Crime Boss Baby

by Krista Lakes

  Then it's just Dante, me, and our baby. That's the light at the end of the tunnel. That's the hope pushing me forward when all I want to do is curl up in a ball and hide in a dark room.

  The car rolls to a stop. Ethan hops out and opens the door for me. Dante is right behind me, his hand holding my arm and keeping me steady. The steps are carefully shoveled and salted, but he's protective of me.

  I hold onto him, knowing that I will be safe with him.

  The butler greets us and leads us to Mrs. Russo's study. We leave a trail of wet footprints down the hallway, but Dante doesn't seem to care. I try not to care as well.

  The study is empty, as I suspected it would be. Mrs. Russo loves playing her waiting games. I take a deep breath and center myself. This isn't the time to get frustrated or lose focus. This is my time to take control.

  Still, I hold my messenger bag in my lap like a shield. Dante is wearing his gun again. He doesn't trust his mother either.

  “I see you brought my son with you,” Mrs. Russo says, waltzing into the room. Today she's wearing a shade of green that makes me think of avocados. The dress is pretty enough, but seems like a style for an old woman.

  “Mother.” Dante says the greeting without any warmth in his voice. He doesn't move to kiss her.

  She frowns a little but then shrugs his lack of affection off. “I hope you don't mind, but I invited a guest as well.”

  My blood chills. Today is going to be harder than I thought. I consider getting up and running, but Dante meets my eyes.

  You can do this, his eyes tell me. No running.

  “You don't need to look so worried,” Mrs. Russo chastises me. “He isn't here yet.”

  That helps my chest relax a little bit. I don't have to face him just yet. Maybe I can miss out on facing him at all. As much as I put on a brave face, I am terrified of him.

  “I must say, I'm a little surprised you called me,” Mrs. Russo continues. She sits at her desk, crossing her legs. “I thought maybe you came to your senses.”

  “I actually came with an offer for you,” I tell her, doing my best to smile.

  “An offer for me?” She laughs. “You don't have anything I want. I, however, hold the secrets to your mother.”

  She tries not to glance at her son. She doesn't know how much Dante knows about her little scheme to me. I can tell having him here makes her nervous, but she is doing a good job of not showing it.

  I open my messenger bag and pull out a folder. I fling it on her desk and it slides to her, but doesn't fall off the desk.

  “Open it,” I tell her. “It's a gift.”

  She frowns and shifts slightly in her seat before opening the folder. There's a series of photographs inside. I tried not to look at them too much myself, but I know what they are.

  Mrs. Russo blushes a bright red as she recognizes herself in the photos. They are rather graphic and don't hide anything. It's very clear that she and a young man are enjoying themselves and one another.

  She slams the folder shut. “Where did you get these?”

  “Mrs. Romano gave them to me,” I reply with a nonchalant shrug. “She and I have agreed to be business partners. As I am to be your daughter in law, she thought it best for our business arrangement.”

  Mrs. Russo's lips thin and she adjusts her collar. “Mrs. Romano gave these to you?”

  “Yes. And she said you don't need to worry about her anymore.” I frown and reach into my bag. “However, you do need to worry about this.”

  I toss another photo onto her desk. She reaches for it like it might be a poisonous snake. In her case, it almost is.

  “That's a photo of you meeting with Paulie James,” I tell her. I toss another photo. “And that one, that's Paulie doing some non-approved business on the north side of my territory.”

  I add a couple more photos to the pile on her desk but she doesn't look at them. Instead, she looks up at her son. “Dante...”

  “Yes?” He puts his hands on my shoulders, making it very clear where his loyalties are.

  “You have to understand....” she starts. She looks at the photos. “It's not what it looks like.”

  “You don't have to explain to me,” I tell her. “You don't have to explain to anyone. I just want it to stop. I want it all to stop. No more games.”

  She slumps in her chair, defeated. She nods. “No more games.”

