MOBSTER’S BABY_Esposito Family Mafia Page 12

  “That’s reassuring.”

  “It’s supposed to be.” He kissed my forehead. “We’ll figure it out. Together. I promise. Right now, let’s just worry about getting this baby cooked and out and what we’re gonna do right after.”

  I smiled.

  “I think I can do that.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tony

  Things went back to normal after talking with Evie. Honestly, it was a Goddamn first. I had never had to actually put in effort like that with a woman before. Ever. Mostly because I never planned to keep them if I was fucking them, and that’s all I was doing with them if I was playing with them—fucking.

  Evie was different.

  After our conversation, I put more effort into getting shit together for her and the baby. We had been going to doctor’s appointments, yes, and picking out baby things here and there, sure. But we weren’t planning the big things.

  We turned the guest room in my wing into a nursery. It took about a week or so to get it totally done, but Evie moved into my room officially and our baby had a room—officially. It seemed to be the first step in a few that I was laying out to make this thing with Evie the real damn deal.

  I could remember standing with her in the room. We’d painted it this really faint yellow—still on this thing that we wanted to be surprised about the baby’s gender and therefore would have the nursery painted in a color that would suit a boy or girl, either way. I’d looked down at her as we observed our handiwork—we’d wanted to the painting ourselves—and she’d had speckles all over her face, like little yellow freckles. She’d looked so happy; I’d never seen a woman glow like her, and I wanted to make her glow, and glow, and glow like that some more.

  It wasn’t even just that. It was everything about Evie.

  She’d made friends with everyone at the compound. She’d seemed nervous at first, but she’d tried. She wanted to try and be a part of things, and though certain aspects made her nervous, she never shied away hard. She wasn’t afraid. She was trying. I could appreciate a woman with a bit of gumption, despite the odds, and the hard-ass will to get shit done.

  She even got along with my dad, which was a shocker. I still didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, but he at least treated Evie well enough, and I couldn’t fault him for that in all honesty. I rather him treat her like the queen that she was than some sort of trash.

  As for me? I worked on those promises I’d made to Evie, which generally meant pushing my father to do things that he had, up until this point, not wanted to do. Cleaning out the drug slinging, for one. It brought in cash, but we made more cash running the clubs and strip joints than we did on drugs—and there were fewer reason for cops in Rick Brown’s pocket to come sniffing after us if there wasn’t a reason to sniff. My father thought I was chickening out.

  “We’ve been doing these things this way for years. You want to stop now?”

  “There’s no point,” I’d told him. “The numbers speak for themselves. It’s good business. We put our efforts into something that, in the long run, will bring us more profits and fewer troubles.”

  “And what does your little lady think of that, huh?”

  “She thinks it’s good business.”

  My father had laughed at that, but eventually he’d conceded. We were working on cleaning up our operations, now, and working toward something better for the Esposito name. Cleaning it up would be something that would happen in the long run, but I was fine with that. I wanted that kind of upswing associated with me and not with my father.

  I had a renewed sense of purpose. I had a drive. A lot of that had to do with having a focal point for the shit that I wanted.

  That focal point had me thinking past these immediate changes. Out and about in town, it had me walking into a store that I hadn’t expected to—a jewelry shop.

  I browsed through the selection of rings. There were a lot—ones with huge rocks, tiny rocks, no rocks at all, and rocks of all colors. I hadn’t had this particular talk with Evie yet. I didn’t know if it was the right time, really. But what could I say? I worked fast. I could at least be prepared for when the time was right (as in, when I knew that she would be down for something as crazy as this.)

  There were gold bands and white-gold bands. There were platinum bands. A lot of them were gaudy. I knew that Evie wouldn’t want something gaudy.

  “You need any help, young man?”

  The jeweler came up to me as I leaned over the glass, peering in. I looked up to him and nodded.

  “Trying to find the right one.”

  “They always do,” he said knowingly. “I think I can help. Tell me about your girl.”

  “She’s perfect.”

  He laughed.

  “They always say that, too. What’s perfect mean to you?”

  I thought about it.

  “She’s smart as all hell. Confident but …humble. She knows how to show rather than tell. I like that.”

  “Hmm …” The man started to peruse on his own. “Color preference? Cut?”

  “Anything but yellow gold. Oh—she likes amethysts?”

  “Oh. Non-traditionalist. I like that. Shows adventure. Love needs adventure.”

  “I like to think that I’m adventurous.”

  “You look the type.”

  I laughed. “You have no idea.”

  The jeweler gave an enigmatic smile and moved through the selection. He eventually stepped back behind the counter, and I followed him over when he gestured to me.

