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"Shut up."
"Sure."
Loren has a child. I let that sink in. This explains some things, like her need for money and extreme defensiveness toward me or others coming near her home. It explains why she's so tight-lipped about her life outside of her work and even why she was so beyond terrified of the group threatening her days ago. She was likely worried they might track her down and hurt the kid.
Is it a boy or a girl? How old? Did she have the kid before we met, or…
I quickly veer away from the next train of thought and decide Big Luck is right. I need to do some digging into this.
I leave Loren at her apartment and return to the casino, showering in the suite beside my office that works as a second bedroom at work on nights when I'm too tired to drive to my house in Green Valley Ranch. When I get out, I see a missed call from my father, one from an uncle, and plenty of messages from other Caputos and business associates.
It's going to be another exhausting day of putting out fires and directing my crime family as its head don and leader.
I rub my face and ignore everything for a moment to send a message to one of my most trusted confidantes, an old friend outside of the Caputo family with a knack for tracking down information. We often talk, especially when I'm looking for blackmail to use to twist arms and get shit done.
He responds immediately, letting me know he'll look into all the details about Loren Rally—and most importantly, the child she has that she hasn't spoken a word about to anyone, least of all me. I'm sure Big Luck only knows about it because he's been keeping a close eye on her, and I wonder how I could have missed such a big part of her life myself.
As I anticipated, the day was arduous. Family hounds me at every turn, and if it isn't a blood relative bringing up some new mess for me to clean up or some asset to buy or fund, it's older businessmen trying to schmooze and dine me as they play in my casino.
And as always, I keep my composure, never make split decisions, and scare the shit out of anyone who questions my methods—because what I'm doing fucking works, whether my family will admit it or not.
Strangely, sometimes I feel like an outcast among other Caputos. Almost a failure. I'm not what they envisioned as their don, and they don't like the more dialed-down approach I have to things. They prefer flexing their power at every chance to bring in money as fast as possible, no matter the long-term toll or the danger of authorities noticing or the high death rate in our younger members.
I'm methodical. Controlled. My family hates it, and I know it, and it's too fucking bad for them because I'm calling the shots. But just like my father, sometimes I feel it would be nice if one of them, ifsomeone, could see things the way I do. My endgame is just as profitable, but it'll leave fewer widows and fewer bodies to be buried in the desert.
By the time the day has passed, and I'm tired as I watch the casino's ground floor from my preferred place one floor up, I've given up pondering the dynamics of my family, and—as usual—my mind has wandered back to Loren.
I still remember seeing her in my casino for the first time, just down there. The pink hair and devastating dress clinging to her decadent body.
I don't know everything on her plate, but I do know she doesn't need the complications that being involved in my family would entail. I'd be wise to stay away from her and leave her to her quiet little family life in peace after I hunt down the group that has her so scared.
Still, I keep remembering her fingers brushing over my skin last night. She was so excited about her success at work, but I was the one who felt rewarded for it. Being unguarded for once, alone with her where the weight of the world was off my shoulders, was fucking intoxicating.
My phone buzzes, and when I see the message, I return to my secondary room to open my laptop, pulling up the information my old friend sent over.
It's not much. Loren is brilliant, and I'm sure she's done plenty of her own hacking to make this information as sparse as possible to the public eye and to other hackers alike.
All I can see is that she has a girl—a two-year-old. No pictures could be found of her, not even any hospital records for the birth, just some instances of pediatric appointments and receipts indicating Lauren has bought baby clothes and other things over the last couple of years.
Still, as I stare at this little bit of information…the girl is two.
The math adds up. We were together three years ago.
I quickly fight that thought again. I don't want to jump to conclusions. Beyond the fact that we definitely used protection and it was just one night, Loren could have been with other men in the months before or after me. That thought irks me, but she may have a baby daddy out there running around.
Maybe it's even one of the people she's afraid of running into. I hate that thought even more.
This isn't something I should be lingering on, and I quickly close everything down and get ready for bed, early for once, despite knowing I'll struggle to sleep with this on my mind.
As I lay and try to sleep, my mind keeps wandering back to Loren's bright smile and the spark of intelligent wit in her blue eyes whenever she's about to let her sass loose.
I wonder if her daughter looks like her and takes after her. I doubt I should bring up the girl to her at all, given how she's scrubbed most records of the baby from things and has been so fiercely protective already.
I like that she's so protective. Honestly, I like too much about the enchanting hacker, and I can't help wanting to learn everything there is to her. She said she just wanted that one night of celebration, but I already can't fucking wait until we have something else to celebrate so I can get a repeat of everything between us.
Chapter 11
Loren
