Arranged Mafia Marriage

Karma

When I’d been brought to the hospital, Aurora had examined me thoroughly, not just going through the motions, as I’d thought she would.

I had protested and she’d said it had been to make things look authentic. Authentic? When no one was around to see her? Hmm. When she’d completed her examination, she’d told me that she needed to run a few more tests. I’d asked her if something was wrong and she’d said, not really, it was just a precaution. But the look on her face.

Seriously, it reminded me of the time when the doctor had told me that I have a hole in my heart-that it wasn’t dangerous yet, but that it needed to be fixed. Clearly, this was something similar. Either her examination had revealed my condition… Or it was something else. And either way, I was not staying to find out more.

I’d asked her if she had changed her mind about helping me and she had said, of course, not. That she’d do everything in her power to help me. And somehow, it had been the way that she’d said it, how she had avoided looking at my eyes when she said it, that had caused me to mistrust her. Something was up with her. Maybe she was getting cold feet, or an attack of conscience. Or perhaps, she had realized she could not go up against the Capo. Either way, I wasn’t waiting around to find out. She had told me that she needed to access a few more things to run some more tests on me, and that’s when I had decided, no way, was I going to stick around to find out what those tests involved. Likely, she was going to tell the Capo that I was planning on escaping. I had been sure of that. So, when she’d left the room, I had promptly pulled my clothes and shoes back on and rushed to the window.

The ground hadn’t seemed too far, until I had jumped, that is. I had landed with a thump that had sent pain slicing through my body. I had picked myself up, then broken into a run. I hadn’t dared to look back for fear that he’d have already discovered my absence. I’d raced out of the hospital complex, up the road, until I had reached a junction. I had glanced around, wondering which way to go, then decided to keep straight. I was on a road that was busy enough that I felt safe. If I was in a crowd, he wouldn’t do anything, would he? He couldn’t just drag me off kicking and screaming if he managed to track me down, could he?

I had taken off up the pavement, trying to not hurry too much, trying not to attract too much attention to myself. All the while my heartrate had skyrocketed; my pulse had kicked up…

Shit! Once more, I am pushing myself too much. My breath comes in puffs. I can feel my heart slamming against my rib cage. Sweat pools under my armpits, and overall, I don’t fell so well. I slow down to a normal walk, but that doesn’t help. My head spins and the edges of my vision flicker with dark spots. Shit, what the hell is wrong with me? Why am I feeling so woozy? I’ve never fainted in my life… Not counting the fake fainting spell earlier, which is how he had found me.

I hope this isn’t my heart acting up. It can’t be my heart acting up. It had better not be my heart acting up. I press my knuckles into my thundering heartbeats that vibrate through my chest. Shit, shit, shit, this is not good! I glance about the space at the people engaged in their day-to-day lives. The woman scolding her child, who seems to be on the verge of tears. The men crowded around a table outside a coffeeshop. A couple of boys on their electronic scooters driving by on the pavement. The man and woman holding hands as they peer into the shopfront. The image fades back and forth as I take a step forward, and another. My knees wobble. I throw out a hand as the ground comes up to meet me, stops, as arms grasp me. The scent of testosterone envelops me. Musky, like leather, with a hint of woodsmoke. The heat of his body envelops me as he swings me up in his arms.

“Foiled, again,” I murmur. “I tried to run, I tried to leave you, but-”

“I found you.” His blue eyes bore into mine. “I’ll always find you, no matter how far you go. I’ll always track you down, no matter how far you flee. You can try to escape me, but I’ll never let you.”

“Michael.”

“Beauty?” He rakes his gaze across my face, “You should have planned better. I gave you more credit than this half-brained escape attempt.”

“It wasn’t half-brained. I had-” I chew the inside of my cheek. No way, am I going to give up Aurora, no matter that she had abandoned me at the last minute. Guess she’s entitled. I would be worried for my skin, too, if my family was answerable to the Capo.

“You had help,” he states.

“No, I didn’t.”

