Page 30 of The Bratva's Captive

It wasn’t like I’d ever see that Mafia boss again. He had to be high up in the family if he was a boss. And if he was that influential, he couldn’t possibly even remember that night with me. A man like that would have lines of women waiting to be his. He’d be too busy to care about a nobody like me or the child we’d made together.

But if he were to learn about this baby and try to take him or her from me…

I bit my lip as I prepared to exit the building. A strategy was necessary, and there was no time like the present to plan ahead for as much as I could. Slinging the strap of my purse over my shoulder and then tugging the crossbody-style bag over my stomach, I played the what-if game again. Not in a worrying manner about what had already happened, but thinking ahead to be prepared.

Okay, if he were to ever see me again and know I was pregnant with his Mafia baby, then…

I rotated my shoulders to ease out the tension there. My muscles were all knotted up from the exercise of dancing all night and my anxiousness.

Then… I could leave town?

That idea had come to me many times after I learned about how screwed I was with Derick’s debt beingmyresponsibility. After I saw how much money I owed from his using my credit, I debated just escaping and running away. It would’ve been a cowardly move, and I knew that the debt collectors would hunt me down one way or another eventually. But it really appealed now.

I could run from here. I’d get out of that crappy apartment and away from the loud neighbors. I could find a new place where no one knew me or would judge me because I was a stripper. And I could start all over. A brand-new start with a brand-new baby.

If I ever tried that, I would accomplish a reset, but I still would be alone. I’d still be a single mother trying hard to stay afloat in the stormy waves of my life.

Stripping paid well. I felt the bulk of the bills in my purse that I held snugly against me as I exited the building to head out through the rear alley. I couldn’t brainstorm another job that would pay as well as stripping did.

I’ll figure something out. I have to.Even if it meant working nonstop to save up enough to give birth. Even if it meant cutting more corners to later afford childcare.

I would do it.

My life hadn’t been that great so far, but I wanted so badly to believe that becoming a mother was the fresh beginning I needed to really change the rest of my life.

I’ll keep you safe. Just me and you, dear one.

I moved my hand over my stomach, wishing that this baby couldfeelmy spirit and know that I would never let him or her down like so many had done to me.

Before I got around the building, I heard the voices of others nearby. Just like the other night several weeks ago when Lenny was so wasted that he saw me and tried to force me into the van, Brent was out there doing the same thing.

A couple of tipsy and drugged dancers could barely walk in a straight line, let alone wizen up to what was happening.

Not again.

Sticking to the shadows and staying away from them, I crept along the brick wall of the club. I held my breath and focused on not making a single noise as I attempted to sneak by.

Unlike Holly and that other girl who’d been taken the night I forced myself to vomit so I could escape, these dancers were almost willingly led into the van. They weren’t sober, clumsy and laughing like they were in for a good night.

But they weren’t heading anywhere fun. I had no doubt in my mind that they’d be the next ones to end up addicted to something and forced into obedience.

“Hurry,” one man said. He was the only one speaking in English, directing his lackeys to force the dancers into the back of the vehicle. When he turned to Brent, who was counting the cash he’d been given, he nodded once and spoke in Italian.

They very well were the same guys from before. It didn’t matter to me, though. I’d made my vow to avoid them at all costs, and as I turned around the corner of the building, I dropped into a jog and acted on my promise.

It was no longer a promise just to myself. I now had the motivation to steer clear of those criminals and their tactics of trafficking women because my baby had to stay safe too.

Safe?

Had I not been running home, I would’ve stopped to laugh at that notion.

Nothing seemed safe anymore.

I doubted anything ever would again. With the responsibility of caring for a baby thrust at me,everythingwould inherently be that much more dangerous and riskier.

Yeah, right. Like I’ll ever be safe again.

The last time I’d come close to feeling truly secure and protected was the night that stranger acted like my hero and got me away from those other guys. He had tricked me into wanting to lower my guard. He’d prompted me to go overboard in thanking him for saving me.

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