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“Yes, I’m pregnant.” I hand my credit card to the cashier.
“Does Severu know?”
“Who says it’s his?” I counter.
Guilia rolls her eyes before giving me a look that saysare you kidding? We both know better.
“You can’t tell him,” I beg softly.
“He has a right to know,” she hisses in return.
“And I will call him. But I need to do this on my terms.” I push my card back into my wallet before facing her again. “Severu hates me at the moment, and I can’t even blame him. I just don’t want to make it any worse.”
“Do you think hiding stuff from him, important stuff like his child, is going to make it better?
I don’t want to hear her logical explanations, but there is no way around it.
“Tell him. Or I will.” Guilia leaves the threat hanging as she exits the store.
Chapter Twenty
Severu
The sound of an aluminum baseball bat hitting a knee has always been one of my favorites. The scream that follows just as much. But it just isn’t doing anything for me anymore. Nothing seems to get my interest piqued these days.
I thought after cutting Lira out of my life, I would be able to just get back to normal, but it hasn’t been that simple. Everywhere I go, everything reminds me of her. For crying out loud, I’m still sleeping in a fucking guestroom, just to avoid the memories that have moved into mine.
“How’s it going?” Mancuso asks as he walks into the back room at Nocturn where I have a man named Steve Lang tied to a chair.
“About as well as expected,” I reply, bringing the baseball bat down again.
Our friend Steve screeches like a fucking banshee. The sound used to soothe my dark soul and smooth out the jagged parts of my psyche, but now it’s only another flat sound.
“What did he do?” Mancuso asks as he leans closer. “I saw Allegra consoling one of the other girls.”
“He decided that it was fine to get rough with one of our girls. Split her lip before someone walked in.” When I bring the bat down again, I can hear the bones break and give way.
“I’m pretty sure after his time with you he’ll think twice before doing something like that again.” My brother chuckles darkly.
Throwing the bat down on the floor, I look at Steve’s prone form. It’s usually the men who dole out pain on those that can’t defend themselves who can’t handle any pain when they have to be on the receiving end. He is passed out cold.
“What brings you here?” I ask as I wipe my hands off.
“Not much. I was just wondering if you’ve seen Lira recently,” he says nonchalantly.
No one mentions her around me. We just stopped talking about her like she simply never existed. My skin feels tight just hearing her name. I wonder what would prompt this.
“No.”
“She looks great. Ran into her while I took Guilia to do some shopping today,” he says.
“That’s good,” I reply while I walk out of the back room and head toward Allegra’s office.
I can hear Mancuso following me. I wish he would just go away. I don’t want to think about Lira, much less talk about her. Why the hell would he think this is a conversation I want to have?
“Have you considered calling her?” he continues to pry.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him to eat shit and die. I don’t need any more people sticking their damn noses into my business. Guilia has been on my case for more than two months already, and recently Alceu and Stefano have jumped on the bandwagon as well. Now Mancuso? Why can’t they all just leave me the fuck alone?
