Read Patriot and his Secret Baby (The Rossi Family Mafia Book 1) Online
Authors: Avery Hawkes
Relief flooded my body. Thank God he understood. It gave me hope that he would be on my side when I was ready to bring up the idea of me moving away.
“Do you want to know how much
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"
Daddy raised his hand to stop me, “No. That is your money, Bella. Save it for a down payment on your future home for you and your husband.”
Oh goodness, he was more like my aunt than I realized. As I opened the door I started to think about all of the stipulations that she had placed in order for me to collect the inheritance.
Then it hit me.
I remembered the touch of his skin and the taste of his lips. Lance had taken my virginity only a few weeks before. While he had used a condom, there was the small possibility that it might have failed. My face turned white as my father started the car and backed out of the parking lot.
It was going to be fine, I told myself. Even if I hadn’t started my period yet, it was due in a few days.
There wasn’t anything to worry about. Yes, Lance had fucked me, but that didn’t equal a pregnancy. People had sex all the time without protection and sometimes had difficulty conceiving children.
Dammit. This was going to bother me. I had to be sure that I wasn’t pregnant before I went to the doctor next week. If I was pregnant, I would deal with it then. For now, I just had to put my mind at ease.
“Dad, can you drop me off at the drug store near our house? I have to pick something up.”
I wiped my oily hands off on a dirty towel.
“Looks like the radiator. We’ll need to order parts for it, but it should be done by next week.”
My boss, the Hermann of Hermann & Sons car repair, scribbled a note on his clipboard. The old man’s handwriting was barely legible as I got close enough to read it. As he wrote, his fingers shook uncontrollably.
“I’ll call ‘em and make sure the part is ordered. Good work, son.”
“Thanks Dad,” I replied.
“I’m closing the office. Clean up the garage before you leave. You know what your mother’s makin’ for dinner?”
“I think it’s leftovers night.” I replied as I turned to organize the tools I had been using throughout the day. They were all ancient, probably older than me, but well cared for. My father teetered toward the office to file away the day’s paperwork and make a few last phone calls to his suppliers.
He had been on his own for a long time. How had my parents managed?
My other brother, Jacob, had helped for a while, but he had left for college about halfway through my service. He was a senior now, an intern at a one of the most prestigious banks in the country. But did he help? No. It was like they had another kid off in Afghanistan, only this one was going to dinner parties while I went through hell. It was easy for me to fit back in to the family business once I came back from Afghanistan. Too easy.
While I loved my parents and wanted their business to do well, the money that I did make went straight into the family’s bank account. The cars I repaired paid for my rent, food and not much else. If I wanted to eventually go to school or start a family of my own, I’d have to find a way to save up extra money.
Working with my hands put me in the zone. Sure, they were covered in oil and grime, but I liked the feeling of metal against skin.
After I had organized the tools and swept the floors, I walked over to the garage door to tug it down. Before I could, I saw headlights far down the road.
The maintenance and repair shop was located just off the main road, but it was a quarter mile of gravel road that curved around a densely wooded area. The repair shop was the only destination. If you saw headlights, that meant someone was headed your way.
I didn’t care to be honest. It was past closing time and I wasn’t about to check out another car tonight. As it got closer, I noticed it wasn’t the type of vehicle we’d normally see in this part of town. Hell, I had worked my ass off the past four years and I couldn’t even imagine owning a car like that.
It pulled in, stopping with the headlights shining directly on me and the garage entrance.
“We’re closed!” I yelled. From the sound of the bass thumping, I doubted they could hear me. The windows were tinted, so I couldn’t see who was in the driver’s seat. After a tense moment that was like a stare off between the faceless driver and me, I shrugged and turned to lower the garage door to the floor.
The engine revved, and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise. It sometimes took a few seconds to remember that I wasn’t in a war-zone. My adrenaline rose sharply, but I tried to keep control of it. I was more than the chemicals that rushed through me.
Before I could turn around, I heard two car doors open and footsteps on the gravel. The hip hop they were listening to pierced the night air.
