Miguel laughs again, as if all of this is some huge joke. Then I realize that to him it is, that the whole thing is a joke on me. Miguel doesn’t like me at all, he’s using me to get to Gavino. He is fucking me to get me pregnant so that he can do whatever he has planned to the famiglia.
Oh my god.
I almost laugh, because it’s just that funny. Gavino doesn’t give a shit about me. I doubt he would even recognize me if I were walking down the street coming toward him. Miguel doesn’t realize how little I mean to the famiglia.
“Good, then you can off the girl, sell the kid or whatever if it’s popped out by then.”
My thighs tremble, they shake, and my knees start to give out. I place my palms against the wall in an effort to attempt to hold myself up. It works, barely. I’m a trembling, shaking mess, but I don’t make a noise, I need to hear the rest.
“Be glad to get rid of her, Uncle Juarez. She just fuckin’ lays there like a goddamn fish. Thank fuck I got a couple pieces on the goddamn side. And this shit better not take long enough for that kid to shoot out of her snatch. Fuck that.”
Tears fill my eyes, but I blink them back. Licking my lips, I straighten my body, squaring my shoulders, and I decide that I’m going to go out of this with my dignity intact and still breathing.
Walking down the rest of the stairs, I plaster on a fake smile and continue with my night. All the while, I’m freaking out and trying to come up with an exit strategy that won’t make Miguel or his uncle suspicious.
SALVATORE
My phone rings.
Looking down, I cringe at the name on the screen. Not because I don’t give a fuck, but because I care too goddamn much.
“Pippa,” I murmur as my greeting.
She’s quiet for a moment, then I hear her sniffle. “What?” I demand.
“I don’t know,” she whispers.
I wait her out, knowing that she’s got something happening, but she’s trying to find the words for it. I’ve known Pippa for years and not just as Massimo’s wife.
Granted, she’s always been that, but while he was in prison, she was my friend. I helped her gain guardianship of her sister and was the go-between when it came to her and Massimo for a while. She’s a good woman, a great mafia wife.
“You’ll tell me,” I state.
She inhales a deep breath. “I think it’s Rosana,” she begins.
My spine straightens at the mention of Rosana. Not for any reason other than Rosana reminds me of Abriana. She’s young and innocent, but there is a wildness to her that is just below the surface. It was that wildness that got Abriana killed and I wouldn’t be able to cope if something happened to Rosana too.
“Tell me,” I growl.
“She isn’t talking to me. I don’t know what to do. Massimo just wants to drag her here and lock her up, but she’s trying to make it on her own and I won’t let him do that to her. She deserves a chance at a normal life.”
I almost laugh. Normal life. What the fuck does that even mean? There is no normal. Not for me, not for Pippa, not for Rosana. Normal doesn’t exist in our world and when you’re born into this, there is no getting out and being normal.
“What do you want me to do, bella?” I ask.
She’s quiet for a moment. “I don’t know, maybe you can just check up on her next time you’re in the city?” she asks.
“Tomorrow. I’ll go and see her tomorrow. You got the address of her office building?”
“Yeah,” Pippa exhales, then she rattles off an address. I write it down, telling her not to worry, then I end the call.
I may tell Pippa not to worry, and she shouldn’t, because I’ll get to the bottom of whatever is going on. If I’ve learned anything from Abriana, it’s to always go with your gut.
Obviously, there is something Pippa feels in hers and I’m going to find out whatever the fuck it is as soon as fucking possible.
Chapter One
SALVATORE
There is a knock on my office door. Lifting my head, I blink at the sight of Kimberly standing there. My paralegal doesn’t bother me much, though I can usually feel her gaze on me any time we’re in the same room.
This is different though, she’s wearing a scowl on her attractive face and I can’t help but wonder what’s crawled up her ass.
Kimberly helps me on my cases that do not involve famiglia business and sometimes she helps me with famiglia business without knowing it. She’s excellent at her job, which is the main reason I keep her around.
