Sinner - A Bad Boy's Baby Romance

by Layla Valentine

Correction: she didn’t truly know him. They’d only spent time together while working. Even the dinners they’d had were merely extensions of business hours.

  “They didn’t plant me, Viv,” he said. “They work for me.”

  She shuffled so far back that her butt hit the wall. “No,” she said, shaking her head.

  “Your being here is entirely a coincidence.” He wore a mixed look of pity and disgust. “I like you very much. I certainly would have never wished for you to get tied up in this, but here we are. The world has a funny way about it.”

  “They work for you,” she whispered. “How do you know Markus?”

  “I don’t. Not personally.” His nostrils flared. “But he stole from me, and because of that, we’ll soon be acquainted.”

  “The men were talking about someone named Dagger.”

  “Tell me…” He folded his arms. “What has Markus told you about his work?”

  He completely ignored the whole Dagger part. Was that him? How strange. A few minutes ago, before he walked into the room, she would have laughed at the idea of the name fitting Mr. Romano.

  But the man standing in front of her was no longer Mr. Romano. The pleasant exterior had fallen away, revealing the perfect view of a ruthless, domineering personality exacerbated by the calm he spoke with.

  She was aware of goosebumps rising on her arms and the way her voice shook.

  “Nothing. He’s told me nothing.”

  “Really.” He cocked an eyebrow.

  “We haven’t known each other long. He told me he’s between jobs.”

  She swallowed. She’d keep to herself the whole part about him showing up at her apartment that morning and demanding they leave town.

  “And what did he say to you this morning?”

  She bit her lip. Shit.

  “He wouldn’t tell me much…” Her mind raced as she carefully chose the words. It was a good thing Markus really hadn’t been casual with information. “Just that we needed to leave town.”

  “Anything else?” His eyelashes fluttered, and he smiled, but it was a grin carved from ice.

  “No.”

  “You know why you’re here, right?”

  “Are you hoping to bait him? It won’t work. He said we had to leave town right away. I refused to go with him, so I’m sure he left on his own.”

  Mr. Romano looked at her for a long moment. “You believe he would leave without you?”

  Viv’s head hung. She didn’t want to believe he would, but the truth was that she hadn’t given him much choice. If he had half a brain, he was already out of the state.

  Mr. Romano knocked on the door behind him. A moment later, it opened up and someone handed him a pillow, a blanket, and a grocery bag. With the pile in his arms, he moved to Viv.

  It seemed almost impossible, but she tensed even more. If he noticed, he acted like he didn’t.

  “It’s not the best sleeping arrangement,” he said, putting everything down. “But it will only be for one night.”

  “What happens tomorrow?”

  A glint appeared in his eye. “Tomorrow, Markus will trade the diamonds he took from me in exchange for you.”

  “And then you’ll let him go? You won’t bother us?”

  “Why do you care about him? He’s the one who got you into this mess.”

  Good question.

  She felt an urge to press her hand to her belly but resisted it. For some reason she didn’t quite understand, she didn’t want Mr. Romano—or Dagger, whatever his name was—to know she was pregnant. He already had too much of an agenda to shift it because of that.

  “Do you need to use the bathroom?”

  She hesitated, hating to ask for anything from him. Hours had gone by since she’d been put in the room, though.

  Grudgingly, she nodded.

  “Troy,” Mr. Romano called.

  A man with a thick neck and a buzzcut popped his head into the room. He could have been one of the two men who’d brought Viv there, but she couldn’t tell for sure.

  “Take Viv to the restroom.”

  Troy grunted.

  Heart pounding, Viv got to her feet. Maybe this would be her chance at an escape.

  Turned out, it wasn’t. Troy walked her to a bathroom across a narrow hall, a gun hanging over his arm. Even though he waited outside of the bathroom, with the absence of a window in it, there was no hope for breaking free.

  By the time she came out of the bathroom, Mr. Romano was nowhere to be found. Troy took her to the room that was her cell and locked her in once more.

  The adrenaline that had spiked her heart rate earlier had left, leaving her feeling weary. Dropping to her knees, she opened the bag that Mr. Romano had left and pulled out a water bottle and a prepackaged sandwich, like the kind sold at grocery stores or gas stations.

  She knew she was probably hungry, but she couldn’t feel it if she was. That kind of need had become so insignificant. Unscrewing the water bottle, she drank half of it down before putting it away. No telling when she’d be given another bathroom break.

  Sitting on the blanket, she drew her knees up to her chest. The light on the other side of the thin window changed from orange to gray, and then to black.

  With no light in the room, it felt like a tomb. Viv bit into her lip, forcing herself to not cry.

  She hoped Markus had managed to get away. It didn’t matter that this was all his doing. He’d made a mistake, sure, but she still loved him. She’d never stop loving him.

  Too bad she’d never gotten the chance to tell him that.

  She hoped he wouldn’t take Mr. Romano’s bait and come for her. It was too dangerous.

  But what would Mr. Romano do with her?

  She couldn’t think about that. That meant inviting a panic attack.

  Instead, she focused on breathing. In and out. Things weren’t over yet. She could still make it out of this alive. Somehow.