“Hey, aren’t you Lance Strong?”
Taking a deep breath, I secured the lock on the garage door and turned around. Standing in front of me, leaning on their car were the Rossi twins. Even though I told myself I wasn’t in a war zone, as soon as I recognized the two, I knew I had to be on my best guard.
“Yep.”
“Oh man, it’s been forever!” The older twin, Luca did all the talking, while the younger one, Simone sat back and watched.
“Yeah, since high school graduation, huh?”
“Oh man, it seems like so long ago. Matteo thought he had seen you back in town. I’d watch out for him, he still bitches about you making out with Rosabella.” He rolled his eyes.
Hm. The twins seemed friendly enough. At least I didn’t feel like they were going to jump me.
“How can I help you guys?”
“We’re looking for a place to repair our Maserati,” Luca said. “Our last arrangement with a repair shop didn’t end up going so well. All we ask for is a small bit of discretion when it comes to what you find on our vehicles.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Discretion?”
“Let’s just say, we’ll scratch your back and you can scratch ours.”
“I don’t exactly think that my back needs scratching,” I shot back. My voice was starting to become terse and knew I had to watch myself. The last thing I wanted was to start a fight, or even begin a war between the Rossi family and my own.
“Firstly, you’d get all of our family’s business. Detailing, fender benders, et cetera. Secondly, you’ll receive protection from us.”
My ears pricked up at that. I tried to stop my blood from boiling.
“My family’s business hasn’t needed protection for fifty years. Why would we need it now?” I growled. Something sparkled in the man’s eye. Did he fucking enjoy this in some, sick, twisted, way?
“Well, from what I hear, there’s been some nasty gang activity in the area. There’s no knowing what could happen, but what I do know it’s only a matter of time until crime affects your family.”
My hands turned into fists at my side. Immediately I was thrown back into the desert from my nightmares. I could almost taste the dust and feel the white hot sun, even in the darkness. Back then, only survival of myself and my men had mattered. The only difference between then and now was the threat. Before, it had been poor fighters, trying to take control of villages in Afghanistan. The threat that stood before me now were two stuck up rich kids with too much time on their hands. It was easy for me to underestimate them. They didn’t seem like the warriors I was used to, but I could tell they were clever. They played a different game than Al Qaeda did, and I had to change my tactics. I cracked my knuckles, trying to allow my hands to relax. I straightened myself and took a deep breath before replying.
“Now, you guys wouldn’t be threatening me and my family, would you?”
The twins looked at each other. The quiet one made a face. He raised his eyebrows and nodded his head. For some strange reason, the other man was able to translate his body language and he nodded back in understanding.
Luca opened his arms up and flashed a big, toothy smile.
“I don’t know why you’d think that, man. We’re just here to help.” He took a few steps forward and it took everything in me to not want to punch him in his gut. Instead, I let him grasp my shoulder, then turn us toward his brother.
“Hey, you don’t need to decide now. How about we do some sort of
―
what do you call it
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trial period?” He kicked the front of his Italian car and I noticed the damage. His door was dented and covered in some sort of substance. Upon further inspection, I realized there were chunks of hair that were stuck to it.
Blood. It looked like he had slammed someone’s head in to the door so hard that it exploded all over the interior and damaged the closing mechanism.
He went on, “Get this fixed up by next week and we’ll talk again. Oh
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“He dug in his pocket and I stiffened. Was he reaching for a gun? Thankfully, his hand returned with a folded piece of paper.
It was a colorful flyer, with bright white text that listed names of DJ’s on the front. “We own a club in south Jersey, we’re having a big show next Friday. Bring our car there, and we’ll talk business.”
Luca forced the flyer into my hand and gave me a pat on the back. In the corner of my eye, I saw headlights headed down the gravel road.
They were actually leaving their expensive car with me. I couldn’t fucking believe it. The younger brother had closed the doors and threw me the keys. I barely was able to catch them since my mind was racing.