  “How about this one?”

  He pulled from under the glass a thin-banded ring with a single amethyst set into it. The cut was just as delicate as the platinum band and it glittered in the light. He held it out to me and I looked at it carefully, taking it in.

  There wasn’t a thing wrong with that ring. It was …well, hell, it was perfect. And perfectly went with Evie. It was like it was fate.

  I looked to the man and gave him a huge grin.

  “I’ll take it.”

  After I finished up at the jewelers, I stopped by a bakery to pick up cupcakes to bring back with me. I wasn’t going to be giving Evie the ring, not just yet, but I could at least have something to bring back to her, nonetheless. Things were looking up. My life was making a few good turns for the better.

  I just didn’t know in the moment that this was merely the calm before a very pressing, daunting storm.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Evie

  I paced the room. Back and forth, back and forth. For the past two days I had been going over in my head every detail of today. Everything that I wanted to say. Everything that I wanted to do. I had a lot that was on my mind.

  The last few months had been a whirlwind. Everything with Tony. The baby. This pregnancy. Getting close to everyone at the compound. Even Geno—and Tony, especially Tony. I was coming to realize more with every passing day that I wanted him for more than just sex. More than just a matter of circumstance. He was a better man than I had ever originally pegged him to be, and he proved day in and out that he would make an amazing father to our child.

  I wanted to be his partner. I wanted to do this together, with him, by his side.

  The issue was telling him, because while we’d gotten closer, there still seemed to be something that was between us. The rule that we had laid down before about things never happening again seemed to apply in a much different way now. I was the mother of his child. He loved claiming me and my body.

  But I didn’t know if he loved me. I knew that he wanted me to stay and to be with him. We had talked about making this work, and I wanted very much to make it work. But making things work and being in love weren’t necessarily the same things.

  It seemed like such a fantasy thing—falling in love with someone who you shouldn’t, coming to realize that you want them more than anything in the entire world, and knowing that you would do anything to have and to keep them in your presence. I felt vulnerable, and I wasn’t sure if that was
from the pregnancy or from this.

  If Tony didn’t want me like that, then I knew it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I was an independent woman. I didn’t need a man in my life to make me whole. I wanted him, though. That was all that mattered at this point. My want outweighed my logic.

  So, I continued to pace and I continued to worry. That was, until I heard a knock on the door.

  “Hey, Evie, you in there?” It was Allan. I opened the door, having to waddle a little out of the way; I was obviously very pregnant at this point.

  “Yeah, Allan? What’s going on?” There was something wrong. I knew that much. Something on his face made me take a step forward and reach out to him. He was pale and a bit disturbed looking.

  “You gotta come see this. All over the news—”

  I followed him down to the living room. Everyone was there, watching the television. I heard my father’s voice before I saw him, and I caught the tail end of the speech that he was giving.

  “…for months, my family and I have been trying to get my daughter back from the thugs and brutes of the Esposito family. They kidnapped her. For months, they have held her hostage. They have drugged her, raped her, gotten her pregnant, and kept as a prisoner. We are working very hard to get her back, but with how slow the police have been to respond, due to what this family is capable of, we’ve been playing by their game in the hopes of keeping my daughter and my unborn grandchild alive.”

  “Governor!” One of the reporters yelled out, calling my father’s attention. He looked over, nodding at them. They continued on. “How would you respond to the recent allegations that this …kidnapping ploy is little more than something to cover up the numerous and mounting investigations open regarding you, your campaign, and the apparent rabid corruption that comes with it?” The muscle in my father’s jaw twitched, though it was hidden well. He dabbed a bit at his eyes, as if he were crying.

  “If there is any validity to these heinous accusations, it is because my family and I are being blackmailed by the Esposito family. There is only one thing that matters to me right now: the safety of my daughter and my unborn grandchild. If I have done things that have warranted these investigations, it’s because I am trying to do what I think will keep my daughter and her baby alive.”

  There were more questions that were shot off by the reporters, some of them lost in the sea of how many there were. My father answered them, playing the role of the wounded father, before the news story cut away.

  “This is the scene outside of the county courthouse, where Governor Rick Brown has been questioned in the recent hearing against a circuit court judge with whom there has been alleged official corruption, including but not limited to bribery, discrimination, and manslaughter. When asked about these allegations, it was reported that Governor Brown broke down, thusly revealing this information about his daughter. This comes amid recent releases of pictures featuring the governor’s daughter at the Esposito compound, in the company mainly of Tony Esposito, Geno Esposito’s son. They have also been seen out and about together, and corroborating the governor’s claims, Evelyn Brown is, in fact, pregnant.”

