Chapter Nine
Harper had a horrible feeling she was already pregnant.
She might have already been pregnant before Enzo said he wanted to put his babies inside her.
The tight jeans had been a small indicator, but not a massive one.
Her weight fluctuated all the time. Tight clothes were par for the course with her.
The real indicator came when she started to throw up in the morning. That was more like warning bells that terrified the crap out of her. There was no way for her to get a pregnancy test without Enzo knowing. He knew everything.
Also, falling asleep across the counter had been another indicator. She rarely fell asleep during the day. It just wasn’t part of her MO to fall asleep. She was a morning person and awake and alert all day, until around ten-thirty at the latest.
Of course, staying up, making love, and having lots of hot sex had to be another factor. She and Enzo had not slowed down. And each time he came, he would wedge a pillow beneath her hips, which she found highly erotic. There was something clearly wrong with her.
She didn’t know how to broach the subject with Enzo, but the morning sickness was driving her crazy. The crackers, which were dry and tasteless, were the only things she could eat. She sighed.
Coffee was out of the question, and other smells were bothering her as well. Like she loved cheese, but that was starting to smell absolutely disgusting to her. She couldn’t freaking win.
Her jeans didn’t fit. At first, they were just tight, but it had gotten to the stage where she could no longer zip them.
Harper finished cleaning Enzo’s office, being careful not to move anything. She never snooped in his office. This was his space, and she only ever cleaned it.
She was so curious about him, from his kids, to his previous wife. He’d told her the story of how he ended up being the only man living here, but that didn’t show her what his past was like.
Harper couldn’t help but think about his boss, Marcus Villa, the one that had seen them in the restaurant at Halloween.
She had known that look. The moment he heard her name was Taylor, the interest had died in his eyes, and she’d become nothing more than a bug under his shoe.
He was not going to be happy with her being pregnant.
At the sound of a knock at the front door, Harper froze. She looked around Enzo’s office and frowned. No one ever knocked on Enzo’s door. Not in the two years she’d been working here. Not a single person. Especially not when she was alone.
She walked out of Enzo’s office and immediately closed the door. Going to the front door, she saw there was no latch to see who was on the other side.
Opening the door, Harper wished she hadn’t opened it, because on the other side was none other than her father. She attempted to push the door closed, but he shoved at it, and she let out a little cry as she fell to the floor.
Scrambling to her feet, she stared at her father, who she hadn’t seen in over two years. The money had come in an envelope with no note, nothing.
“What are you doing here?” Harper asked.
“I should ask you what the fuck you are doing?” Bradley said.
“My job.”
“Your job?”
Harper cried out as he closed the distance and slapped her around the back of the head. It had been two years since she had been struck like this. She grabbed the back of her head and tried to keep the tears at bay. Tears always angered him and often made him hit her harder.
“Is it your job to complain about what happens to my money?” Bradley asked. “You need to learn that I own you. You’re my fucking daughter and everything you have is mine.”
She had no idea what he was talking about. It was then she noticed the cast on one of his wrists.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He slapped her again, this time across the face. She tasted blood.
“I don’t know what lies you’re telling him, but you hear me, you tell him you always intended for me to have that money. That you’re a useless piece of shit, and you owe me. You got it?”
Harper put a finger against her lip, and when she came away, she saw blood.
She cried out as he grabbed her hair and tugged on it.
Again, this was something she had forgotten about—the hair pulling, the hitting.
This is why she often wore her hair in a ponytail, as it didn’t hurt so bad when it was pulled.
She didn’t have her hair pulled back today, because Enzo loved to see her hair down, as he loved stroking it.
He pulled her in close. “You tell him what a good man I am, and that I deserve to be rewarded.”
Harper cried out, and he yanked tighter before letting her go. She stared at her father, and hatred unlike anything she had ever experienced consumed her. She hated this man with a fiery passion.
He looked at her with disdain.
“You’ve got to learn some fucking respect.” He straightened his jacket.
“What happened to your hand?” Harper asked.
