Keep(Romanian Mob Chronicles 1)(34)

And when he pulsed a final time and then filled my womb with his seed, I knew I would love him forever.

Later, after we’d drifted off between long, slow kisses and caresses, he turned to me and rested his hand on my shoulder, the idle movements of his calloused fingers against my skin stirring a wave of delicious sensation.

“Last night,” he said, his deep, husky voice stirring sensation of its own, “you stayed up for me. Why?”

I looked into his eyes, felt apprehension spark. I’d been intent on talking to him last night, had stayed up, unwilling to wait for fear of losing my nerve, but his passion and then the exhaustion after had robbed me of my will. And now, I had to tell him. But I didn’t know how he would react.

“Fawn,” he said, expectant, practically daring me not to answer.

“I think… I suspect I’m pregnant.”

My lungs were so tight with apprehension, I had barely been able to get the last word out. I trusted him, but Vasile was still a mystery to me, and I had no idea how he would react, no idea what I would do, where I would go if he decided he didn’t want us. If he’d even let me leave. My eyes had lowered as I’d prepared myself to speak. But I looked at him now, searching his face for any hint of reaction.

There was none.

He got up, stepped into his pants, and pulled a T-shirt over his head.

“I’ll find a doctor,” he said.

And without looking back at me, he left.





Twenty





Vasile



* * *



After I dressed, I moved through the motions of the day, meeting with Priest, other clans, settling disputes within Clan Petran, but it was almost as if I was in a dream.

I was preoccupied, to say the least, with Fawn’s announcement.

Pregnant.

I didn’t know how I felt about it. At some point, I knew I would have a child. It was my duty to my clan, one I would fulfill. But this, a child created out of desire not duty… I wasn’t yet sure what to think.

But no matter what, I would have to keep them safe, keep the ugly taint of my world from touching them, something I knew from hard experience was a near impossibility. No matter what I tried, how I tried to protect them, Fawn, the baby, would now always be at risk. I could build a fortress, have a thousand men, and if I slipped just once, they would be taken from me.

“What’s the bad news?” Sorin asked, plopping a glass down in front of me before sitting across from me.

Still grappling with my thoughts, I hadn’t yet gone home, wasn’t sure what I would say to her.

“She might be pregnant,” I said on a heavy exhale.

Sorin smiled bright and stood and rushed over, almost tackling me with his hug.

“I didn’t think you had it in you,” he said, slapping my back heartily. “I hope he takes after the good-looking side of the family. My side.” He laughed and clapped my shoulder again.

Then, after he looked at me for a moment, he sobered.

“Shouldn’t we be doing shots? Celebrating? You’re going to have a son, but you look like you just got the worst news ever,” he said.

“This is very serious business, Sorin,” I said.

“Isn’t this the very definition of not business?”

“Everything is business, and everyone around us is tainted by it,” I said.

Sorin waved a dismissive hand. “Vasile, you always find a way to make everything suck. You should be happy, thinking about your son and not that other shit. Business takes care of itself.”

“No it doesn’t. And it’s that kind of attitude that holds you back from becoming the leader, the man you should be.”

He frowned, piercing me with his stare, but then he said, “Don’t make this about me, Vasile. Lecturing me isn’t going to change the fact that you’re too fucking stupid and stubborn to celebrate a blessing. Something we don’t get all that often.”

I stared at him and shook my head. “Don’t you understand the risk? They’re targets now.”

“Yeah, so? She was a target before,” he said.

“‘Yeah, so.’ I should fucking punch you, prostu pulii.”

“Not if I punch you first. Father, Grandfather, his father before him, they all had kids. This shit works out.”

“How many uncles have we lost?” I said.

Sorin shrugged. “Across the generations. Twenty. Maybe more. But so what? The Feds could bust in here right now, send us to prison for the rest of our lives. Deport us. Some other clan could try to take us out and take control of the organization. A fucking tornado could rip this building to shreds and us with it. So what, because bad things can happen, we run and hide?

“Get your head out of your ass, Vasile, and try to be happy for once. The shit’s gonna touch us, and all of us aren’t going to make it out, but right now, you should be with your woman. Celebrating. Asshole,” he said with a shake of his head.