  There's a knock on the door. Mrs. Russo looks up, hope brightening her eyes. She has a backup plan. I'm not sure what it is yet, but I have a feeling it involves a senator.

  The butler opens the door and in walks Senator Norwood.

  I can't help it. My hands start to tremble. My stomach clenches. It's a good thing that I'm sitting down because my knees are shaking. The only thing keeping me from panicking is Dante's hands on my shoulders.

  “Senator, you're early,” Mrs. Russo greets him with a smile. “But, I'm so glad you're here.”

  “When you said you had someone for me to meet, I had no idea it would be with Cara Savio.” He looks at me with those cold, dead eyes and I shiver. “Cara.”

  I hate the way he says my name. I hate everything about him. I wish that God would strike him down with lightning where he stood.

  “Cara was just telling me how we shouldn't play games,” Mrs. Russo says. She's confident again now that Norwood is here. She can see the effect he has on me.

  “I happen to like games,” Norwood replies. He sits down in a chair next to me. I want to run, but I stay where I am.

  This is what we planned for. This is what we hoped.

  My phone chirps. It's Grayson.

  * * *

  Turn on the TV. Channel seven.

  * * *

  “Do you have a TV in here?” I ask Mrs. Russo. She frowns, surprised by my question.

  “There's one behind that painting,” Dante supplies.

  “Why do you want a TV?” Mrs. Russo asks.

  “There's a news story breaking. I think it's something Mr. Norwood will want to see.” I look right at Norwood. “Especially since he's fond of games.”

  There's no concern in his face. In fact, he laughs. “Turn on the TV. I have nothing to hide.”

  Mrs. Russo fumbles in her desk for a moment before finding the remote. The painting lifts and disappears into the wall, revealing a large flat screen TV underneath.

  “Channel seven, please,” I request.

  It takes her a moment to find the right buttons, but when she does the TV flares to life.

  Senator Grayson stands next to a police chief. It isn't O'Brien. The breaking news announcement on the bottom of the screen says this is happening in my old town. Grayson is in Michigan for this reveal.

  “... These photos are being looked at for federal and state crimes,” Grayson announces. “This kind of thing cannot stand in our country. As a leader, I am putting my own money down for a reward on more information.”

  “What is this nonsense?” Norwood asks, frowning at the TV.

  Then the screen switches to one of the photos of my mother.

  He turns a deathly pale as Grayson's voice describes the injuries. “All of these are attributed to Senator Norwood. There are more photos and evidence. This was not a one time thing. As to the brutality suggested in these photos, the police have agreed to reopen the death of Caroline Savio Jeffries.”

  Norwood looks like he's about to pass out. His hands grip the chair and he's lost all color. Suddenly, he looks old and frail to my eyes.

  He doesn't scare me anymore. He's lost his power over me.

  “How do you like my game, Senator?” I ask, keeping my voice sweet.

  His eyes turn to mine, burning with hate and fear. “How?”

  “My mother left them for me. I actually only found them when you destroyed my piano.” I smile, but it's feral and dangerous rather than kind. “In a way, you showed them to me. I never would have found them without you.”

  His eyes narrow and I'm glad Dante is standing behind me with a gun on h
is hip.

  “You're just like your mother,” he hisses.

  “Good.” I stand up. “Mrs. Russo, as you can see, you have nothing that interests me anymore.”

  She looks like I've slapped her across the face. I just put her down not once, but twice in the span of ten minutes.

  “If you'll excuse us, Dante and I are going to go meet with a caterer for our wedding.” I gather my things. “Oh, and feel free to keep those photos. I have them all backed up and on the cloud for safe keeping.”

  Mrs. Russo and Norwood just sit and stare at me.

  Dante takes my hand and together we walk out of his mother's study. We walk down the hallway, following our footprints out to the bright sunshine world of snow and sparkle.

  Outside the birds are singing. The world is bright.

