HIS BABY: A Bad Boy Hitman Romance

by April Lust

  “Hannah,” Evan said, putting his hand on the bottom of Hannah’s back, trying to comfort her for one last second before saying something that would terrify her. “I think we should split up.”

  “What do you mean?” Hannah said, panic clearly evident in her voice. Her eyes were as wide as Evan had ever seen them, worry filling every inch of her irises. It hurt Evan’s heart, to see her like this. But he had to do something. He had to take action, once and for all. For all of them.

  “I’m going to try to find a doctor, tell him what’s going on. All this administrative bullshit is just getting in the way. The people here don’t know what they’re doing. If I can find a real medical professional somewhere else in the hospital, maybe I can get Alex in to see somebody faster.”

  “What makes you think a doctor will listen to you and come help?” Hannah demanded. Evan wondered if she was already suspicious, if she knew what he was really planning, but he didn’t have any more time to waste convincing her.

  “Trust me,” Evan said, getting to his feet. “I have ways of getting people to do what I want.”

  Hannah bit down on her lip but nodded slowly. “Okay, okay, that makes sense. But shouldn’t I come with you? We should stay together, right? Salvatore—”

  “Salvatore’s not going to try something in the middle of a crowded hospital,” Evan argued. “You’re safe here. Please, just stay put, surrounded by nurses, and you’ll be all right. I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”

  Hannah was silent a moment, considering Evan’s suggestion. He didn’t know why he didn’t just take off, but somehow he felt like he needed her permission, even if she didn’t know exactly what he was going to do. He needed to know that she was okay with being left alone.

  “Give me your phone number,” Hannah said after a long pause.

  “Salvatore might be tracing our phones. We shouldn’t—” Evan started to say, but Hannah cut him off.

  “I won’t use it if I don’t have to,” she said. “But if we’re going to be separated we have to have a way to contact each other. Otherwise, I just…I’d rather you not go.”

  “Okay,” he said before rattling off the digits to his phone number quickly, letting Hannah type them into her phone.

  “Got it,” Hannah said, putting her phone back into her bag. “Be quick, please, okay?”

  “I’ll be quick,” Evan promised. I’ll kill Salvatore so quickly you won’t even notice I’m gone, he swore silently before leaning in to drop a soft kiss on her lips. It’ll be better for all of us after I do.

  Evan turned on his heel and walked down the nearest hallway, turning a corner so that he was out of Hannah’s sight. He flattened himself against a wall so that nobody would see him before walking through the closest exit, back out into the winter night.

  With every step he took back to the car, more and more guilt crushed down on him like a boulder. He’d promised Hannah that he wouldn’t go to kill Salvatore without warning her first, but there was no time. He knew that if he told her, she would try to talk him out of it, and he couldn’t afford wasting a single second more than he already had. It was Christmas Eve now, and there would be fewer men on Sal’s detail. Half of them would have gone home to spend time with their families, giving Evan the opportunity to sneak into Salvatore’s property and do the deed without alerting the whole crew. It was perfect, really.

  I’ll use Christmas lights, Evan realized. They were meant for Hannah and now they’ll be for Salvatore. It’s perfect poetic justice. One last hit. One last time. It was worth it, if it meant freeing Hannah and Alex from the bastard that pursued them, if it allowed Hannah to be free for the first time in her life.

  Evan slid back into the car, sighing at the sight of Alex’s car seat in the rearview mirror. “Dammit,” he grunted, leaning his head against the steering wheel. He knew he should go, take the opportunity while it was still fresh, but he couldn’t get over the memory of Hannah’s panicked face. He’d abandoned her during her darkest hour.

  What kind of man am I? Evan asked himself, staring in one of the side mirrors at his aging face. What kind of man have I been? She deserves more. She deserves better. Far, far better than me.