I’ve never tried to fuck her. There is no way I’m opening that can of worms, not with my paralegal. I need her too badly at this point. She is an asset to my business.
“May I help you?” I ask when she doesn’t say anything immediately.
She licks her bright red lips. “There is a girl here,” she says, emphasizing the word girl.
“Okay…”
“She claims to know you, says it’s urgent. Would you like me to take a message, have her make an appointment?” she asks.
“Oh, get the hell out of the way,” a familiar voice snaps as hands come from behind Kimberly and physically push her to the side.
I watch, my eyes widening at the sight of Rosana walking into my office, or rather, pushing her way into my office. Kimberly teeters on her high heels and almost falls flat on her ass. I am completely useless as I sit behind my desk, my mouth parted at the unbelievable sight in front of me.
Just last night Pippa had called me worried about Rosana and here she stands, hours before I was planning on heading into the city to find her. I had one thing left to do today and that was to pick a wife from the three contenders that I’d narrowed it down to, well, that Maci helped me narrow it down to, finally.
My plan was to choose, go to Gavino and tell him my choice, then go to find Rosana. I’d even cleared my entire afternoon, and here she is.
“Kimberly, you may go,” I say, finally finding my voice.
“Yeah,” Rosana sneers. “You may go, Kimberly.”
I chuckle, standing before I walk around my desk. Rosana closes the office door, flipping the lock in place when she does. Closing the distance between us, I reach out to her and as soon as my arms wrap around her, she throws herself at me. I hear her wail out before she begins to shake with sobs.
“What the fuck?” I hiss.
She whimpers but doesn’t speak. Keeping my arms around her, I guide her over to the sofa against the wall and start to sit down. She follows, her shoulders shaking with her cries before she finally sits back and wipes her tears away.
“I’m sorry,” she breathes. “I didn’t know where else to go and I had to run. I had to get away.”
“Rosana, your sister is worried about you. What the fuck is going on?” I demand.
Her eyes widen and she licks her lips. “Pippa is worried about me?” she asks in a whisper.
Nodding, I lift my hand and gently wipe the tears from beneath her eyes with the back of my knuckles. She looks so heartbroken, so sad. Her dark hair is piled on top of her head, she’s not wearing any makeup, and she’s crying, but she still looks stunning.
“She is. I was heading into the city to talk to you today.”
Rosana’s lips twitch into a small smile. “Huh, funny and here I am.”
Nodding, I return her smile. “Yes, here you are, but why Rosana?”
“I-I—” she stutters, her bottom lip trembling. “I’m in trouble, Salvatore, and I don’t know where else to go.”
“How about to Pippa?” I suggest.
Her eyes widen and she shakes her head a few times. “I can’t go to her, Massimo will find out.”
“About?” I ask.
Jesus fucking Christ, this whole conversation is like pulling teeth.
She swallows hard, those big blue eyes focused on me and nowhere else. They’re shining with her unshed tears and I shouldn’t find her attractive. I shouldn’t want to kiss her, strip her naked, and fuck her right here on my sofa. I shouldn’t want to do
any of it—but I really fucking do.
“I made a big mistake. A huge one,” she breathes.
I don’t bother asking her what. Instead, I just wait for her to speak, knowing she’s only going to tell me this story in small increments.
“I let someone get too close to me. I didn’t think. Massimo and Pippa are always telling me to be careful, especially when it comes to getting close to anyone, but I don’t listen. I never listen. I’m all about the good time, the party, and it has finally bitten me in the ass—hard.”
I get an image of Rosana’s ass in the air ready for said biting. Shaking my head, I clear my throat and try to clear my mind of the thought. I remind myself that she’s around the age of my sister, that she is practically young enough to be my daughter.
I remind myself, but it doesn’t fucking matter, because my cock still twitches at the thought of her naked and on her knees for me, ass in the air.
