Dangerously In Love: Mafia In Love Series, Book One

by Christine Black

  After everyone had exited to the tent over the spot where we would bury my father, I looked at him one last time. Paolo stood by me and placed a hand at the small of my back. "Papa, I know that we hadn't been close for sometime until recently but it doesn't mean that I don't love you. I love you so much and I will cherish every memory we have together. I will tell my children about you. I will share your legacy with them and tell them all of the bedtime stories you told me. Aria and Vincent will know everything wonderful that you have done to safeguard and secure a wonderful future for them. Goodbye, Papa." I felt tears rolling down both of my cheeks as Paolo and I walked with Anna and my brothers to the tent.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Maria

  I barely got any sleep since Papa's funeral. The twins seemed to be just as restless as me too. Paolo was sleeping soundly beside me. He was glued to me every second of the day and even more so since the funeral. I seemed to be a ticking time bomb of hormones and anger. I had been an emotional mess which Paolo kept saying was understandable but that I still needed to keep it in check.

  "I don't need you to say something that gets the guys all fired up and they go out and kill some Russians and then we have an even bigger problem on our hands. I need you to be safe and I need my little babies to stay safe too. Promise me."

  I quietly got out of bed as I glanced over at the clock. It read 3am in that awful red lighting. I sighed and tip toed over to the door of our room. I might as well be productive if I can't sleep. I walked into my office and left the door open. If Paolo came to look for me then at least he would see me as he was walking past the door. I sat down in the chair and fired up my laptop. I pulled up the security cameras from around the clubs and the few we had just installed on a couple of the high status family members we protected. They all seemed quiet and normal. I put them on the big desktop screen so I could keep an eye on things while I worked on some of the remodel budgets for the clubs.

  As I was going through the various designs and costs, something on one of the cameras caught my eye. There was a car sitting outside of the gates to my house. This house. I picked up the phone and dialed the gatehouse number. No one answered. I called again. All of the sudden the camera went black and I couldn't see anything. Still no answer. I picked up the gun from the locked cabinet in the safe under my desk and walked out into the hallway and down the stairs. I dialed Xavier's number from my cell phone.

  "What the hell, Ria! It's 3am! Go back to sleep." He groggily whined.

  "Get your ass out of bed Xavier. We have a situation outside the gates. The security camera went black and there was a car sitting outside. Meet me down in the foyer. Now." I said calmly as possible. Not two minutes after I hung up there was Xavier, gun in hand, standing next to me in the foyer.

  "Where do you think you're going?" He questioned me as I went to follow him out the door.

  "Like I'm going to let you go out there by yourself. You can't shoot as well as I can." I sassed back.

  "When did you learn to shoot?" He turned back and looked at me with wide eyes.

  "When Papa got sick and I didn't know who to trust." I cocked the gun and started to walk ahead of him.

  "My sister is pregnant and instead of sleeping she likes to watch the security cameras at night and carry a loaded gun. Like father, like daughter. I would hate to be the boy who comes to take your daughter on a date. Not only would you be carrying a gun but Paolo would too." He chuckled and we kept walking towards the gate house. Once we got there all I could see was blood on the walls and driveway. I felt sick to my stomach as Xavier dialed his phone.

  A gunshot rang through my ears as my entire body went numb. It was like everything went in slow motion. Another gunshot went off. My body went rigid and cold. Xavier. He was shot. No. I felt warm. My vision was going blurry. I felt like ice again. Xavier was standing so far away and firing his gun. I felt hands on my back and a sharp pain in my side. I turned around and there were those ice blue eyes. I tried to scream but nothing came out. I was lowered to the ground as I stared into those eyes.

  "I'm afraid you, my dear, were the one to be at the wrong place at the wrong time." I felt my eyes roll back into my head and another sharp pain to my shoulder.