  But maybe this was Evan’s only way of giving her that. She deserved a man she could celebrate Christmas with, without all the hang-ups and baggage and bullshit. She deserved to be happy, without guilt. She deserved to be touched and held and protected by hands that weren’t stained with the blood of a hundred people. But she’d never have that unless Salvatore was out of the way.

  Evan started the car, still pressing his forehead against the wheel, wanting it to be branded deep into his skin. He wanted to punish himself for leaving her, for hurting her, for damaging her trust once again. But this was the only way. Maybe she would hate him for it. Maybe she would never get over it. But there were more important things than feeling loved by someone you cared about.

  They’re going to kill me, Evan thought distantly as he pulled out of the parking space and headed back to the main road. There are so many men in Salvatore’s mansion, there’s no way I won’t be detected after I murder him. They’ll find me, and they’ll kill me. But it’ll be worth it. It’ll be worth anything, to set Hannah free.

  When Evan was a kid, the man who was supposed to protect him left, not caring whether Evan and his siblings lived or died. He was a selfish man, someone who chased his own happiness at the expense of everything and everyone else.

  Evan set his jaw as he pulled out onto the highway, heading directly for Salvatore’s mansion. I’m not my father, he thought. I won’t be selfish. I won’t care about my own life if it means hurting others, not anymore.

  Evan would sacrifice everything for the person he loved. One last hit. One last kill. Two final deaths. It was fitting, that this was the way things would end, on Christmas.

  ***

  Hannah

  After waiting for what felt like hours, they gave Alex a room and hooked him up to fluids. He cried terribly when he was pulled from Hannah’s arms, and for the hundredth time over the past week she had to force back tears as she allowed him to be pried away from her. It was for the best. She couldn’t take care of him, not the way he needed. It was up to the doctors now.

  Where was Evan, though? He said he’d be right back. Was he going up to every doctor in the hospital individually and asking them for help? What the hell could be taking so long?

  Shivers prickled up Hannah’s spine as she sat in the chair next to Alex’s bed, watching him sleep. What if—what if Evan was wrong? Hannah wondered. What if there is someone in this hospital waiting for us, and they found him and—and…. She allowed the thought to trail off, the alternative too horrifying to contemplate.

  For several long minutes, she just stared out the window, looking out into the storm that rocked the trees back and forth, waving almost rhythmically like fans at a concert. Maybe that was why she was so on edge. No, it’s not the weather, she told herself. You’re worried that Evan has been hurt. You’re worried that he’s been—that he’s been killed. She swallowed heavily and buried her head in her hands, her pulse pounding in her temples against her wrists.

  Her hands started itching painfully, like a thousand fire ants were crawling over her skin, biting every last inch of her palms. Images flooded her mind, one after another after another after another. Evan, tied up somewhere. Evan, bloodied and bruised. Evan, lying dead in a ditch. Hannah groaned, forcing the heels of her palms into her eyes to try to force the images out. But what could she do? She couldn’t very well chase after him. This was a large hospital, and he could be anywhere by now. And besides, Alex was still sick, even if the doctors had told her that he would be okay. She couldn’t leave his side.

  There is one thing you could do, the voice inside her head said. The cell phone number. For a minute, Hannah argued her inner voice back down into silence. That option was reserved for emergencies only. Evan was right, after all. Salvatore had almost definitely put a trace on her
phone, even if it was far less likely that he had a similar alert tied to Evan’s. But…there was a pay phone right outside Alex’s room. She’d noticed it when the doctor led her down the hallway thirty minutes earlier. Hannah had plenty of change at the bottom of her bag. She could use the pay phone to call Evan and see where he was.

  Hannah shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying to dispel the idea from her mind. She was just being paranoid, that was all. Evan would come back as soon as he could, right? But he doesn’t even know the room number, Hannah realized. He might be sitting in the emergency room right now waiting for some signal from me because he doesn’t know where to go.

  That settled it. She’d make one call from the pay phone and leave a voicemail if she had to in order to tell Evan to come to Alex’s room. Then they could wait together for Alex to get a little bit better before leaving and never coming back to this godforsaken place. They could set off for South America, go someplace warm, where it never stormed at Christmas.