Fuck me.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think,” I say, attempting to reassure her.
Rosana shakes her head, clearing her throat. “It’s worse than you could imagine, Salvi. So much worse.”
My heart squeezes at her sweet nickname. I’ve only ever been called Sal or Salvatore, very rarely Junior. I despise the Junior. I am my father’s son, there is no doubt about that. And I’ve taken his place as the Consigliere for the Boss, but I am not him.
Not by a long shot.
“Go on, Rosana,” I encourage.
She inhales a deep breath, closing her eyes, letting it out as she reopens them. Her gaze finds mine and she holds it for a long moment before she speaks.
“I met someone at work. His name is Miguel. I didn’t ask questions about his personal life. He asked me out, we partied, we had sex…” She lets her words trail off and my entire body goes rigid at her words.
Here I am fantasizing about her and she’s come to me with goddamn boy troubles. What the fuck is wrong with me? I’m a fucking pervert, that’s what’s wrong with me.
“We had a lot of sex over the past three months,” she murmurs. “I overheard him and his uncle a couple days ago saying that they were going to use me to get to Gavino, then they were going to kill me and—”
Her words break off as her body starts trembling with a new round of sobs. “And what, Rosana?” I ask, trying to keep my voice calm even though inside I’m completely full of rage and it’s on the edge of bursting through and bubbling over.
“Kill me and my baby.”
ROSANA
Salvatore’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t say anything immediately. Instead, he watches me for a moment, his eyes wide and a look of pure horror etched in his features. Then he clears his throat and sits back in his chair slightly.
“And you’re pregnant,” he says. It’s not a question, more of a statement.
Nodding my head, my eyes search his. “I am. He doesn’t know it though. I found out a few days ago, the day I heard him and his uncle talking. I came here as soon as I could get away undetected.”
“You did the right thing,” he murmurs, and I can’t help but feel a sense of pride fill me from his words.
Then the realization of my situation crashes down around me again. I am pregnant. The father of my unborn baby used me and plans on killing me. A fresh wave of tears fills my eyes and falls down my cheeks.
Salvatore slides his thumb beneath my eye again, wiping away some of the tears, but there are too many falling, and eventually his hand drops from my face. I miss it immediately, wishing to have the warmth of his skin against my own.
“You know I’m going to have to call Gavino on this,” he murmurs. “We need everything on this guy that you have so we can figure out who exactly he’s involved with. What organization he works for.”
“Salvatore,” I whisper.
He’s half standing, his hand in his pocket no doubt to fish out his phone. I watch him for a moment, then shake my head once.
“What is going to happen to me? I can’t tell Pippa. I can’t go back to my apartment. I’m scared.”
Salvatore’s lips slowly curve up into a grin and he dips his chin so that his eyes can focus and connect to my own. He doesn’t say anything right away, his eyes just focused on mine.
I can’t look away from him. He has me completely mesmerized and I can’t help but wonder how I’ve never seen him before.
He’s always been just Salvatore, the stern attorney who helped my sister get guardianship of me. The man who saved me, but nothing more.
Except right now.
The way he’s looking at me, the way his eyes don’t even shift from mine. It causes my entire body to feel aflame. It shouldn’t. He’s older. He’s a little scary. He’s a Made Man, and I swore I would never even look at a Made Man, let alone think about one.
Except right now.
I am thinking about him. I have no right to do that. I am pregnant with someone else’s baby, but that doesn’t stop my mind or my body from its natural desires. I need to get out of here. I need to run far, far away.
“Don’t be scared, bambola.”
Doll.
If he notices my cheeks turning pink from the term of endearment, he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he continues to straighten, doing exactly what I thought, and takes his phone out of his pocket.
I sit on the edge of the sofa, my eyes focused on him as he places his phone to his ear. He doesn’t say much though, and I hold my breath, wondering what the hell is going on. My entire body is a gigantic ball of nerves and I wonder if I’ve made the right choice.
