Page 17 of Pregnant By the Mafia Boss

I keep to the edge, rows of leafy trees blocking his vision of me.

He’s ten feet away, but he can’t see me. I listen as he gets out, the car door shutting behind him. He’s going into the center. Or so he thinks.

I duck into the foliage, waiting for him to come by. He strolls past without a care in the world. I whip my hands out, grab him by the throat, and drag him backward.

By the time he’s under the branches, I’ve broken his neck. I drop him to the ground, giving him a solid kick to make sure. Now I just need to find his partner.

I drag the body deeper into the undergrowth, covering it with branches. It doesn’t matter if it’s found later, as long as Keira and I are gone by then.

I step out, ready to go fetch her. I glance in the window again, but she’s not there, and the dogs are back in their kennels. There’s the sound of an engine starting, and then my car is heading out.

Shit.I missed her.

I run back for my replacement vehicle. I tear after her, but she doesn’t get far—I see my car parked outside a drugstore.

It’s too crowded for me to go inside and grab her, so I wait. She’s back in her car in a minute, and I hang back, tailing her all the way to her house on the outskirts of town.

There are a few people around, but not enough for me to care. I climb out of my car and cross the street as she vanishes inside.

I walk up the path to her front door.

I’m about to burst inside when I hear rustling coming from the bushes to the left. I pull out my gun and investigate the sound.

There’s nothing there except a cat that screeches and runs off when I get close. I turn around and head back, glancing in through the window as I go.

She’s sitting perfectly still, looking shocked. She’s got something in her hand.

I look closer. Is that what I think it is?

Rustling behind me again. That’s no cat. I spin around in time to see the guy I’ve been looking for. He must have been watching the house.

Shit, I was distracted by her and allowed him to get too close.

He’s got a wicked-looking blade in his hand, and I’m caught on the back foot. He lunges at me with it and almost guts me. I jump back, bumping into a tree trunk.

“She worth dying for?” he asks in a rumbling voice. “Christian’s going to keep sending us until we get her. Give it up.”

He lunges again, and this time I duck. The blade hits the tree and sends him off balance.

I yank his arm, slamming his head into the tree. He lets out a grunt, his knees weakening.

“Kill me if you want,” he says, swinging a punch at me that catches my chin. “She’s going to get caught eventually.”

“Not on my watch.”

“Since when did you give a shit about women? Give her up and you might get out of this alive.”

He swings at me again. I catch his fist in my hand. “I’ll kill every man that comes for her.”

There’s no art to this. No intimate fight ballet across her front lawn. I simply get hold of him and break his ribs in a bear hug, taking the fight right out of him.

I keep squeezing, hearing creaking and popping in his throat.

He claws at me with his hands, but they’re already weakening. I lift him into the air and twist him in my arms.

I drop him onto his head to make sure he’s done.

He doesn’t move.

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