  Hannah got up from her chair, making sure Alex was still asleep, before leaving the room and heading out to the payphone, digging around in her bag to find change. She pulled out her phone to retrieve Evan’s number as she fed coins into the payphone, typing out the numbers one by one before pressing the phone against her ear. “Pick up, pick up, pick up,” she muttered into the receiver as she listened to the drone of the ringtone.

  But no such luck. The call went to voicemail. “Hey, um…” Hannah trailed off, realization dawning on her all of a sudden. What if Evan was captured or worse? That meant that Salvatore’s men could have his phone in their possession. It wasn’t a good idea to say the room number unless she was speaking directly to Evan. She’d just have to hang up and try again, as many times as it took for Evan to actually answer her.

  She went through the whole process again, digging out change and placing it into the payphone to call him again. Yet once again, it went to voicemail after four or five pointless rings. Hannah groaned and took out more change, trying again. And again. And again. “Jesus, fuck, where are you?” she muttered into the phone, hanging up before trying one last time. This time, she left a message, choosing her words wisely to avoid saying anything specific. “Hey, call back at this number when you get this, okay? It’s important,” she said before slamming the payphone back down in frustration. Despite her anger, her stomach clenched nervously, all of her organs shriveling up inside of her.

  Why isn’t he answering? Hannah inwardly demanded. She inhaled and exhaled several times, trying to get herself to calm down, pressing her head against the cold plastic of the phone. Maybe his phone is just switched off. Maybe he doesn’t have the ringer turned on. Maybe he’s in a busy loud room and he can’t hear anything over the noise of other people. Maybe he’s a stupid man who just doesn’t check his phone very often. Maybe everything is okay. Or maybe…maybe they have him. Maybe he’s not coming back. Maybe I’ll never see him again.

  Hannah swallowed hard to steel herself, trying to turn into an unfeeling stone that wasn’t consumed with worry about Evan. Maybe that’s what she had to be in order to survive, in order to keep her son safe. Maybe it had been a mistake to ever allow Evan to crack her open like an egg, playing around with all of her soft, sensitive, weak spots. She had to be tough. She had to be strong. She had to keep it together. For Alex.

  Hannah pulled her head back from the phone, hanging it back on the hook, and attempted to pull herself together, tying her hair back into a tight ponytail and straightening her clothes. She would be a good mother, for once in her life. She’d just focus on Alex and not worry about anything else for the time being.

  She turned back to the room, pulling the chair from just inside the entrance up to press it against Alex’s bed, but when she looked up, he wasn’t there. “Alex?” she said, wondering if he managed to escape his tubes and climb down to the floor. “Alex!” She quickly scanned the room and then. She saw it.

  There was a man in the corner of the room, dressed all in black, holding a small black gun in one hand and cradling Alex to his chest with the other. Hannah felt her heart jump up into her throat, but the rest of her body was frozen, stuck in time. “Please,” she whispered, barely moving her lips as she begged the man in black. “Please, don’t hurt him.”

  The man grinned, mean and ugly, the scars on his face stretching out in every direction as he smirked at her menacingly.

  “Please,” Hannah said again, slowly moving her hands in the vague direction of her bag. Maybe she could use her old keys to shove into the guy’s eyes and take her son back. It was a dumb idea, but what else could she do right now, other than beg? “Please, don’t hurt my baby,” she said.

  “Scream, and he’s dead,” the man said in a low, gravelly voice.

  Hannah shook her head. “No, no, Salvatore won’t let you. Please. Please, just put him down and take me. I’ll go with you. I’ll go anywhere you want. Do anything you want. Please. Just. Put him down.”

  The man aimed the gun at her and squinted his eyes, and Hannah knew that she was about to be killed. If only I brought the gun from the cabin, she thought belatedly, the sick taste of bile filling up her mouth.