  The hours stretched on, and her head started nodding. She didn’t realize she was asleep until a loud bang made her jerk.

  More loud bangs followed. Gunshots.

  People were outside of her room, shooting at each other!

  She jumped to standing and pressed herself to the wall. A man yelled something indiscernible. Viv scooted closer to the door.

  Were Mr. Romano’s men fighting among themselves? Or had they been attacked by a rival gang? Or could it be that Markus…?

  She wouldn’t allow herself to fully entertain that last possibility. It was too much to hope for.

  “Please,” she whispered. “Please…”

  All she needed was someone—anyone—to open the door. It was so dark that they wouldn’t see her. If they came into the room, she could dart behind them and make a run for it.

  There were another few gunshots, and then… silence.

  Footsteps sounded somewhere in the building and then grew louder.

  Viv’s breath hitched in her throat. The doorknob jiggled but didn’t quite get there. A man’s muffled voice said something, and then a moment later, something hit the door.

  Another hit… another. Either someone was kicking the door or battering it with something big and heavy.

  A fourth hit knocked the door off its hinges.

  A dark figure stepped over the door and into the room. Viv crouched, ready to run for it as soon as he cleared enough space.

  “Viv?”

  She froze. “Markus?”

  He turned in the direction of her voice. Their hands found each other in the dark. His warm touch made her sob.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah. What are you doing here?”

  He squeezed her hands. “I came for you.”

  “But I… I didn’t listen to you.”

  “Come on.” He tugged on her hand. “We have to get out of here.”

  She nodded dumbly and allowed herself to be led from the room. There would be time for talking later.

  The short hall led into a larger room with broke
n, boarded-up windows. Viv had met Markus’ friend Ryder before, but it took a moment to believe the man with a semi-automatic in hand and a bloody shoulder was him. Like with Mr. Romano, the circumstances changed everything.

  “Your arm.”

  She reached out to him.

  “It’s nothing. A bullet grazed it.” Ryder nodded his head at Markus. “Reese and Frank have the car running.”

  Behind Ryder, she noticed the body lying along the wall. The face was turned away, but she was pretty sure it was that Troy guy. Not far off, blood pooled from another body. This one faced them.

  A chill went through Viv.

  “Where’s Mr. Romano?” she whispered.

  “Who?” Ryder’s eyebrows pinched as he frowned.

  Markus’ hold on her hand tightened. “Come on, Viv. We have to go before their reinforcements get here.”

  She nodded. Was this what shock felt like? She’d been rescued, but still had trouble believing this all was happening.

  The sound of a running engine greeted them in the yard. Markus ushered her into the car, where two men waited, and the five of them took off.

  Trees flew by the windows. They were even further in the country than she’d thought.

  It wasn’t until they reached a main road that Viv released a long breath. Finally.

  The men, however, remained tense. They kept looking out the windows, all four of them wearing frowns.

  Viv broke the silence. “What were you all doing there?”

  She’d already asked Markus this but had trouble believing the answer. These guys didn’t know her. They wouldn’t have risked their lives for her.

  The men exchanged glances.

  “Hell,” one of the strangers—Reese or Frank—said. “We heard that ass Dagger had Markus’ girl.”

  “You came to save me?” Tears stung her eyes. “Thank you.”

  “Markus is one of us,” Ryder said from his spot on the other side of Markus. “And it’s low of Dagger to pull you into this, Viv.”

  Markus turned his face so it was close to Viv’s. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

  The feel of his breath on her lips made her shiver. She’d thought she might never see him again, along with her family and everything else good in the world. Having him next to her again made her resentment dissipate.

  Or maybe that was because of what he’d just done. He could have left the state like he said he would and never thought of her again, but instead, he came back for her.

  “How did you find me?”

  “I was following you. I saw you get snatched. I wasn’t quick enough to stop them, but I trailed the van to this area and called Ryder. It took us a while, but we finally found the right building after watching cars come and go.”

  “Oh.” She didn’t know what else to add. Except for, “What’s next?”

  Markus stiffened. “We survive.”

  Chapter 17

  Markus

  It seemed they couldn’t drive far enough. Every instinct in Markus told him to keep going, to yell at Reese to drive that car until it ran out of gas.

  But staying in one vehicle, especially together, meant asking for trouble. Stopping at the park they’d left their cars at, they ditched yet another temp vehicle and stood around their own, saying goodbye.

  “Thank you.” Markus shook Frank’s hand and then Reese’s. Emotion clogged his throat, so he stopped talking.

  He hoped his friends knew he’d be eternally grateful for what they did that night. They hadn’t even known Viv, and yet they’d agreed to help rescue her without a second thought. You couldn’t ask for better people.

  “Stay safe.” Frank clapped Markus on the back and nodded at Viv, then he and Reese got into their cars and peeled out of the parking lot.

  “You still following your original plan?” Ryder asked from where he leaned against his car.

  “Yep. We’re headed to—”

  Ryder waved his hand. “Best you not tell me.”

  Markus nodded once. Of course. That was standard. He just felt off, separating from Ryder like this. They’d already said goodbye once in one day. Doing it a second time made him feel like maybe they weren’t meant to be apart at all.

