremony tomorrow." I motioned to the box of rings sitting open on the desk. I picked up the box and
took out a single ring, raising it to my heart.

  "My lady, I speak for the whole of us when I say that at first we were confused as to why your father appointed you into the position but now we see why." Dante, my father's oldest council member and best friend spoke softly.

  "I have a vision for this family that I will trust you to help become a reality. Tomorrow at the ceremony you will reswear your vows as I publicly step up to fill the role my father has given me. You will swear your loyalty, love, and life to me and my children as well as my husband." The babies kicked again and I smiled at the men standing before me. I continued, "Paolo is not only one of you as an enforcer but he is now my husband. You will protect him with your life when he cannot protect himself. If you break your vow I swear to you that you will end up the same as Marco and those before him who betrayed this family. I will not force you to serve on my council if you wish to retire to a quiet life as most of you are tired and are somewhat older than my father." I winked at the old men sitting in the chairs in front of me. They laughed.

  "My Donna, you insult us old men. We will fight with wisdom and knowledge and leave the physical things to the young men. We will reswear our loyalty to your reign, My Lady." Dante stood and took my hand, kissing it softly.

  "Well then, I'm glad that we're all in agreement. The ceremony will be at noon tomorrow in the garden, weather permitting as it is now the first day of fall. God watch over you and your families and stay strong in this sad time." They knew that I had dismissed them as they left the room. I sat the ring back in its box and sat the box once again back on the desk. I took a deep breath and walked to my room, closing the office door silently behind me. I was going to move back into this house after tomorrow. The babies began to kick again as I softly laid my hands on my belly. "You must quit fighting with each other and moving so much, little loves." I laughed quietly to myself.