Page 41 of Mafia Doctor's Secret Baby

“Sorry,” I mutter, and he sinks back down into his seat, smiling magnanimously once more.

“Of course,” he replies. “I understand that you’re in a high-stress situation. And I know you’ll want it to be over sooner rather than later. Get back to your daughter, huh? How does that sound?”

Even though he’s doing little more than dangling a taunting carrot in front of my face, my heart still leaps at the mention of Polly. I have no idea what has been happening to her since I’ve been gone, and I want nothing more than to hold her in my arms and promise her that I am never going to leave again, not as long as I live.

“So, just tell me what you know about Luca,” he continues, narrowing his eyes. “What is he doing in the city? Where’s his father? His brother?”

I press my lips together and stare back at him, daring him to ask me more. In this moment, I am calling the shots, I have thepower, and I intend to make the most of it. It might not serve me well in the long run, but at least I can try to grasp some small piece of control back before he flips his shit entirely.

“You don’t know?” he pushes.

I shrug. I’m not going to say a word. Leave him guessing—leave him wondering if there’s more that I’m not saying, or if Luca has just kept me out of his life so completely that I wouldn’t know either way. I can see his face starting to darken, a shadow crossing his gaze as he realizes he isn’t going to get what he wants from me.

“All you have to do is talk,” he replies, lowering his voice again, leaning in a little closer.

But I know that’s not true. He might tell me everything I want to hear, make me believe that all of this could be over if I just do everything right, but the truth isn’t that simple. The way his men have been talking about me, it’s clear they will take everything they can from me as soon as they get the chance. If I spill my guts about Luca, it’s going to come back and bite me in the ass, and there’s nothing I will be able to do about it.

Not a damn fucking thing.

My heart is pounding in my chest as I stare back at him, almost daring him to take me on or push for more. He’s toeing this line, not wanting to scare me off, but not wanting to ease up on me either.

I wonder how long this thing has been going on—the way Luca spoke about it, it sounded as though he was clashing with their family over the course of the last few years, and this might be the closest he has come to breaking them.

It all hangs on me—one wrong word, and I could give away more than I can handle.

But I’m not going to let that happen, not a goddamn chance in hell.

“Listen to me, little girl,” he murmurs, inching slightly closer, dropping whatever pretense he might have been hanging on to about how this is going to go. “You’re going to give me what I want. And that’s how you’re going to walk out of here without losing that pretty little head of yours. You hear me?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” I reply, making sure to enunciate each word so he can really take it in. He’s not going to make a move to harm me so soon—he knows I have information he wants, and he can’t risk letting it slip through his fingers. No, he’s got to keep me around for at least a little while longer, and I’m going to wring every drop of satisfaction out of it as I?—

But before I can even finish my thought, he slams his hands down on the table, sending a crash through the room and making me jump. I draw back from him, my body tensing. Is he going to make good on that threat right here and right now…?

“You fucking bitch,” he snarls. His composure is gone—the good-guy act he’s been trying to sell me on is over.

He reaches for a letter opener sitting on the desk, drawing it back from the leather holster it was hidden in, and reaching to press it against my neck. The cold sensation of the metal on my skin freezes me to the spot. I stare up at him, the serrated edge against my throat, knowing that all it would take is one wrong move on either of our parts and this would be over.

“You think you can play with that family and get away with it?” he replies, shaking his head slowly, dragging the knife alongmy neck—not enough to break the skin, but enough to drag it painfully in one direction, a reminder of just how easy it would be for him to make his move.

“You have no idea who I am,” he continues. “You have no idea what I can do. I can send you away to one of our brothels for the rest of your life, at least until you’re willing to talk. How does that sound? Send you back to your daughter a broken whore…?”

I jerk back from him, the words too painful to make sense of, and he withdraws his knife—the smirk has returned to his face, and he clearly knows that he has made his point.

“That’s what I thought,” he replies, and he looks past me and out the door—to where the guard is waiting for me.

“Oliver, take her to the basement,” he calls out. “She’s not giving us anything for now. But I think with a little persuasion, we could change her mind. You up to that…?”

I feel a heavy hand on my shoulder, the grip of it sinking into my skin.

“Oh,” Oliver replies, a dark humor to his voice. “I think I can handle it.”

And with that, he pulls me to my feet and guides me toward the stairs once more. I don’t know where I’m being taken, but I get the feeling it will be a far cry from the luxury that currently surrounds me.

But I don’t have a choice. It’s that, or break Luca’s trust and put him in danger too. As far as I know, he’s the only one left who can look after Polly. I’m not going to make that kind of mistake—I’m not going to put him in the firing line like that.

Oliver drags me down the stairs, past the paintings glaring down at me from every wall, and reaches a locked door next to the kitchen.

“Don’t worry,” he murmurs to me, leaning in close to my ear, close enough that I can feel the heat of his breath on me. It’s disgusting, the scent of it clinging to me even as I try to draw back.

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