Page 7 of Mafia Doctor's Secret Baby

“Can we talk about this some other time?” she pleads, changing tack. “I just gave birth…”

“So it’s the perfect time to get it all out in the open,” I reply. “Tell me now. And then we can leave this all behind.”

She draws in a deep, shuddering breath. She’s still doing everything she can not to look at me. It’s almost ironic, given how the two of us met, to see her like this—see her so scared, doing everything she can to avoid my gaze. When we ran into each other at that party, we were both hidden behind masks, pretending to be people we weren’t. And now, she’s doing thesame, just without the mask—dodging my questions, ducking anything that she can’t handle or control.

“Please,” she whispers, looking up at me. “Don’t make me answer that question.”

So that’s it then. I let out a long, shaky breath. As though things aren’t crazy enough as it is. As though I’m not far from home, far from everything I know, only my brother for company. And now, in the midst of all that, I’ve had a child dropped into my life.

And I’m sure my enemies will take in this new information with decided glee. Anything they can use against me, my father, my family, they will. And whether that little girl who has just come into the world has any idea of it—the blood that’s pumping in her veins is going to make her a target for some of the most dangerous people in the state.

I need to hear it from Katie. Because otherwise, I’m pulling her daughter into something she might not even be a part of, and I’m not willing to let that happen. If I am going to have a daughter, then I’m not going to guess at it—no, I’m going to listen to her mother speak the words out loud, and put to bed any doubts I might still have in my mind.

“You have another minute before Gina comes back,” I tell her, my voice leaving no room for argument. “And you can either say it in front of her, or at least make it so only I have to know.”

She stares back at me for a long moment, not saying a word. I can tell she would do anything in her power to get out of this right now, if she could. She wants to pretend this isn’t really happening—hell, with how drugged-up she is on pain medication, I’m surprised she can so much as have a coherent conversation with me.

Finally, she nods.

“Yes,” she whispers. “Yes, you’re her father.”

She gazes at the ground before her. The edge of the sheet has risen slightly, and I can once again see the tattoo that tipped me off to the person I now know her to be. That peacock has crossed my mind more times than I care to count in the last few months, imagining the two of us together, going back to the night we met.

But if I’d known that it would lead to this…I don’t know if I would have gone through with it.

Daughter. I have a daughter. Which makes me a father.

Which makes Katie my…my what? I don’t know her at all. Sure, I might have come across her name on the chart, but that’s hardly the same thing as actually knowing someone—especially when they’ve just had your baby. What kind of mother will she be? The kind who doesn’t want me in her life, if this is anything to go by…

But before I can so much as contend with this, I hear voices in the hallway, and Gina opens the door, still cradling the girl in her arms. She has a beaming smile on her face, and a girl at her side who looks to be around the same age as Katie.

“Cara!” Katie gasps.

“Oh my God, you did it!” Cara replies, rushing into the room and leaning down to give her friend a hug. Katie just about manages to raise her arms to hug her back—lucky for her, the aftermath of birth and the aftermath of being confronted with your baby’s father with no warning are pretty similar, so Cara doesn’t seem to notice anything.

As Gina places Polly back into Katie’s arms, I stare down at the little girl—the girl who I now know to be my daughter. She’sstriking—in the last couple of months since I’ve been here, I have delivered plenty of babies, but there’s something about this one that seems different. A brightness to her eyes, a knowingness as she looks at me, as though she already understands who I am.

Or maybe I’m just imagining that, because I want to think that my own daughter would know who I am.

I turn away swiftly as Cara begins to chatter to Katie, knowing I can’t be in here any longer. I need time to make sense of what has just happened, and I’m not going to be able to do it standing so close to the source of that revelation.

Before I can make it to the door, Gina catches my arm, frowning. “Are you alright?”

I look back at her. Gina is one of the old stalwarts here, has worked in this place probably as long as I’ve been alive, and that means she has a sharp eye for when things aren’t as they should be. But there’s no way I am handing the biggest gossipmonger at the hospital something this juicy. It would be around the city by the time the sun came up.

No, I need to get a coffee, get to my office, and figure out what the hell I’m going to do about this. Because there is no way I can just let go of what I’ve found out—and no way I’m going to back down and pretend that I won’t do anything it takes to be part of that little girl’s life.

Even if it means putting my entire undercover escape at risk.

3

KATIE

My head sinksagainst the pillow as I look down at Polly, and Cara reaches across to give my arm a squeeze.

“I can’t believe it,” she murmurs, shaking her head. “You really did it. You really had a baby.”

“I know,” I reply as I caress the hair back from Polly’s head. She has started to sleep now—Gina said that she would be back soon to help me with breastfeeding, but for the time being, the most important thing for both of us is to get as much rest as we can.

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