“Fuck you,” I said.
He laughed and walked off. I stood up and flipped him the bird, shaking my head.
Fucking bastard. He didn’t have to take so much pleasure in my shit situation.
I left his room and began to walk down toward the infirmary.
What was I going to do if that was my kid? She was a Russian girl, a mob princess, and that was their fucking baby. They were going to want it back, especially when they heard that I was the father.
I couldn’t let that happen. If that kid was mine, I was going to have to figure something out. Fuck the Russians, and even fuck what Arturo and the other captains wanted. They were all a bunch of fucking cowards, Lucas excepted, but even he was going soft.
I couldn’t trust any of them, but I needed them for now. The girl was dangerous, very fucking dangerous, and she probably didn’t even realize it. This Chinese deal had everyone on edge as it was, and I didn’t need people making stupid fucking moves because some girl shows up with a baby.
I had to keep my head on my shoulders.
Fucking Kaley Kozlov. She gave me one of the best nights of my life with that perfect, soaked pussy of hers, and now she was giving me one of the worst mornings.
5
Kaley
After a few minutes, there was a knock at the door. I smiled down at Alex.
“They’re afraid to see you eating, little boy,” I whispered to him. I looked up at the door. “It’s safe,” I called out.
Rafa slowly opened the door. “You’re decent?”
I sighed. “Yes, Rafa, I’m decent. I was just breastfeeding. It’s not a big deal.”
He looked at me, frowning. “I know. It’s just . . .”
“Never seen women do it before?”
He shook his head.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty,” he said.
“You’re young.”
He shrugged and shut the door, heading over to his desk. “Young, sure. That doesn’t matter though.”
“How’d you get involved with the mob, if you don’t mind me asking?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Why do you care?”
“Just trying to make conversation.” He was clearly not going to make this incredibly uncomfortable situation any easier. I lifted Alex up and began to burp him.
“Just happened, I guess,” Rafa said. “Grew up in a fucking shit neighborhood. The only guys around worth anything were made men, you know? So I got into it.”
I nodded. I’d heard a version of that story again and again, over and over. It was the same with the Russians. Young guys saw the mobsters, their money and bling and all the crap, and wanted to get involved with the mob.
What they didn’t see was the dark side. The violence, the terror. I’d seen all of that and more living with my father my whole life. Some guys could stomach that sort of thing and some couldn’t. I guessed Rafa was the type that could if he had climbed so high in the ranks.
Then there was Vince, of course. Deadly, violence, terrifying. He was the sort of mobster I truly despised.
And yet he was the father of my child. Funny how life worked out sometimes, pushing you to places you never imagined you’d go.
“Is that really Vince’s kid?” Rafa asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“They’re going to make you do a paternity test.”
“Good,” I said. “Get this straightened out.”
He shook his head and laughed. “Vince with a kid.”
Alex let out a nice little burp. “Aw, there you go, my little prince,” I said.
Rafa laughed. “What the hell?”
“You have to burp them after they eat,” I said. “Otherwise they get all gassy and cry.”
“Huh,” he said, making a face. He clearly was grossed out and uninterested in Alexei, and I couldn’t blame him.
It was hard to love someone else’s baby but so easy to love your own.
“Where did Vince go?” I asked him.
“He went to talk to some guys. Just hang around here. He’ll be back.”
I sighed. “I know you guys think this is bullshit, but it’s the truth. Alex is Vince’s son, and my family is going to give him away if Vince can’t protect me.”
“Yeah,” Rafa said. “You told me that already.”
He looked away and began to do something on his computer, and I just sighed again. He’d clearly lost interest in me, and so I concentrated on rocking Alex. Hopefully he’d fall asleep after having eaten something.
Raising a baby was hard, especially in a household where nobody wanted him. My father was such a conservative asshole, so obsessed with the old ways and how things should be. The idea of keeping a baby around that had no father was abhorrent to him, completely wrong and immoral. He’d rather give Alex to some stranger than raise his own flesh and blood, all because his honor was offended.