  "Nikolay..." I whispered as I felt a warm, wet liquid sliding down my cheek as I coughed. I grabbed my belly and coughed again. "You went...too far. You..d-don't des-deserve our ba-...." darkness took me and I felt at peace.

  Two Weeks Later

  Paolo

  I had spent every waking minute next to her as she just laid there in that damn bed. She looked so lifeless and her smile was missing from her beautiful face. I picked her hand up off of the bed and kissed it softly. "Baby, please wake up. You can't leave me. You can't leave us." I needed her to wake up. Dr. Sciuto quietly walked in and sat down in the chair opposite me.

  "She'll wake up when her body is ready. She suffered a large trauma and this is her body's way of coping." She folded her hands across her lap.

  "You've said that for two Goddamn weeks!" I felt tears slowly sliding down my cheeks.

  "It's the only thing I know to tell you. She's healing. Everything is healing."

  "She will want to die when she finds out. She will kill people when she wakes up and finds out that you let her daughter die to save her. You could have saved all three of them! You said you would save all three of them! I've lost my daughter and I might lose my wife!" I screamed at her.

  "Vincent is doing well today. He's almost able to breath on his own and he opened his eyes. You're allowed to see him now." She got up and walked out of the room after she checked on the I.V. bags and the machine that pretty much kept Maria alive.

  A Month Later

  Maria

  I felt so broken and in an extreme amount of pain as I opened my eyes. There was a tube in my throat and I clawed at it. It was hurting me and I just wanted to take it out. All of the sudden there was Dr. Sciuto and Paolo walking to the room. Paolo dropped his cup of coffee and my eyes went wide as I continued to claw at the tube. Dr. Sciuto pulled it from my throat and I started to cough. "Maria!" Paolo put a hand on each side of my face and kissed my forehead. Normally when he touched me the twins kicked but there was nothing. I moved my hands to my belly and it was flat. I looked up at Paolo with tears in my eyes and he grabbed my hands.

  "Do you remember what happened to you?" Paolo spoke softly.

  "I'm afraid you, my dear, were the one to be at the wrong place at the wrong time." I felt my eyes roll back into my head and another sharp pain to my shoulder.

  "I remember pain and those eyes. Paolo...where are my babies?" I sobbed as he carefully slipped into the bed beside me.

  "You were shot twice in the back, stabbed once in the side and once in the shoulder. You lost a lot of blood. The doctors tried to keep both of our babies alive and fix you but something went wrong and you started to lose more and more blood. They had to decide to deliver the twins or let you and the twins die. They delivered the twins and fixed you up. You were in a coma for the past month and a half. Vincent couldn't breathe on his own so they put him on a machine that helped him breathe. Aria's heart kept stopping and restarting. They brought her back at least twenty times in the first night. She didn't come back the final time that her heart went out. Her little body just couldn't handle it, baby."

  I felt my heart shatter and I screamed out in pain. "NO!" Paolo held me tighter and continuously kissed my forehead.

  "I'm sorry that I couldn't protect our daughter, Maria." I heard Paolo sob with me.

  ---------------------

  After Paolo had helped me shower and get dressed a nurse walked in pushing a tiny little blue bassinet. I focused my eyes on it's every movement as I slowly slipped into the bed. He was too tiny. He was born too soon. All of those awful thoughts disappeared from my mind when she picked up the little blue bundle of blankets and I reached out for him. She placed him in my arms and Paolo kissed my forehead. He swore that he would never let our son o
r me out of his sight ever again. My son looked up at me with soft brown eyes and a big smile. He had my eyes. He locked his eyes with mine and in that moment my heart felt so full of love. "This is our son, Maria. I know he won't ever begin to replace the loss you feel for our daughter but when the time is right we'll have our daughter." I looked up at Paolo and half smiled.

  "He's absolutely perfect in every way possible. I just want to go home. Please." Dr. Sciuto walked in and handed Paolo some forms.

