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I pulled into the first open spot, then turned the engine off. Dario started to stir as the vibrations stopped. A quick look at my cell told me that we were ten minutes late, but I knew the doctor would see us anyway. So I slipped my cell into the back pocket of my jeans and I hauled out of the driver’s side, then strolled around to Dario who was on the opposite side in the back.
His little eyes opened as I unstrapped him, his body wriggling and legs kicking. He was excited, but from the way his face screwed up, I knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d be crying and wanting more milk. He was still feeding every two hours, but thanks to Ma and the bottles she’d bought, my nipples were no longer red raw.
“Let’s go inside, little man,” I said softly, holding him to my chest as I used my hip to close the back door. My attention was solely on him as I stepped toward the front of the car.
“Navy? Is that you?”
I jerked at the sound of the voice, my feet freezing to the ground as I glanced up. “Miriam.” I held Dario a little tighter at the memory of her bringing the papers for me to sign. She was only doing her job, I knew that, but it didn’t stop my instincts kicking in.
“Oh wow.” She smiled big and wide, moving toward me. “He’s so cute.” She reached out, running the tip of her finger along his cheek. “How old is he now?”
Clearing my throat, I debated just walking away and not giving her the time of day. I was already late so… “Nine weeks.” I hated how I answered automatically. It was my ingrained manners that my mom had instilled in me.
Her eyes widened. “Time flies, huh. It feels like only yesterday you were coming into my office.” I winced at her words, hating how the memory was right there for me to see, how it only felt like yesterday that I’d been running out of there and straight into Dante’s arms.
Fate.
Dante was right. Fate had played her part in us being together, and now that I was here outside the doctor’s office, I wished I would have gone into the mansion to talk to him before coming here. I hated the feeling in my stomach, like I was missing part of me. I didn’t want to be mad at him, but…I couldn’t stop.
Gravel crunched behind me, I started to turn my head to see who it was, but Miriam asked, “How is feeding him going?”
I frowned, wondering why she was asking that. It had nothing to do with her how his feeding was going. “It’s going good.”
“Are you breastfeeding?” She glanced at my chest, her lips lifting on one side. “You are, aren’t you?”
I nodded, stepping forward to walk around her. I didn’t want to stand here talking to her. “I better go—”
She sighed, interrupting me. “That’s going to make things a little difficult.” She tilted her head, her eyes narrowing on me. Gone was the smile and in its place a sneer. “But then, you’ve been difficult from the moment I met you.”
“What? I—”
Arms banded around me from behind, shocking me and taking my breath away. They squeezed, incapacitating me as another hand wrapped around my face. “Let go!” I screamed, holding on to Dario as tight as I could. But I could feel my hands slipping, feel my grip getting lighter, and then he was gone.
“We need to take her too,” Miriam said to whoever was holding me.
I tried my hardest to fight, to get my arms and legs to work, but it didn’t matter how much I screamed at them to move, they wouldn’t. I was frozen, my body useless but my brain was working overtime as Miriam held Dario to her chest in the same way I had.
My throat burned as I screamed, but the sound was muffled by the man’s hand and…was that a cloth? He held it over my nose and mouth as he lifted my feet off the ground, and that was the last thing I saw before everything went dark…
CHAPTER 15
DANTE
I paced the porch in front of our house, waiting for the sound of her car to pull up in the driveway. The house was far enough away where we felt like we weren’t being watched over by the mansion, but close enough that we could hear when anyone turned up.
The sun was starting to set, my patience wearing thin.
What if she’d gone to the mansion instead of here? What if I hadn’t heard her pull up?
I glanced at the front door, the house covered in darkness, and decided to head over to the big house. I didn’t want Ma to see me like this, mainly because once she saw the cuts on my knuckles and the bruise on my cheek, she’d know exactly what I’d been up to.
And I wasn’t in the mood to get a lecture from her today. All I wanted was to talk to Navy. To tell her it will never happen again. To explain that I’d already ordered a safety box for each room in the house. It was important to me that we had weapons to protect ourselves—especially in this line of business—but I had to protect the ones I loved from the weapons too.
I got it. I’d always got it. I just…I’d made a mistake, one that I would rectify without a second thought.
But would she forgive me?
I hoped she would.
