Chapter Six-Anna
CHAPTER SIX-ANNA
S ix months later
I enter my apartment with a sigh as I walk to turn on the AC. It’s a cheap window unit, and I don’t even know if it still works.
But I hope it does. New Jersey summers are a mixed bag, but it looks like I came back to a freaking heat wave.
I miss Pancake, but I know the family who adopted him from me are good people. They’re treating him well, and they even send me updates every now and then.
It makes me sad, but I know it’s for the best. My allergies have been a little loopy just lately.
So has everything else.
I spent the last six months hiding out in the condo my best friend’s family owns in Florida. Giselle is still pissed at me. I never explained why I ran away, but I knew she’d help.
We go way back. More like sisters than friends. Always there for each other. That’s been our promise since we started first grade over at St. Lucy’s Parochial School.
So when I asked, she handed me the keys immediately. There’s no one like Giselle.
Damn.
I realize how much I missed her over the past several months.
My heart squeezes inside my chest, and I suck in a sharp breath. I don’t know if I can do this alone.
But I don’t really have a choice.
Giselle has already done too much for me, allowing me the use of her family’s vacation home without question. She is a busy person with a thriving career in social media marketing.
I can’t even pretend to know what that is. She’s tried to set up accounts for me for the bakery, but I can’t pay her, so I won’t allow it.
I won’t abuse our friendship that way. Even if I do give her parents bread whenever they’re in town.
It’s just not the same .
Her parents only use the condo during the summer. So, it was a good run while it lasted.
June just rolled around, and I booked my ticket and came back. Giselle’s parents arrived shortly after I left.
I already got their text thanking me for the fresh rolls I baked and left on the counter, and for cleaning the place.
Anyway, I just can’t stay away any longer. Can’t run forever.
Sammy’s latest round of voicemails made no sense at all, and I know I need to see my brother to figure out what the heck he’s doing and to tell him I’m done.
The air inside my apartment is stale. The AC is blowing cold, so I thank God for that.
Thoughts of my brother gnaw at my mind, but it’s no good. No matter how I feel about him I need to draw the line.
Sammy is an adult. He makes his own choices with no thought for me or anyone else.
My heart hurts when I think this, but it’s the only option left. I just can’t worry about him anymore. I can’t put my life aside for him.
Not anymore .
Because it’s not just me I need to consider. I have someone else to watch out for now.
My hand goes to the bump beneath my breasts, and I can’t help but smile when I feel the flutter of life growing within my belly.
The thing about being a big girl is I’m only starting to look pregnant now as I enter my third trimester.
Before, I simply looked fat. Maybe it’s because of all the morning sickness. I didn’t expect to have that cute little basketball belly skinny women have when they are pregnant, but still.
I am thrilled now that I can see what the doctors and the half dozen home tests I took told me.
I am pregnant. With Nico Fury’s baby.
Like every other time I think about him, my pulse races and my heart thuds heavily against my ribs.
When I took off on New Year’s Day, I expected to return after a few weeks. I thought I was just going down to Fort Lauderdale to get my head on straight.
But once I started losing my breakfast, my plans pivoted.
Noise in the hall brings my head up and I brace myself .
“Anna? You better be ready to explain what the hell is going on?—”
Giselle pushes my front door open, and I can see from her expression my bestie is still pissed at me.
Then her gaze drops to my belly, and she gasps.
“Hi,” I whisper, my eyes filling with tears.
“Oh my God! Anna, you’re pregnant!”
“Yeah, I know.” I sniff and roll my eyes.
“Holy fuck! Okay, first,” she says, grabbing my hands, “are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m good. Sammy?”
I ask, hoping she’s been able to track him down for me. He hasn’t answered my last few texts, and I’m worried.
Giselle’s face falls, and I know she’s keeping something from me. But I can be patient when I have to be. And I know my bestie won’t be rushed.
So, I sit, and I rub my palms over my belly.
I allow myself a moment to enjoy the cool air coming from the air conditioner. And I wait.
Giselle places a thick black binder held together with rubber bands on the table. She frowns. Then she tucks her dark locks behind her ears.
I don’t know how she has all that hair down in this heat. It’s only the first week of June, and I actually cringe when I think about what it’s going to be like over the next few weeks.
Being pregnant and alone in the hot humid city is going to be hell on me. I just know it.
Sadness fills me as my thoughts strayed back to Sammy. I just can’t take the stress of his problems added to mine.
