Packing Heat(37)

“I believe you,” he said. “But she knows something. And if she doesn’t, she better learn something fast, because Ernesto wants you both dead, and I can’t keep him at bay for too long.”

“I can find something.”

“Good. Get her help if you need it. Find us information on the Spiders, and find it fast.”

I nodded and stood. I put my cup back down on the tray on the side table. Arturo watched as I moved back toward the door.

I paused and looked back at him.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“You know about the rift in the organization.”

“I know all about it.”

“What are you doing about it? You haven’t come down on either side yet.”

He smiled at me. “I’ve been doing this for a long time. You know that?”

“I know that.”

“I’ve seen things like this before. This isn’t the first issue to tear us apart.” He shrugged. “The bosses will come to a consensus. And if they don’t, they’ll kill each other until only the strongest capos are left.”

“What about the soldiers?”

“Some will die. Most will be absorbed into other territories.”

“You want war.”

“I don’t want war. I want peace. But I understand that war may be the only option. You can’t fear it.”

“I don’t fear war. I don’t fear violence.”

“Good,” he said, grinning. “Go embrace it.”

I turned and left, not sure what to think.





19





Cassidy





I woke up in an unfamiliar bed and had to squash a moment of panic before it took me over completely.

I stayed totally still, wrapped in foreign sheets, until slowly I remembered what had happened the night before. I remembered Rafa coming into my apartment. I remembered his body against mine.

I remembered going temporarily insane and taking the condom off his cock. I remembered him coming inside me.

I sighed, stretching. I had barely gotten any sleep, and I still felt exhausted. I looked over at the clock and sighed. It was already past nine in the morning. Our flight from my apartment late at night had taken a few hours, so I was really dragging as I got out of bed.

I opened the bedroom door and found the bag I had packed in a hurry on the floor. I took it back inside, did my morning routine in the beautiful bathroom, and then got changed.

I went into the living room, but Rafa was nowhere to be seen.

The fresh smell of coffee wafted up from the kitchen area, so I went over to grab a mug. Next to the coffeemaker was a piece of paper folded in half, propped up against the mugs.

I picked it up and opened it.

“Cassidy, sleep as late as you want. I have some business to attend to. Feel free to do whatever you want, but be careful. Rafa.”

I sighed again and tossed the note aside. I got some coffee and then sat down on a kitchen chair, crossing my legs.

Nobody was going to come looking for me. My parents would never know that I wasn’t at my apartment, and my friends never came over without me asking them to. Nobody actually knew where I was, which actually made me worried.

Well, everything about my situation made me worried. I paused on my third sip of coffee and realized that I had no clue if I could even drink caffeine or not.

I had to choke back panic again for the second time that morning.

I might be pregnant with Rafa’s baby. No matter what happened, now he and I were inextricably linked together forever, assuming I actually was pregnant. Plus, now he had incentive to fight for my life, assuming he gave a shit about the baby.

I quickly grabbed my phone from the other room and did a quick search.

One cup of coffee was probably okay. I started searching some more, and the full magnitude of what I had done really washed over me.

My whole life was going to change. I was going to have this baby, and I was never going to be the same again, even if I gave her up for adoption.

I was going to have to be careful with every single thing I put in my body for the next nine months. For whatever reason, that thought really brought home the full magnitude of what was happening around me.

I stood up, trying to fight the tide of panic and terror that was welling up inside me.

I couldn’t sit around. I quickly walked to the door and threw it open, walking out into the hallways as fast as I could.

I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going; I just walked. I felt like I was hyperventilating, breathing far too fast, short and quick. My footsteps matched my breathing as I hurried through the hushed hallways, past the expensive art and the priceless statues and the staring staff members.

I had let a strange man come inside me with the intention of getting pregnant. I was going to have his baby. I wanted him, and was incredibly attracted to him, but this was still so much. To top it all off, part of the mafia wanted me.