  Dante pulls me in for a kiss before we get in the car.

  “You did good, Vesper,” he tells me.

  And that makes my day absolutely perfect.

  Epilogue

  My daughter is six months old today.

  Her name is Caroline after my mother and she is absolutely perfect. She has Dante's dark hair and my eyes. Her smile is his, though and that makes me love her even more.

  She was born on a hot night in July. I barely made it to the hospital she was so impatient to enter the world. If I close my eyes, I can still see the perfectly happy smile of her father as he held her for the first time.

  Our life is good. It's not perfect, but it makes me happy.

  I run an organized crime syndicate using a mattress company to launder money by day, and by night, I am mother and wife. Dante is a mafia boss, making the underworld do his bidding and also the world's greatest father.

  My aunt and uncle have retired. They love to watch the baby when they aren't busy traveling the world. They love their little granddaughter more than I thought possible. Family is everything. They make sure that my daughter wants for nothing.

  Our business is growing. Combining the families has opened more business opportunities, both legal and legally gray, that we never could have expected. Business is booming. Our families are succeeding.

  Mrs. Russo is nothing but polite. She takes many vacations away from us, especially around the holidays. We don't see much of her, and I am quite alright with that.

  The darkness of my past is behind me. I no longer wake from nightmares. I no longer am afraid of the darkness when I am alone.

  Senator Norwood is in prison. He is awaiting a murder trial for my mother.

  Once the news broke that there were pictures of what he did to my mother and that the case was being reopened, his minions started to break. One by one, the people that once kept him out of jail came and confessed. His money no longer paid for their silence.

  He had only purchased their loyalty for a short time. They had no reason to be loyal once the money stopped being enough.

  The coroner faked his results. The car accident was a cover up. Norwood killed my mother and paid to have everyone pretend that it was a car accident.

  The world knows it now. He is no longer a respected politician in a place of power. He is nothing now. My mother has justice. Norwood is behind bars and will never be able to hurt my family again. He's lost all his power. He's lost all his privilege. He will spend the rest of his life paying for what he did to me and my family.

  Next week, my daughter will be the flower girl in Sara and Ethan's wedding. Even though she can't walk yet, Sara's nephews will pull her down the aisle in a wagon so that she can be a part of their happy day. I've never seen Ethan smile this much in my life.

  I've never smiled this much in my life.

  But, the best part is that everyday I get to come home to Dante. Everyday, I get to see him smile at me and have him call me Vesper. Everyday, he tells me he loves me.

  I am a mob princess and I have found my prince.

  Special Previews

  Hey there! I’m so happy you enjoyed this book about the mafia princess. There are two other books of mine coming out this month, and I’d like to share a little from each of them with you. Read on!

  Family Doctor’s Baby

  Family Doctor’s Baby

  From New York Times bestselling author Krista Lakes, comes a sexy standalone novel about the baddest bad boy doctor and the sweet little nurse that he falls for.

  When I left my small hometown years ago, I never expected to come back. I certainly never expected that when I did, I'd be working for him.

  He's the town's doctor. He's supposed to be a respectable member of society, a pillar for the community. He's supposed to have come a long way from the bad boy who rode a motorcycle in high school.

  But he hasn't. One glance from those lustful eyes looking at me tells me that he has the same voracious appetites that he did when we were younger.

  Only it's not quite the same stare. It's more urgent. It's more intense. I'm not the same nerdy girl who tutored him. I've grown up, developed fertile curves that I know he finds irresistible.

  In this small town, rumors travel fast, and the family doctor can't be seen as a player. So he does try to resist. And I do too. But with every smoldering glance and moment of sexual tension, we find our barriers breaking down.

  After a stressful night of touch-and-go baby delivery, a moment of elation overcomes our inhibitions. It seems like maybe we'll need to confront those rumors sooner rather than later, especially before I begin to show the results of that night.

  Can I give this doctor the family he has always desired?