I have no more savings, and the bakers are trying to push me out of the business entirely.
Not to mention, there’s this whole thing where I have to avoid my baby’s father.
How the hell am I gonna do that?
The research I’ve done on Nico Fury and the Vipers has garnered little information. I know he’s suspected of being the head of a crime syndicate.
But what the heck does that even mean?
Was he like the Godfather or something?
He sure as heck didn’t resemble an old timey mafioso. Not with all those tattoos and muscles.
Stop it.
I remind myself I’m not alone, and now is not the time to go fantasizing about what was probably the best sex I have ever had.
Another thing I didn’t know about pregnancy was how the hormone surges increased a woman’s sex drive at the most inopportune times .
Go figure.
“Before we get into that, I want you to know I have the books from Theresa. She really did a good job filling your shoes as manager for the bakery. But you were right, Anna. They want you out. Javi and the bakers don’t want to pay you a cut anymore. They just want you gone.”
“Fuck,” I moan, closing my eyes.
Talk about problems. The tiny bit of money I make with my family’s bakery is a pittance.
But the bakery is my legacy.
Mine and Sammy’s.
Not that he ever cared.
“But we can talk about them later. First, tell me everything about you getting knocked up. And don’t you dare fucking lie,” she demands.
“Fine, But you’re not gonna like it, Sisi,” I murmur, calling her by her nickname.
I start at the beginning, with Sammy owing money to the Vipers.
And I end my story with me inside the king of the Vipers’ bed, where he makes me come more times than I could count, and subsequently gets me pregnant.
“Are you fucking serious?” she asks, thirty minutes later when I finally finish telling my tale .
“Um, yeah, Sisi, I’m pretty fucking serious.”
I gesture to my stomach.
“Well, from your description of him, at least the baby should be cute,” she says, lifting one shoulder. “Unless all that ink his daddy has makes him come out with like blue skin or some shit.”
“Oh my God, what is wrong with you?”
I laugh. Then I cry.
I blame it on hormones, but it’s more than that.
“Hey, it’ll be okay. Aunt Sisi is gonna take care of you both,” she says and before I know it, my bestie is hugging me.
I cling to her, so grateful for human contact. Six months without even a single physical touch was rough on me.
I like hugs. Not that I’d been hugged very often, but I know I like them.
I crave human contact.
I can’t wait for my baby to arrive. To have the chance to cuddle them and give them all the love I know I’m capable of.
I huff a breath and shake my head, wiping the stray tears that are rolling down my face.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“The plan?” I look at her, utterly confused.
“Yeah, are you gonna tell him? ”
“Him who? Nico? No! Why would I?”
Hope. Horror. Angst. Need. Fear.
One by one, emotions flitter through me and I’m practically gasping by the time Giselle responds.
“Um, because he’s the father. He has rights, and so do you. The bakers aren’t gonna pay you much longer. They’re threatening to quit unless you agree to sign over ownership of the business to them. This Nico is the dad, right? So, he has to pay child support,” she says, like I’m dumb.
“The bakers are my problem. If they want me gone, I will sell the business to them and the bread routes, but they aren’t pushing me out for nothing. Besides, I don’t own this building. There are three mortgages on it. If they think I’m just going to give it to them, they’re crazy.”
“And what about Daddy dearest?” Giselle pushes, and my stomach turns.
“What about him, Sisi? This isn’t his business?—”
Something shatters in the other room, and I am on my feet. Giselle grabs me by the hand, stopping me from going inside.
“Wait.” she hisses, and she is already dialing 911.
I hear a groan and a couple of loud thuds. Someone laughs, and the sound is pure evil .
I shake Giselle’s hand off me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I recognize that groan.
Fear trickles up my spine as I walk through my bedroom.
The window in my tiny bedroom is shattered, but I walk towards it and look outside.
I peer through the darkness to where shadows are moving almost out of my line of vision.
I see something. It’s crawling through the trash bags sitting on the sidewalk, waiting for pickup tomorrow morning.
Something scurries between the heavy black plastic. Probably a rat.
My attention flicks back to the huddled mass. It pauses and I think I recognize the brown shirt with the cream letters on the back. I can’t read what it says.
There’s something dark and thick, and it’s leaking all over the mass and it takes me a moment to discern it’s a person.
The liquid pooling beneath them is like chocolate syrup. They finally stop moving just beneath the flickering streetlight.
Then, I scream.