  "You are cleared to go home. You are on strict orders for bed rest and do not make your husband call me to come restitch you up because you tore a wound open from being too independent." She crossed her arms across her chest and stared at me. I nodded in agreement as Paolo signed the papers. Vincent was asleep in my arms and we were going to go home. Paolo picked him up out of my arms slowly and placed him in his car seat. The nurse helped me up and into the wheelchair and we left the hospital. I slowly felt tears rolling down my cheek as I saw a mother hugging her daughter in the parking lot. I would miss a lifetime of that with Aria.

  We got into the car and Paolo started to drive. A black car pulled up next to us and I looked out the window at it.

  I felt hands on my back and a sharp pain in my side. I turned around and there were those ice blue eyes. I tried to scream but nothing came out. I was lowered to the ground as I stared into those eyes.

  "Nikolay..." I whispered as I felt a warm, wet liquid sliding down my cheek as I coughed. I grabbed my belly and coughed again. "You went...too far. You..d-don't des-deserve our ba-...." darkness took me and I felt at peace.

  The memories hit me like a ton of bricks. I started to hyperventilate and I grabbed my chest. Paolo pulled the car over and took my hands. "What's wrong?"

  "He did this. He killed my daughter." Those ice blue eyes. Nikolay's eyes.

  'Who, Maria?" Paolo's face had concern written all over it.

  "Nikolay."

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Nikolay

  I was sitting in the living room cuddled up with Angelika while we watched Anya dance around the room. Anya loved to dance and she was smitten with Angelica. I didn't know what I was doing with her but she kept the thoughts of Maria away for the most part. I still dreamed of her every night and I still felt such strong feelings for her even after everything we've been through. I knew that we wouldn't ever be together and that I needed to accept it but a part of me didn't want to let her go and just throw in the towel.

  All of the sudden I felt another presence in the room. I turned my head around to see who it was and there stood my brother, Anton. He was supposed to be in Pennsylvania. He left the Mafia life to become a professor and decided to move all the way to Athens, Georgia to teach Chemistry at the University of Georgia. My father told him not to come back if he wanted to take the easy way out. I almost wish I had done what he had done at least in regards to leaving the Mafia life. Angelika must have noticed me glaring at Anton because she stood up and walked Anya into the other room. She was very intuitive when it came to family business which was something I was very grateful for.

  "Anton." I stood up and folded my arms across my chest.

  "You didn't tell me that you had an attachment to the Italian Donna." He raised his eyebrows and smirked at me.

  "I don't know what you're talking about, Anton. Why are you here?"

  "I'm here because I had to do the one thing you wouldn't."

  "What would that be, brother?"

  "Kill her." I felt my heart shatter and my hands started to shake with fear and anger. He couldn't kill her. She was carrying my baby. She was mine to protect.

  "On whose orders?!" I screamed at him.

  "Father's. He may not be the Boss anymore but I will never take orders from you. You all thought I stepped out of this life but I didn't. I've been watching from afar. I've killed more people to protect this family than you could ever imagine." He still had that smug smirk on his face.

  "Don't think about touching her."

  "So, you are attached to her. Father will be very disappointed in you. She's a married woman, Nikolay. She's carrying her husband's children, Nikolay. Yet, you still love her. But I'll tell you what, if you really want to have some fun her cousin is pretty wild and she'll just soak up any man's attention because she's so pathetic and an attention seeking whore." He laughed. He didn't know what really happened. The baby was mine. That baby is mine!

  "I'm not attached to her. She's the enemy. That still doesn't mean you can kill her to spite the Italians. Spare her child."

  "It's not a single child, Nikolay. It's two. It's twins. I have the chance to regain favor in the eyes of the family and wipe out the Italian Donna and her spawn. I keep telling you things like I haven't already done it." He laughed again and pulled a bloody knife from its sheath on his side and gun from its holster on his waistband. "I'm surprised the news hasn't spread considering it happened a week ago." He smirked and walked out of the room.

