Page 72 of The Agreement

“Do you want it, Vinny?” He gave her a crooked grin as he stood up.

“I know you might find it odd, given my past and such, but I do. When I saw the box in your hands, my heart stopped and then it started at a pace I hadn’t felt since the first time I was with you. And the thought of us having a baby, it’s amazing. It will be wanted, please don’t doubt that.” Val smiled, how could she not? Yeah, she never thought she’d see the womanizer that she knew married and ready to settle down, but here was the proof before her. He was hers and he wanted all of this, and she couldn’t stop the happiness at it either.

Her phone chimed and she glanced down at it before looking back at him. He licked his lips, and took her hand to help her off the bed. They walked into the bathroom, glanced at the three sticks laying there, and she just about fainted as he whooped loudly. They were pregnant! She couldn’t recall a time that she was ever more grateful that she broke the rules and married this man. He turned to her, swung her up in his arms, and kissed her deeply. Okay, she could also tell he was way excited and she had no means to fight it off, his excitement spilling over onto her.

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“Here, have a drink,” Salvaorte said, giving Val the drink. She smiled and handed it back to him.

“Thanks, but I’m okay. Not in the mood right now,” she told him. Six days ago they had taken the test, and two days after she had gone to see her doctor, who confirmed that she was just about five weeks along, which meant they got pregnant almost right away. And given that short time frame, they were trying to keep it under wraps that they were. There would be a time to share and that wasn’t now. Luciana lifted a brow at her before taking a sip of her own drink, but Val refused to comment. She knew it would be hard to be at Vinny’s opening and not drink, or give anything away, but she had no choice.

“Salvatore, let her be. If she doesn’t want to indulge in her husband’s free drinks, that’s on her,” Celeste said, walking up to the group. Val eyed her and shook her head, turning away.

“Celeste, don’t you have someone else to go pick on or something,” Luciana finally said, waving her hand at the other woman. Celeste glared at her, the anger burning bright.

“You’re nothing, Luciana, why don’t you just learn to keep your mouth shut?” Val flew between them, knowing her best friend too well and that it would only rile her up.

“Leave it alone, Luciana,” Val told her. She looked at Val for a second before nodding.

“Only because it’s Vinny’s opening night and I don’t want him to get a bad rap for murder on the first night.” Val closed her eyes and shook her head, praying that Celeste would let that just roll off her back.

“Hey, no talk about that shit,” Vinny said, walking over to the VIP section on the top floor. “Why are you even talking about that?”

“Because your wife’s friend is a bitch,” Celeste said, shrugging as if it was nothing. Val turned and looked at Celeste.

“You need to fucking chill, Celeste. You’re here because you have friendships with some of these men, but that’s it. And frankly, I don’t think those friendships are strong enough to take the wrath of their boss. Remember, he’s my husband, not yours, so kindly back the fuck off before I release my best friend on you, along with my own anger.” Celeste narrowed her eyes and took a step toward Val, lowering her voice low enough so no one else could hear.

“Don’t fuck with me, Val, you won’t like it, I’ve already told you that. Guardati le spalle(Watch your back).” With that, Celeste left, not even glancing around. Vinny stepped over, his arm wrapping around my waist.

“She’s a lot of talk.” Val slowly shook her head before looking at him fully.

“No, Vinny, I don’t think she is. She’s a firecracker and she scares me. I don’t think she’s stable, and people like that, they’re dangerous.” Vinny sighed and kissed her temple before pulling her in close.

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“I’ll take her home, Vinny,” Luciana said, putting her bottle of water down. It was already two in the morning and Val was ready to call it a night. She had been queasy the last few hours and it seemed like the morning sickness was coming back.

“Thanks, Luciana. I shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“Take your time, I’m just getting her home, and into bed.” Vinny smiled at her, kissed Val softly, and then saw them down to the main floor, and out the back door to the car, Luciana came in with Val.

“I’ll see you in a little bit,” he told Val, kissing her one more time. Val nodded and slipped into the car with Luciana, leaning against her. She closed her eyes as they took off and Luciana sighed.

“Not feeling well, huh?” Luciana questioned.

“Not at all.” That was all that was said the entire drive back home. Luciana finally woke Val up with a soft nudge as they pulled into the garage, her head nodding at the door. You could see the lights were on and that’s something that Vinny always made sure was off. Luciana climbed out of the car, reached behind her back, and pulled out her gun, making sure the safety was off. The ladies walked into the house, Val behind Luciana, and Val noticed the alarm was off, so whoever was in there, knew enough about the house to shut it off and how.

“Stay behind me, no matter what,” Luciana whispered to Val who only nodded. Not that she thought Luciana should get hurt for her, but she knew her friend too well, Luciana would gladly defend Val. They turned down the walkway and into the living room, Val barely having time to warn Luciana about the person before the shot rang out, throwing Luciana backward and into Val, knocking them both to the ground. A scream flew out of Val’s mouth as the thud of the gun landed next to them. This couldn’t be happening, not in this home. She heard the scrambling from the other person and Val swallowed her fear. She had to take care of this person before they killed both her and Luciana and then she couldn’t save her friend.

Val grabbed the gun, glad that Luciana was smart enough to turn it off for her, and lifted the weapon, almost gasping at the fact that Celeste stood on the other side of the room, her pistol raised to shoot again. Although, if Val really wanted to put the pieces together, she should have known the other woman was behind this. Everything made so much more sense to see her, Val just wished she wasn’t so blind as not to see this before. Without a second thought, Val lifted her gun and fired, smirking at the surprised look in Celeste’s eyes. Val got up, walked over to the other woman, and looked down at her, the gun aimed for another shot since she didn’t quite get the heart as she wanted.

“How did you get in here?” Val asked.

“His…mom.” Val tilted her head at the blood that was starting to spill from her mouth. “She…wanted…me to...ensnare him, I wanted…you dead. I knew…you were...leaving.” Val watched as Celeste coughed but her anger was burning hot.

“You didn’t do this alone, did you?” Starting to work through the problems, there was no way that she could have, there had to be help, another person, but Val was coming up blank on who it could have been. Celeste smirked as she coughed again.

“I would…never…give that…up.” Val narrowed her eyes at that, her gun lifted again. She had no qualms taking this woman’s life, not after the damage she had done.

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