Page 24 of Wicked Sinner
I have a moment of realizing the anger my father must have felt when I left. The sense of losing something irreplaceable. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to sympathizing with him, and I’ll need to examine it later, but right now?—
Right now, I need to figure out what to do about Bridget, and a child that I never imagined existing until I found out that it did.
Something shifts in her expression, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her face as she seems to realize for the first time that this conversation isn't going the way she expected. That I'm not going to just walk away and leave her alone. Maybe another man would have, but I’m not just any man. And she’s not just any woman.
This isn’t just any child.
"I want you to come back to the city with me," I say, my voice steady and controlled even though everything inside me is chaos. "I'll take care of you. Give you everything you could possibly need."
"No." The word comes out sharp and immediate. "Absolutely not."
"Bridget—"
"I said no!" Her voice rises, echoing in the garage. "I'm not going anywhere with you. I don't want your money or your protection or whatever the hell you think you're offering. I just want you to leave me alone."
The rejection hits me like a physical blow, but it also ignites something darker inside me. Something that doesn't take no for an answer. Something that's been shaped by years of taking what I want and dealing with the consequences later. This is mychild. And that feeling that I had—that inability to let Bridget go—now feels less like desire and more like I knew, subconsciously, what we’d done together.
A don needs an heir. And she’s provided me with one.
"You don't understand," I say, my voice dropping to a dangerous tenor. "This isn't a request."
Her eyes widen, and I see the first real flicker of fear cross her face. It would have upset me a moment ago, but now I feel a sense of relief that she realizes the seriousness of the situation. That this is nothing like the offer I made her before.
"You can't force me," she snaps, but her voice wavers slightly.
"Can't I?" I take another step forward, and this time, when she backs away, she hits the workbench behind her. Trapped. "You have no idea who you're dealing with,bellissima. No idea what I'm capable of."
"I know enough.” I can hear the tremor in her voice now. "I know you're a criminal. I know you hurt people."
"I protect what's mine," I correct her. "And you're mine now. You and the child you're carrying."
"I'm not yours!" The words explode out of her, raw and desperate. "I'm not anyone's! And I'm sure as hell not going to be some mafia princess locked away in your tower!"
"You're not going to be a princess," I agree, my voice soft and deadly. "You're going to be so much more than that. You're going to be the mother of my heir. The woman who carries mylegacy. The woman who helps me solidify my place here, the wayIchoose to do so. Not because someone else chooses for me."
I can see her trying to process this, trying to find a way out, but there isn't one. Not anymore. The moment she told me she was pregnant, her fate was sealed. Our fates were sealed.
"I won't go with you," she says again, but there's less conviction in her voice now. "You can't make me."
"I can," I say simply. "And I will."
Before she can react, I move. Years of training, years of violence and survival, have made me faster than she could ever hope to be. I grab her wrist, pulling her away from the workbench, and she immediately starts fighting me.
"Let go of me!" She tries to wrench free, her other hand coming up to claw at my face, but I catch that wrist too, holding both of her hands behind her back as I scoop her up into my arms, holding her hands against my chest to keep her from clawing my face. I stride toward the car, and she lets out a shriek, but we’re too far away from anyone else for it to help her.
"Caesar, let me go!" Bridget is struggling against my grip, panic making her voice high and sharp. "You can't do this!"
"I can do whatever I want," I tell her, opening the driver’s side door to put her into the passenger seat from this side. If I put her in from the other side she’ll be back out before I can stop her. "The sooner you accept that, the easier this will be for both of us."
"This is kidnapping!" she shouts. "This is?—"
"This is me protecting my family," I cut her off. "Everything has changed now, Bridget.”
I slide into the driver’s seat, immediately hitting the door locks before she can jump back out. She lets out a shriek of protest.
"Please," she gasps, and the desperation in her voice almost makes me pause. Almost. "Please don't do this. I'll—I'll get yournumber. I’ll give you mine. We can work something out. But please don't take me away from here."
"It's too late for that," I tell her firmly, starting the car. "You had your chance to do this the easy way."
