Bastard’s Baby(9)

He was stuck in the old world, living with the old rules. People got pregnant all the time by mistake. True, I’d never thought it would be me. I had never for a second thought I would have some stranger’s baby all because of one stupid mistake, but I couldn’t exactly take it back.

And part of me didn’t want to take it back. Alex was a lot of work, but he was so beautiful, so cute, and he smelled so good. He was my son, and I would do anything for him, including betraying my own family to seek help from the people they hated the most.

I wondered if Soph was okay. I was sure they were interrogating her right about now, and I hoped she was just cooperating. It didn’t matter if they knew where I was anymore now that I’d gotten away.

“Tell me something,” Rafa said after a few minutes.

“Sure.”

“What do you expect to get out of Vince?”

I cocked my head at him. “Nothing really. Protection for a little while, at least until my father decides that he isn’t going to tear Alex away from me.”

Rafa frowned at me. “You really think your old man is going to forgive you after this?”

I looked at him silently for a second.

And I realized that he was right.

I didn’t know what I expected to happen. All I knew was that I need someone to help me keep Alex safe, and Vince could do that. But I’d never really considered my long-term plans.

Rafa was right. My father was never going to forgive me for this. He was going to see it as an insult to the entire family, the whole organization.

I shook my head. “I don’t know, Rafa.”

“Seems to me that you didn’t think this one through too much.”

“They were going to take my son away,” I said. “I did what I had to do.”

“Yeah. You keep saying that.” He smiled at me. “Cute kid at least.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

“Enter,” Rafa called out.

Vince opened the door and stepped inside. My breath caught in my chest as soon as I saw him again.

He was as attractive as I remembered from that night, and every time I saw him it came rushing back to me. I had slept with him out of some stupid, rebellious spirit, anger at my family’s oppressive nature, but it was more than that.

I’d slept with him because I couldn’t stop myself. He was handsome, tall, strong, confident, and cocky. He was a piece-of-shit mobster, good for a single night of fun.

“Come on,” he said to me.

“Where are we going?”

“Seeing some doctors. We’re going to get that test started.”

I nodded. “Fine. Good.”

I stood up and followed Vince out of the room. Alex wriggled in my arms, clearly tired, and I wished I could put him down for a nap.

“I know,” I said to him. “I know. It’s an exciting day.”

Vince frowned at me but didn’t say anything.

We walked through the halls, and I couldn’t help but marvel at everything around me. The place was enormous and covered in wealth. Expensive paintings, gold gilding, statues and plants and chandeliers. There were even stained glass windows in beautiful mosaics. The whole place looked like what you imagined an incredibly rich person’s house would look like, but even more so.

Vince didn’t say a word as we moved through the halls. Eventually he stopped outside a door and looked at me.

His eyes were intense, piercing, and I took a step back from him.

“Tell me now,” he said, his voice a slow growl. “Tell me the truth right now and we can just let you go. No harm done.”

“He’s your son,” I said quietly.

He stared at me for a second and then nodded once. “We’ll see.”

He pushed open the door and we went into what looked exactly like a doctor’s office.

“Mister Mori, Miss Kozlov,” the pretty young girl sitting behind the receptionist window said. “Head right back.”

Vince nodded to her and I smiled. We went through another door and a nurse met us there, smiling. “Right this way.” We followed her down a short hallway and she put us into a small exam room. “Sit,” she said. “This will only take a second.”

I glanced at Vince. If he was nervous, he wasn’t showing it. I watched as the nurse opened up some sort of package, taking out a few different things. There were cups and a few sticks with cotton at the end.

She turned to Vince. “You first,” she said. “Open up.”

He opened his mouth. The nurse stuck the swab in and rubbed it against his cheek. When she was done, she placed it inside a plastic envelope, grabbed another swab, and looked at me.

“Now the little one.”