“I’ll see you next week!” the man said, pointing toward me and winking. They then walked casually back to a black sedan that pulled up to the repair shop.
They squealed away, sending rocks and dust flying until they turned down the main road.
“Shit.” I said aloud, looking down at the crumpled flyer. What have I gotten myself into? I should never have gone to that damned funeral. “Shit. Shit. Shit. SHIT!”
I was so screwed.
I was so screwed.
My eyes stared down that the long, white object in my hands. I was in the bathroom, surrounded by empty boxes. When my father had dropped me off at the drug store, I had made an excuse to be alone and then about bought the store out of pregnancy tests. I had to be sure.
My eyes were red as I stared down at the result screen. It was one of those fancy tests with an electronic read-out. There, staring back at me were the words “Pregnant.”
It was the last test I had to take. All the rest that surrounded me said the same thing, whether it was two pink lines or text.
I was pregnant.
It hadn’t really dawned on me until I had taken the last test. I gathered them all together and studied them, hoping for some sense of relief.
There was none to be had. Every piece of plastic confirmed my fears.
With an angry swipe of the arm, I sent the stick flying into the trash can next to the toilet. I couldn’t breathe, my chest becoming tight as sobs started to bubble up.
They had told me in school that it only took one time, but I hadn’t expected for it to happen to me. With a even!
It wasn’t that I didn’t want kids. What made me feel like crying uncontrollably on my bathroom floor was the feeling that a baby would trap me to my family. If any of my family knew that I had gotten pregnant outside of wedlock, they would kill Lance and then make sure I never saw the light of day until the baby was born.
I could see my mom passing the baby off as her own just to save face in our church. The thought of losing my child or causing my family harm was more than I could bear.
I had to hold my sides as I cried in the bathroom. What I knew was that I couldn’t get an abortion. No matter what, I had to have this baby. Even if his or her father was a jerk to me in high school, even if my family would explode from the fallout, even if I lost my inheritance, I loved my child.
Sitting on the bathroom floor, I made a promise to myself and to God, if he was out there.
“Help me protect my baby,” I whispered between sniffs. “I’ll do whatever it takes. Just please God, protect us and help us.”
Knock. Knock.
I about jumped out of my skin. My hand flew up to my face, trying to wipe the tears away. It was useless. It would take more than a few tissues to make me look like everything was alright.
“Rosabella? Are you okay?” Regina’s voice wavered from across the barrier.
“Yes!” I replied, “Everything’s f-fine!” My stomach dropped as the words left my mouth. It was pretty clear from how I sounded that I had been crying.
“Bullshit!” Regina said. She rapped on the door a few more times, then tried to wiggle the door handle. “You’ve been in there for two hours and I heard you crying! Let me in!”
Panic filled me. Regina was stubborn and probably wouldn’t stop until I let her in. She’d probably ask one of our brothers to kick down the door before she would let me off that easily. So much for privacy in this family.
“One minute!” I called, wiping my nose on my sleeve. Boxes were strewn about the bathroom and about half of the test kits hadn’t made it into the garbage can when I had thrown them earlier. I fumbled as I got up, trying to gather everything I could and deposit it in the waste paper basket.
“Rosabella! I’m going to go get Dad!”
“NO DON’T!” I yelled. You could still see the pile of pregnancy tests clearly in the basket. My hand flew to bat at the toilet paper roll, letting the paper fly until there was enough to stuff in the top of the basket.
Good enough, I told myself.
My hair was a mess. Running my hands through it seemed to help. With one glance in the mirror I turned to unlock the door.
Regina about burst into the room, looking me up and down. From my puffy, red eyes to my disheveled clothes, I wasn’t exactly the most put-together woman on the planet. Her judgment was palpable.
“What?” My hands flew up, palms out toward her. “Did you just want to see me looking like garbage?”
“What’s wrong?” Regina asked, grabbing one of my hands to try to calm me. I tugged it away from her.
“I’m just stressed out.”
“Um, you kinda look a little more than stressed out.”