Page 34 of Pregnant By the Mafia Boss

“As long as the women stay hidden, they’ll be safe under guard. We need Dante and Luca in Rome. If we don’t deal with Christian quickly, he’ll fuck us up, and it’s gonna take everything we’ve got to come out on top.”

13

Keira

“You get used to it,” Zoey says. She tucks Phoebe into bed, yawning as she does so.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. Moving from Birch Lake to a mansion and now to some so-called ‘safe house’ in the middle of nowhere.”

“Keeping you out of trouble, that’s what they said. Keeping us all out of trouble, in fact. Hence,safehouse.” She gives me a nudge. “Try to relax. They’ve got it in hand.”

I look out the window at the darkness outside. No lights are visible at all. “Reminds me of Birch Lake,” I say. “Remember those nights sitting by the water?”

“I remember you telling me the monster under the surface would come and get us if we stayed out too late.”

“Turns out the monsters were on land all along.”

She heads out of the baby’s room, and I follow. We sit in what will be mine and Salvatore’s room.

“Do you ever get used to it?” I ask. “The killing, I mean?”

“It’s not like our husbands are out murdering people every day of the week. They only kill people who have it coming.”

“You sure about that?”

“Ask your husband.” I roll my eyes at her, and she laughs. “What? Come on, you’re married now. You need to be able to communicate.”

“What am I supposed to say? ‘Hey babe—I was coming out to the lakehouse because I thought we were going to recreate our first steamy encounter, and instead, I saw you in the process of dealing with a corpse with your brother. By the way, why did you kill him?’”

“Basically, yeah. Justaskhim.”

“He’d want to know why I hid instead of confronting him.”

Antonio appears in the doorway. “The place is secure,” he says. “Salvatore wants to see you, Keira.”

Zoey squeezes my hand. “It’ll be all right,” she says. “Trust me. I’ve been where you are. It always works out okay.”

I give her a half smile and I leave her with her husband.

Downstairs, I find Salvatore loading a gun. “What’s that for?” I ask. “Bored of me?”

“You need to be able to shoot.”

“Why?”

“Because me and Antonio are going to Rome, and shit might go down while we’re away.”

“You promised me that this place was secure. You told me no one would find us here.”

“This is a precaution. It pays to be prepared for anything.” He holds the gun out toward me. “You ever used one before?”

“Not much call for them looking after stray dogs and cats.”

“Trigger. Safety. That’s the bit that shoots.”

“Lesson over?” I hold the gun, looking at the side of it.

He pushes the gun so it’s pointing toward the floor. “Assume it’s loaded and the safety is off. Only point it at something you want to kill. Now, come outside. I’ve set up some targets.”

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