  Just as the gun went off, Hannah dove down to the floor, crawling along as quickly as possible to shove herself under the hospital bed. There were three more gunshots—pop, pop, pop!—but then she heard the sound of footsteps running past her, and she shoved herself out from under the bed, taking off after the kidnapper.

  “Stop him! Stop that man, he’s taking my baby, he’s getting away!” she shrieked at the hapless bystanders in the hallway before she broke into a run, rushing as fast as she could after the man.

  She had almost caught up with him at the end of the hall when he suddenly turned around. This is it. This is where I die, Hannah thought, freezing in place as the man pointed the gun at her. There was nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run. Just death, looking her right in the eyes.

  But at the last second the man turned the gun around and pointed it to Alex’s head. Alex cried out, suddenly wailing desperately, and Hannah felt her heart fall down into her stomach, threatening to continue to drop down and crash into the earth.

  “Follow me, and your little baby eats lead. Stay fucking put,” the man said before breaking off into a run. Hannah’s feet burned to follow, especially when Alex’s cries grew softer and softer as the man went further away, but she froze on the spot.

  A second later, Alex’s voice disappeared entirely, and Hannah’s legs gave out from underneath her, her entire body crashing to the ground in a heap of limbs.

  “Miss, miss!” a voice said as someone leaned over her, trying to get her to stand back up. “Miss, it’s going to be okay. The police have been called.” But the voice sounded fuzzier and farther away with every second, dissolving into noises that Hannah could no longer understand, her brain switching off entirely as darkness consumed her.

  When she awoke in a hospital bed sometime later, she knew what she had to do.

  She reached into her pocket for her phone and texted Evan. There was no point in avoiding it anymore. It didn’t matter if anyone tracked her. There was nothing left to lose. Everything she’d ever loved had been taken away.

  Chapter Seven

  Evan

  Evan gripped the steering wheel tighter, gritting his teeth as his phone rang again. Goddammit, she’s persistent, he thought to himself as he pressed his foot down harder onto the accelerator, changing lanes quickly before taking the last exit on the highway. Straight to Salvatore’s place.

  Hannah must have called a dozen times by now, at the very least. He knew that if he answered the phone, he might have doubts, and if he had doubts, he might hesitate. And now was not time for hesitation. If this was going to work, he needed to be swift. Efficient. Clear headed. Get in, kill Sal, get out, and worry about Hannah later. That was what he had to do.

  But still, Evan couldn’t deny that it sent sparks of fear up his spine every single time she called. She had to
be pissed out of her mind at this point. God knows Evan would feel the same way if their situations were reversed. But he had to be strong for them both. This was the only way. Salvatore wouldn’t stop, not ever, not until he was dead on the floor with Christmas lights wrapped around his neck. If Evan got out of the situation alive—which, if he was really being honest with himself, he knew was a slim possibility—he might even take the Christmas lights back with him. He and Hannah could use them on a tree they bought together, even if they made all the other ornaments themselves.

  Evan parked a half-mile away, far enough that the scouts on duty tonight wouldn’t notice, in a parking lot of a strip mall. He was already dressed in black and wasn’t carrying a lot around, so he knew he wouldn’t attract many eyes on the walk up. And if anyone tried to bother him, well, he’d just have to add another name to the hit list. Tonight, it ends, he promised himself. No matter what happens, I’m getting in that mansion and I’m choking the life out of Salvatore.

  His phone rang again, shrill and sharp in the silence of the winter night. He made a mental note to turn the ringer off before heading into Salvatore’s place. It would obviously attract too much attention when he was surrounded by guards. But for some reason he couldn’t quite bring himself to switch it off yet. If he did, it would feel like letting himself off the hook. Hannah was upset. She was probably totally freaking out. He deserved to feel her pain rather than ignore it just so he would feel better. Images of her drawn, worried face filled his mind, and he felt pangs of guilt hit him right in the stomach. But he kept walking, slowly but steadily, staying to the tree line to avoid attracting attention.