  “Your emergency phone the same number?” Markus asked. “Just in case.”

  Under the yellow parking lot lights, he nodded.

  “Yeah. I’ll keep it on me.”

  Ryder’s eyes darted to past Markus, where Viv sat in the car, her shoulders curved and head drooping.

  A knot formed in Markus’ chest. Viv had claimed Dagger and his men hadn’t hurt her, but she’d clearly been through something unsavory. It made him so furious he half considered not leaving Jacksonville at all, but staying in order to find Dagger and tear him apart.

  “You have to go.” Apparently, Ryder read minds now. “If you stick around here…”

  “I know.” Markus ran his palm across his mouth. Hell. He didn’t even know if Viv wanted to leave with him.

  “See you later.” Ryder shook Markus’ hand and got into his car.

  “See you later,” Markus repeated, liking the words. It seemed a promise of a better tomorrow.

  He got into his own car, where Viv remained silent in the passenger’s seat. She didn’t even look at him.

  Markus started driving, heading out of the city and carving a trajectory north. It was going on midnight and the weight of the day and night sat heavy between them.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “Um… I don’t know.”

  He nodded, tongue like lead.“We’ll stop soon as we can, I promise.”

  Right then, he needed to focus on getting them as far away from Dagger as physically possible.

  “I’m sorry,” he added.

  She turned her face to him, eyes hollow orbs in the dim car. “Why?”

  “Why, what?”

  “Why do you do things like this? Steal?”

  His chest constricted. “This was my last job.”

  “And how long have you been doing it for?”

  “For… always.”

  More silence. He felt like he might be sick. The man he was didn’t match up at all with the man she needed.

  “He’s Mr. Romano,” she said.

  He tilted his head at that. It was the name she’d mentioned earlier, and it sounded familiar.

  “Isn’t Mr. Romano your manager at HW?”

  “He’s Dagger.” Her voice cracked. “He’s both.”

  Shaking her head, Viv raised her hands to her face.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” Lowering her hands, she dropped her head against the headrest. “Imagine my surprise. And he said it was all a coincidence. That he didn’t even know I knew you until today.”

  Markus scrambled to put the pieces together, to see if there was another answer.

  “He could have lied. It could be—”

  “No, I don’t think he was a plant. Why would he do that? We’ve worked together for years. It doesn’t make sense. He’s right. It really was random. Then again, I guess Jacksonville’s not that big.” She sighed. “He planned on using me to draw you out.”

  “Well, good luck with that now.”

  He wanted to reach over and touch her hand, but she had hardly looked at him since the car started. The air needed to be cleared.

  “This really was my last job,” he said.

  She finally turned her face to him. “Maybe that matters, maybe it doesn’t… Why are you quitting?”

  “I’ve wanted to get out for a long while, but the money was too good. I kept telling myself I needed one last payday and I would be set. Also, then I met you, and I finally had a really good reason to change things.”

  “You steal.”

  “Only from other criminals. Drug dealers. Black market sellers.”

  “And Mr. Romano?”

  “He’s a crime boss,” he said. “Real good at keeping on the down-low, too. I guess having a complete alter ego helps.”<
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  Viv drew her bottom lip between her teeth. “Thank you for saving me.”

  “I was never going to leave you.”

  He couldn’t resist touching her any longer and took hold of her hand. Instead of pushing his touch away, she held tight.

  “So, your mom knows about all this?” she asked.

  “She does. And she’s been asking me to quit for years.”

  “Hm,” was all Viv said. “Where are we going?”

  “I have a safe house outside of Savannah, Georgia. It’s not much. It’s a trailer in the country, but no one will find us there.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Because I rent it in cash from a guy who doesn’t ask for things like identification so long as you throw him a little extra.”

  Viv ran her thumb in circles over the top of his hand. She appeared to be thinking hard about something. He stayed quiet, allowing her all the time she needed. What had happened in the last twenty-four hours was a lot to process.

  “How long will we be there for?” she questioned.

  His jaw tensed. He hated the answer. “We can move on from there as soon as possible.”

  “But you don’t mean back to Jacksonville, do you?”

  “No,” he said. “I’m sorry, Viv. If we go back—”

  “I know,” she whispered. “He’ll find us. What about my family?”

  “It might be a good idea for you to call your sister. Let her know what’s happened. They should probably leave town, too. Just to be safe.”

  It seemed impossible, but somehow Viv deflated even more. “Okay. But I don’t have my phone. It was in my purse, and I left that in Bea’s shop.”

  “We’ll stop, and you can make a call. Okay?”

  She nodded. “Okay. Markus?”

  “Yeah?”

  He sped up and passed several cars. They were on the interstate and finally making good time.

  “I don’t hate you for this.”

  The words should have been a relief, but they felt more like a punch to the gut than anything else.

  “Maybe you should,” he said gruffly. “I certainly hate myself for it.”

  Even though they weren’t that far from Jacksonville, he figured a quick stop would be okay. The sooner Viv called her sister, the better.

  It had to be a miracle that they found a gas station with a pay phone. While Viv placed the call, he went inside and grabbed waters, snacks, and a cup of coffee—he planned on driving until it became impossible.