  Dr. Matthews leaned in and brought his lips toward mine. He paused right before our lips touched. Just for a moment, though. It was as if he were making sure that I wanted this. The universe held its breath as we both held our breath. I noticed everything from the way his aftershave lingered in the air to the water droplets in his hair. After a second that felt like eternity, he leaned in the rest of the way, firmly pressing his lips against mine.

  Our fate was sealed.

  A soft moan made its way up my throat as I relaxed into his kiss. I closed my eyes and let my hands drift up toward his face. His beard stubble tickled my fingertips as I dragged them over his cheeks.

  It must have been the adrenaline we'd both experienced that morning. Or maybe it was that the emergency had bonded us closer than ever before. I didn't know what had gotten into either of us, but I suppose it didn't need explaining. It felt good and right and that's all I really cared about. I needed a release that only he could give me.

  Jacob slowly broke our kiss and dropped his hands to the top of my hips. Then he leaned in again, passionately pressing his lips to mine. My heart began to do flip flops behind my rib cage. Within a few seconds, I felt Jacob open his mouth and gently dart his tongue out, teasing it into my mouth.

  A tingling sensation coursed through my body as our tongues lightly wrestled with each others, twisting around in a sensual dance. I reveled in the sensations: his taste, his smell, the way he held his body against mine. This wasn't a dream. This was actually happening.

  Jacob broke the kiss and took a step back. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes dark.

  “I'm sorry. That was unprofessional.”

  My heart hammered in my chest and my lips ached for more of his kisses.

  “I don't care,” I told him. “I don't want to stop.”

  He looked up, his eyes bright as they met mine. Desire that matched my own shone in them and my body heated. I took the step forward to bring us back together. Slowly, I brought my hand up and wrapped it around the back of his neck.

  “Are you sure you're okay with this?” he asked, his hands already coming to my hips.

  “Just shut up and kiss me,” I said, still smiling.

  Family Doctor’s Baby

  The Billionaire’s Baby Arrangement

  The Billionaire’s Baby Arrangement

  From New York Times bestselling author Krista Lakes comes a sexy standalone novel about a billionaire and the indecent proposal he gives
the local barista.

  Billionaire CEO Jackson Weathers needs a family for a PR boost, and I've signed a contract agreeing to give him one. A doting girlfriend in public. A wedding ceremony to invite all the socialites to. And finally, a baby for him to parade around, to show he's really a wholesome, down-to-Earth man.

  I've tried to remain cynical about it. He's going to make all my dreams come true. So what if it's supposed to be a loveless marriage?

  Only, his tenderness in private has me hooked. The way he kisses me drives me wild. When we make love, I lose myself to him. His body feels like it was meant to be on top of mine, like we fit together like two puzzle pieces. I can't help but begin to fall for him.

  I can't tell him, or I risk losing everything. And nobody else can find out about our little "arrangement" or it will destroy his reputation. Still, I feel like I have to know how he feels, before the marriage, before the baby, before I give my entire life over to him.

  Is it still just pretend?

  “I was wondering when you were going to get home.” Her hand went to the silky collar of her robe and she tugged on it gently to reveal just a hint of smooth skin underneath. She liked that he swallowed hard and stared.

  “Work went long,” he said, his eyes still glued to the bare skin of her chest. She let the robe open just a little more. “If I had known this was waiting for me, I would have been home hours ago.”

  She grinned and stood from the couch. She flipped off the light, letting just the pale glow from the city lights fill the room. With a grin, she undid the ties to the robe and let the fabric slide to the floor. The pale silk pooled around her ankles as she stood naked before him in the pale twilight. She knew the lack of light would hide her flaws.

  His reaction made all the waiting worth it. His eyes dilated, his mouth opened, and she could see the growing bulge in his pants. She rather liked having this effect on him. She knew that he found her beautiful. She knew that he found her sexually attractive, but to see his actual reaction would never get old.