  Up on the screen, they showed the various pictures that had been taken. I frowned as several pictures of dates that Tony and I had been on were plastered all over the news, in varying states of my pregnancy, all of them showing my very swollen, very filled belly.

  I felt sick. My stomach turned and I shook my head.

  “What is …what is he doing …why …”

  I felt my stomach take a worse turn, and I had to move away, dashing into the kitchen to hurl and empty my stomach into the sink. Whatever was in my stomach—not a whole lot, it was still the morning time—spattered into the sink and out of my stomach.

  A warm hand came to rest on my back. I looked up to see Tony standing there beside me. I felt hot and flushed. I had no idea how to process what was going on.

  “This has to be a mistake,” I insisted. “He wouldn’t …I don’t understand. Where did they get all those pictures? I thought we were careful?”

  “We were. He must have had someone tailing us or something—”

  “But he didn’t want the public to find out about all of this. He said—he swore—”

  “Men say and swear a lot of things,” Tony said. “And men in power do so with half those things as lies.”

  “You think he set it up?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “Maybe someone’s trying to force his hand.”

  “Or he’s forcing his own hand to try and get you back.”

  “After all these months?”

  Something didn’t add up right. It didn’t feel right.

  Whatever the case, I rinsed my mouth out. Allan came in behind Tony.

  “Papa G’s calling a meeting. We probably ought to go, T.”

  “You should lay down, Evie. I’ll come get you when we’re done.”

  I nodded. I didn’t have it in me to argue, and I’d rather lay down and get my head sorted. I grabbed a glass of water before I went up, so that I could have something to hydrate with. I went back up to our room, plopping myself down on the bed. The sheets were nice and cool and I spread myself out on them, not wanting to curl up.

  It didn’t make any sense to me, for all this to be happening. Tony might think that my father was capable of this, but I didn’t think he was. He had tried to handle his in the privacy of the shadows—without the public involvement and awareness of what was going on. My father had tried to send me away to have this baby in secret, for Christ’s sakes! Just so that no one else would be able to find out about his daughter whoring it around with a mafioso.

  I knew that it was a bad idea, but I rolled over, taking my phone from the charger. I made sure that it would be blocked before dialing a number that I knew by heart. The phone rang and rang, and I thought that he might ignore the call because it wasn’t from someone he knew. However, he picked up on the fifth ring.

  “If this is another reporter, I’ll file a complaint with the police—”

  “It’s not a reporter. It’s me. Evie.”

  “…Evelyn?”

  “Evie,” I corrected with a sigh. “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “I didn’t expect you to call.”

  “I didn’t expect to call, either. We need to talk.”

  I heard him sigh on the other end of the phone. “I assume you watched?”

  “Yeah. I saw you on the television. Why did you lie? You know I wasn’t kidnapped, and you know I wasn’t raped. No one is holding me hostage, and no one is making you to bad things in order to keep me alive. So why did you say all of that on the television, Daddy? You know it’s not true.”

  He sighed again.

  “You wouldn’t understand, Evelyn. You never understand.”

  “You never try to get me to understand! You just do things, and you expect me to fall in line with them just because you say that I should!”

  “You are my daughter, and there is a certain standard I have always expected you to live by. A standard that you’ve entirely fucked away, letting yourself get swept up in that bastard’s arms.”

  “Tony treats me right, father,” I said. I tried to keep my voice from trembling and shaking. I tried to keep it from wavering too much or from giving away the fact that he was making me feel like complete shit—but it wasn’t because I felt guilty. It was because I was finally truly coming to terms with the fact that my father wasn’t the man that I thought he was, nor the man who I needed him to be as my father. “He treats me right, he respects me—”

  “I’m sure he respects you so much, having had you bent over like a whore in an alleyway.”

  “Oh my god.” I shook my head. “It was a one-night stand. Get over yourself, father. I’ve made a lot of silly mistakes in my life, but I’m not going to sit here and let you pretend like somehow this changes me as a person when we both know what it doesn’t! Especially when all of this has nothing to do with me and everything to do with
your horrible, over-inflated ego and your need to control everything in my life! I don’t—I don’t care what you do from now on, father. The truth will come out eventually. I’m not playing your games anymore. You keep yourself and your people away from me and mine and we won’t have an issue, but you do something like what you did today and you’ll regret it. I’m with Tony. I’m by his side. There’s nothing that you could say or do that would make me change my mind and you’re not going to lie your way out of having me here, do you understand?”