Her father glanced down and she saw him go pale. “We didn’t have this conversation, do you hear me?”
Harper just stared at him. He went to raise his hand, but all she could think about was her child. She didn’t move her hands to protect herself. The last thing she wanted to do was bring his attention to the fact she was pregnant with Enzo’s baby.
Her father was a vulture and would attempt to suck Enzo dry. He would demand so much and would become nothing put a poisonous thorn in their side.
“I get it,” she said.
“Watch your tongue,” he said. “There are plenty of men who would happily have a woman who couldn’t speak.”
The threat was real. He turned on his heel and walked away.
Harper couldn’t believe this had happened. She had no clue how he got inside Enzo’s gate.
Her mouth throbbed, as did her face. Her head didn’t feel any better. It had been a long time since she had faced that anger, and the fear threatened to consume her.
She pressed fingers to her lip and winced.
Blood was still coming from her lip, and she quickly made her way into the kitchen, opening up the freezer and finding a large bag of frozen peas.
She quickly put it on her mouth and grabbed another bag for her face.
If she could, she’d bury her head in ice just to cool it down from being tugged.
When she was growing up, he would always pull her hair.
It was one of the reasons she was sure he wouldn’t let her get it cut.
It was just another element of his control, and that meant there was nothing she could do.
She was at his mercy for fucking everything.
Harper hated him. He was a fucking monster.
At the sound of the door opening, Harper quickly put the peas into the freezer. Seconds later, Enzo rounded the corner and entered the room. She looked at him and knew she should think of some lie to tell him. But she couldn’t.
“What happened?” he asked.
“My dad,” she said. “He’s not happy that you’re making him pay the money back with the interest you already mentioned. I’m to tell you that I owe him that money, and he deserves it.”
She couldn’t take it. There was no way she was going to lie to Enzo. Lies just caused more trouble.
Enzo went to her and cupped her face. “This is what he did to you?” he asked.
She nodded. “I don’t know how he got past the gate. I don’t know how he was able to get close.”
She broke down and sobbed. “I hate him,” Harper said. “I hate him so fucking much.”
Enzo held her as she finally gave in to the feelings that surrounded her when it came to her father. There was no love left inside her for that monster. She hated him so badly.
She had done nothing but be born a girl.
****
Enzo had seen what happened. He got the alert that his gate was being tampered with. He saw Bradley Taylor. He also saw what the bastard did. How he pushed his way into his home, and then slapped Harper, treating her like shit.
It’s why he’d been able to arrive home so soon. He hadn’t waited around. He intended to get home to deal with that piece of shit. When he arrived, Bradley was gone, and Harper was covered with frozen bags of peas. Seeing her bruised cheek and split lip enraged him.
Kent had confirmed her pregnancy. Bradley could have seriously hurt Harper and put her at risk of losing his child.
He didn’t want to leave Harper alone, so he spent lunch with her.
Then, he had her curled up against him to watch a movie.
She talked him through making dinner, as they seemed to have a lot of fun when they did that.
Harper was actually a pretty good teacher.
She told him exactly what to do, and providing he followed her instructions, it always worked. It was a genius method.
After dinner, they took a long bath together, and he made love to her for several hours, exhausting her until she fell asleep.
Enzo was wide awake. He waited for Harper to fall asleep, and when she was in deep sleep, he slowly moved off the bed.
Each movement he took, he waited to see if it would wake her.
When it didn’t, he left the bed, grabbed his clothes, and made his way out of the room.
The security at the gate had already been changed.
Stepping out of his home, he got into his car, drove down the long driveway, and opened the gate. He waited until the gate was closed before taking off.
Bradley Taylor was at one of the brothels owned by the Villa Mafia. He sent out the alert that he was to be made aware of where Bradley was. He had no intention of killing him, but he was going to send a message for Bradley to be in no confusion about.
The journey took him forty minutes, and the woman who ran the brothel for them was waiting at the door, smoking a cigarette. She gave him the key, and told him the girl he was with was aware, and she could sneak out. He was in agreement.