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“I can handle him,” I assured her.
When we arrived outside his room, I pounded on his door.
“I told you not to come back until you had Jack under control!” Lane snapped.
“Then you’ll be happy to know Emma has me,” I replied.
The room was silent, and I had just enough time to wonder what Lane was going to do before he yanked the door open.
Before us stood Lane, in his usual nighttime robe. He had a drink in one hand.
“You didn’t run off?” Lane asked. “And you came to me for what, exactly?”
“To make sure you understand that I can’t be kept away from your daughter,” I said. “She’s mine and—”
“And I love him,” Emma finished.
Lane looked at both of us. “Yes, that’s why you two are getting—”
“Oh, can it, we’re just a business deal.”
Lane did not like that. He made a face. “I let you live, didn’t I?”
I hated that her father was treating me this way. “I won’t be separated from her,” I said.
Emma placeda hand over her belly. “Daddy, I’m going to be a mother. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
I knew the answer to that but kept quiet. Lane appeared to be in deep thought.
“We’re going to marry you two after the baby is born,” Lane said, dodging the question. “If the baby is a boy, Jack lives, if it’s a girl. Well…”
I couldn’t just stand there and let him threaten me like that. “You better be able to carry out the sentence yourself.”
It was the first time I admitted to myself that my child may not be a boy. As I spent more time dwelling on my love for Emma, I realized that all that mattered was that we were together. Lane however, was threatening to end me if things didn’t go his way.Can I get him to let me live if the baby is a girl?A small voice in the back of my head told me that a future in the mafia was no future at all for my child, boy or girl.
Lane appeared cold and distant, but then he changed the look on his face to one of joy. I didn’t trust anything he said, but he knew how to make Emma feel better.
“Honey,” Lane was saying. “I’ll love your child no matter what.”
Emma looked at him with teary eyes. Her voice was soft. “So you’ll let Jack live?”
Lane hesitated, then said yes. He shouldn’t have hesitated, but I knew he didn’t care less about me or his daughter. He didn’t even care about his grandchild.And what would he do if the baby is a girl?
I didn’t exactly thrivein complex interpersonal situations, but an idea struck me.
“Lane,” I said. “Emma and I need your vote of confidence should our baby be born a girl. We need assurances.”
Lane stayed quiet, then nodded. “Fine.”
He was probably just trying to placate me, but it was something.
At that moment, two of his men rounded the corner. One tried and failed to hide a horrified look as he saw us at Lane’s door.
“You really let him get away?” Lane said, pointing to me. “You’re useless. I was hoping to keep him away from Emma.”
The guards said nothing as Lane continued chastising them.Emma intervened. “Daddy, this isn’t about them. It’s about your plans for us.”
Lane sighed heavily. He shook his head, then went to his bed. “We’ll talk about it in the morning. Guards!”