“My office, immediately, it’s urgent.”
He ends the call, turning around to face me as he rests his ass against the edge of his desk. I watch as he crosses his arms over his chest, and I realize that perhaps I had other options.
Maybe not the most desirable of options, though. I could have this baby taken care of, as Miguel and his uncle so kindly put it. Then he wouldn’t have that to hold over my head and I could come back to Pippa.
Placing my hand against my belly, I pinch my eyes closed and try to breathe. The thought of doing that makes me feel sick. I’ve never been one to hold judgment over women who do, but the thought of doing it myself physically causes me to ache.
Shaking my head, I open my eyes and look to Salvatore. He’s watching me, not speaking as he does. Then he clears his throat and pushes off the desk.
“You hungry? Want something to drink?” he asks.
“What is happening?” I ask on a whisper.
“We’re waiting for Gavino. There’s a little café just in the next building over. I can send Kimberly over since Maci isn’t here today.”
Pressing my lips together, I roll them as I think about it. Food doesn’t particularly sound appealing, but making that bitch go and do something she doesn’t want to do really does. Plus, I have never turned down an iced coffee in my life and I’m not about to now.
“An iced coffee wouldn’t be amiss,” I whisper.
Salvatore grins, shaking his head as he reaches over to his office phone. He touches a button, then picks the phone up off the cradle and holds it to his ear.
“Need you to run down to the café, one espresso for me, and what do you want, bambola?”
Goose bumps cover my entire body at the nickname again. Licking my lips, I smile, knowing that Kimberly is going to be pissed off at my order.
“Can I get a large iced Americano, with coconut milk, caramel, and a splash of white chocolate mocha sauce?”
Salvatore’s eyes widen and he chuckles before he repeats the order. “Add in some pastry or sweet of some kind, yeah?”
He hangs up the phone and opens his mouth to say something when Gavino waltzes through the door without knocking.
“What the fuck is going on?” Gavino growls.
Chapter Two
SALVATORE
Gavino is standing in my office, hot and bothered mainly because I demanded he come to said office and didn’t give him
an explanation or reason as to why, not that he is far from me. We used to share a building, but since Gavino has been working from home the last few years, more often than not, we moved things around.
Nobody pushes him around, nobody orders him anywhere, and right now I know he’s busy as fuck with Mia and her new husband taking over the D’Amore famiglia.
I jerk my chin toward the sofa where Rosana is sitting, wide eyed and seemingly innocent. The girl is in a predicament, to say the least, but her situation is not dire. She’s actually helping us more than she knows.
Once we figure out who is trying to fuck with us, we can stop a war before it begins. Something that I know Gavino prefers. Cutting the snake off at the head is much better than chasing it around at the tail.
Gavino spins around, and I hear his intake of breath at seeing Rosana on my couch. He turns back to me and narrows his gaze. “What is happening?” he demands.
Fuck, but he’s in a bad mood today.
“Sit,” I instruct. “Rosana, come over here and sit next to Vino, yeah?”
Her eyes widen as she lifts her gaze to meet mine. She doesn’t say anything, but she does slowly rise to her feet. I watch as she makes her way over to the empty chair across from me and slowly sinks down.
Gavino sits after her, and as soon as his ass hits the chair, his attention shifts to me. He arches a brow, waiting for me to speak. Clearing my throat, I look to Rosana for permission and she nods her head once, giving it to me.
“Rosana is in a pickle,” I begin.
“A pickle?” Gavino snorts.
“She met someone at work. They started a relationship. She overheard him talking to an uncle of his. The relationship has been a sham on his end. He’s been trying to get her pregnant in order to use her to get to you, to the famiglia.”
“And?”
“He said he would kill me once he got to you,” Rosana whispers.
“Let me guess, he gained his purpose, you’re pregnant?” he asks.
Becoming her Salvation (Zanetti Famiglia Book 7) Page 2