“I know it was the doctor,” he says as he turns and begins retracing our steps. The smattering of people on the pavement glance at us, then away. No one tries to stop him. Not that I am struggling or anything. Still, apparently, it’s normal for a man to carry a woman through the streets here…

Not that he is just any man. He is the Capo. Their Capo. Guess none of them would have stopped to help me even if I had been struggling to get away from him…which I am not, anyway. I snuggle into his chest, push my cheek against where his heart thuds steadily. It’s beat slower than the organ that pounds away against my ribcage.

“I have something to tell you,” I say at the same time as him.

He glances down at me, “You first.”

“You first,” I murmur as I reach up to touch his cheek. So bloody gorgeous. Why couldn’t you have been, at least, ugly looking?

He chuckles and I realize that I have spoken the words aloud. Heat sears my cheeks.

“What did you want to tell me?” I ask, more because I want to divert his attention from my earlier faux pas. That’s all I need, voicing my thoughts aloud… I mean, if he could read what my thoughts are when I am normally around him…then he’d know that I’m fighting a losing battle when it comes to him.

OMG, why are all of my thoughts so muddled? Why does my brain feel as if it’s turned to mush? Why do my arms and legs feel so heavy? I squint up at him through the sunlight that pours over him, bathing him in a golden glow that brings out the hollows under his cheeks, the shadows under his eyes, the grooves on either side of his mouth. That stern mouth, those lips that had brought me so much pleasure, every time he’s kissed me, every time he’s sucked on my nipples, bit me on my pussy. I clench my thighs together, drag my fingers to his mouth, as his lips move.

“You’re pregnant, Beauty.”

I still, “Wh… what?”

“You’re with child,” his arms tighten around me, “my child.”

“It’s not possible.”

“It’s very possible.”

“I… I mean. I can’t be pregnant.”

“You are.”

“Who told you?” I firm my lips. “The doctor?”

He nods.

So that’s why she had stepped out of the room to talk to him? To alert him first? Why hadn’t she told me? This is what I get for trusting someone who is one of them… Clearly, they owe their loyalties only to each other, and I am not one of the Mafia. No wonder, she had pretended to be my confidant, only to betray me. It wasn’t even the fact that she had mentioned it to him first. Why hadn’t she shared it with me when she had found out? Because then she knew, I would never have allowed myself to be caught by him. No bloody way. I begin to struggle, but his grasp tightens about me.

I wince, “You’re hurting me.”

He eases his hold just a fraction, but keeps me plastered to his chest.

“Is that why you came after me? Because I am carrying your heir?”

“I came after you because you are mine.”

And this child…would also be his. Shit, this is what I had been afraid of. That if I became pregnant, I’d never be able to leave him. That he’d become even more possessive, and stake his claim on me even more firmly.

Oh, hell. “Let me go,” I say in a harsh whisper, and he shakes his head.

“You know I can’t, especially not now that-”

“That I am carrying your precious child.”

“Your child too.”

No kidding. My stomach ties itself up in knots. The band around my chest tightens. “I… I don’t want this child,” I lie.

“Too bad, you don’t have a choice.”

I stare up at what I can see of his face. “Fuck you,” I snap and he chuckles.

“I’d love to, but we may have to exercise caution until you are stronger.”

“Nothing is wrong with me.”

“Other than your being pregnant with my child, that is.”

His child. His wife. What about me? What about what I want? I dig my fingers into the front of his shirt, “I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can.”

“I don’t want to do this.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Are you hearing anything I am saying?”

“You’re afraid,” he murmurs. “It’s normal.”

“I am not afraid, you prick.”

“Is that any way to speak to the father of your child?”

Oh, my god! I am pregnant with his child. Our child. Oh god, oh god. My stomach seems to coil in on itself. “I think I am going to be sick again.”

He glances down at me as we reach the entrance to the hospital. He shoulders his way inside, then makes a beeline past the reception down the corridor. He shoves open the door, races to a bathroom stall and deposits me on my feet. I sink to my knees, and for the second time in twelve hours, I puke my guts out in front of him.