Page 2 of Mafia Boss's Baby Surprise

“Wait, what?” I gape at her.

“It’s not in your father’s territory. Thanks to your father hiding you from pretty much the whole world, no one knows what you look like or that you really exist. It’s perfectly safe. No one cares about me either.”

I bite down on my lip. Nothing in this life is perfectly safe. I’ve never gone out of my father’s territory. It sounds very risky and dangerous but also exciting at the same time.

“Think about it.” Julia slips her phone into the pocket of her jeans and grabs my hands. “New city. New club. New people. An actual band performing live. It’ll be so fun. No one there will know who you are. I’ll tell my friends you’re my friend from high school or something. They won’t care.”

“But if we lose three or so hours just driving there and back, we won’t have any time left.” Myrecordfor successfully staying away from home is five hours, and I was freaking out most of the time because I was worried about getting caught.

“We’ll have plenty of time. Your father’s trip will take twelve hours.”

“But my mother—”

“Your mother has that thing early in the morning. What is it?” She furrows her brow and tilts her head. “Some charity event?”

“Yeah, but she can come check on me.” My mother doesn’t have much freedom either, but she gets to go out and show her face in public because my father needs her to maintain his image of an ordinary businessman.

Sometimes, the two of them have a fake daughter with them, and he’s sent the daughters of his guards to school under different identities to distract and confuse his enemies into thinking one of those girls could be me. I’ve never gone anywhere out with him, unless we count a few special dinners for our close relatives.

“We’ll be back before your mother wakes up. She’ll go to sleep early too because she needs to look perfect in the morning. Everything is exactly as we need it to be. It’s our chance. Your chance. You’ve been waiting for it for so long. We won’t get caught. I promise. And if, in some highly unlikely scenario things go wrong, we’ll figure it out. We’ll say you were kidnapped or something. Your father will be mad, but you’re his only child. He’s not going to kill you.”

I stare into her eyes. We’ve been friends for so long, but she still doesn’t fully understand it. And how could she? She only gets a small glimpse into my life. My father never yells at me in front of the staff, and I don’t talk much about him when I’m with her.

But maybe she’s right. I’m my father’s only child. If he catches me, he might lock me up in my room forever or put the guards right in front of my door. But that’s not much different from how I’m already living.

My birthday’s coming up, and sometimes I wonder if I’m even alive. My life seems like a never-ending nightmare. As if I’m a guest in my own body.

I want to do something fun.

I want to be free for a few hours, even if my freedom is just an illusion.

I want to experience what it’s like to go to a big party like a regular college girl, even if I never get to do it again.

If I can’t do any of what I want, then what am I even living for?

“Okay.” I give Julia a small nod. “Let’s do it.”

She squeals in delight and wraps her arms around me. “You don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll arrange everything.”

It’s not like I could do any of it instead of her, considering my phone and computer activity is monitored. “Thanks. I should go.”

“Yeah. Meet me here after dinner.”

I give her a small smile and head out. Before opening the door, I listen carefully for any noise.

Nothing. No voices. No footsteps.

I crack the door open and take a peek. No one is in sight, so I scurry out. I dash to the stairway and hurry up.

“Aurora!”

I freeze in the middle of the hallway and spin around. “Yes, Mother?”

Her forehead creases as she approaches, her dark brown eyes inspecting me carefully. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” I try to keep my breathing calm, but I’m sure my cheeks are flushed.

My aunt says I look exactly like my mother, but aside from the same hair and eye color, I don’t think we have much in common. My mother is way slimmer than me, almost bony, and she keeps her shoulders straight all the time. Her lips are thinner too, and her nose more curved.

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