  I ran up to my office after I watched Anton walk out the front door. I had to find out what was going on. I dialed Demitry's number and hit the call button. I shut and locked the doors to my office. "What's up, Niko?"

  "Find Maria. Find her now. Have Elana call her and find out where she is. Find out if she's okay and if the babies are okay. NOW!" I hung up and paced around my office. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks and I felt my heart breaking into a million tiny pieces. I told her that no one would ever hurt her. My brother went and hurt her. MY BROTHER!

  About four hours passed as I waited and continued to pace until Demitry finally called me back. "She's in the hospital. She's barely alive. Her husband told Elana that both of the babies were delivered early because Maria was an inch away from death while in surgery. She was shot and stabbed. The doctors are hopeful but she'll never be the same Maria she was, Niko. She's not your Maria anymore. Someone made an attempt on her life as Donna. Someone will die. You have to be prepared that she'll assume it was a Russian." He sighed.

  "Demitry, it was a Russian."

  "Wait what? You gave the order to have her killed?!"

  "No. Father did. Anton was following father's orders." I spat the words like they were poison.

  "We'll fix this. We'll hand him over or deal with it ourselves."

  "We can't get involved until she comes out and declares it an attempt on her life by us. She has to declare it and be alive. We have to keep her being alive secret from the family. We need Father to panic and have Anton try to kill her again and then we'll intercept him and beat him so badly that when we hand him over we'll use it as a peace tactic."

  Two Weeks Later

  I decided to sneak into the hospital to see my children and pay off the medical bills that Maria was bound to have. I was going to pay for every last penny of my children's medical bills. I may never be able to do anything for them ever again but I could at least give them the best chance at life. One of the nurses helped me slip past the guards and I paid off the doctor to let me see them. I stood over my children and noticed how broken and fragile they were. I had a son and a daughter. The doctor said that my son was doing much better than my daughter. My daughter had a heart condition from being born too early and that she was the smaller of the twins.

  Her heart stopped four times while I was there for the first two hours. They took her in for emergency surgery and half way through the surgery the doctor came in and told me that she made it. I made a split second decision that Maria would suffer from but at least she would have one of her children. "I need you to do something for me. You'll be compensated and protected if it ever comes out."

  "What can I do for you, Mr. Romanov?" The doctor whispered.

  "You will fake my daughter's death, rename her, and transfer her to a different hospital with a birth mother's name of my choosing and my name as the father. You'll tell my daughters mother that you did everything in your power but you couldn't keep her little heart beating and that her little body was just too broken." The doctor nodde
d.

  "I'll do as you ask and no one will ever know. You realize that you'll have to give up seeing them until all of this is taken care of?"

  "I understand. You'll transfer her to Manhattan West. Her birth mothers name will be Angelika Romanov and my name will be the birth father. You'll treat this as an adoption. Her name will be Livia Grace Romanov. Give her the best care and spare no expense. I can afford her medical care and all of the bills and prices that come with it.

  I sat in the nursery holding my son who was as healthy as can be when the nurse walked in and took him from my arms. "Where are you taking him?"

  "His mother. She just woke up and he is going to go provide her some comfort. Her daughter died earlier this morning and they've just told her. She's devastated and her husband doesn't want their son to leave their sight. They accused the doctor of being incompetent and have called in another doctor to review the case and the surgical procedures. If I were you I would cover your ass before the second opinion ruins your plans, Mr. Romanov." I was thankful to have had her take a pay off too. That information just bought me time to pay off the second opinion doctor.

  Three Weeks Later

  I had brought home Livia when she was fully healthy and her heart condition had been repaired completely. I gave the cover to Angelica that I was touring the hospital when I overheard a couple of doctors chatting about an abandoned baby girl with a massive heart condition. She bought it and didn't even begin to doubt me. She loved Livia with all her heart. I told her that I put her name down as the birth mother to prevent Livia from ever finding out that she was abandoned and left to die by her mother.