Chapter 9
THREE MONTHS LATER
Tess
There’s a banging on our door. I yell, “I’m coming!
” rushing down the stairs to answer it. After making him breakfast and coffee, Rockland was off to meet with Bronson.
Something urgent that cut short our usual morning routine of sex in the shower.
I wrap my robe tighter around me as I stand on tiptoe to look through the peephole.
It’s Sasha and she’s lifting her hand to bang on the door once more. I throw the door open and her hand falls by her side. She looks at me, frantic, then pushes past me, yelling, “Have you heard what’s happened?”
“What?” I ask, shutting the door behind her. I hurry to catch up with her. She’s at my coffeepot, pouring herself a cup.
She looks at me, annoyed that I don’t know what she’s talking about, and says, “About Paige? Have you heard about Paige?”
I go to the fridge to retrieve the vanilla creamer I keep just for her. I flip the lid open and pour a generous amount into her cup. “What about Paige?”
“Thank you,” she says, then takes a huge swig of her drink without even waiting for me to stir it.
She slams it on the counter and begins to pace frantically between the fridge and stove, talking with her hands waving around to emphasis her words as she speaks.
“I was just finishing up packing—you know I didn’t want to have to do any of it tomorrow since we have our going away party—and she called me and told me! ”
“Sasha, what did she tell you?”
She stares at me. Slaps her open palms down on the counter and shouts, “She’s knocked up! Three months in already.”
“What do you mean? She’s… pregnant?”
“Yes!”
“But how is that possible? We’re on the pill. We’re all on the pill.” Babies are a carefully thought out thing in the Bachman family. Unless you’ve already had one and are living in the Hamlet, or in the Parish. Not in the Village.
“She lied to Bronson. She told him she was still taking it but that girl has had baby fever ever since he put that blue diamond on her finger. She left the jewelers and started working at the children’s boutique a few months ago.
Ever since then she’s been all moony over babies and it gets embarrassing.
Whenever we’d go out, she’d always be trying to hold strangers’ babies and—”
“Sasha—so you’re saying she got pregnant on purpose without telling Bronson?”
“Yes! That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
I plop down in a stool at the bar. “This is unbelievable. This has never happened in the Village before.”
Sasha sits down next to me. “Tell me about it. I mean, Carter and I wanted babies too, but we had to wait. What’s it been now?
Almost two years? And she wants one and just makes it happen.
She knew Bronson would take his sweet time coming to grips with the idea of having children.
Clever girl. Maybe that’s what I should have done. ”
I stop her. “No. Better Paige than you. Can you imagine what Bronson would have said if you had pulled that stunt?”
“That girl is his only weakness.” She rolls her eyes. “Carter would have been furious.”
“What did Paige say that Bronson said about it?”
“She said he was furious. Then he was in shock. She said about five minutes after she told him he snapped out of his state and was happier than she’s ever seen him. He was twirling her around and saying, ‘I’m going to be a father. We’re going to have a baby!’ Then he… kissed her tummy. Blech.”
I shake my head. “I can’t picture Bronson like that.”
“I know, right? Only for Paige. That Beauty has our boss wrapped around her pinky finger.” Sasha grabs her cup and takes a deep swig.
Thoughts swirl in my mind. If Bronson has to go to the Hamlet—and soon—who does that leave to run the Village? “Wait…”
“Yup. Looks like the Hamlet just got themselves a new leader.”
“But then… earlier this morning, Rockland left in kind of a rush. He said Bronson was having some sort of emergency…”
“Yeah—the plus sign on a pregnancy test kind of emergency.”
“Oh, my God. But this means—”
She holds her coffee cup up toward me and says, “Hail to the queen.”
Tess
Rockland has just become the head of the family in the Village.
The day is a whirlwind. Rockland comes home for a quick lunch to confirm what I’ve already heard.
I feed him the chicken salad I’ve just made. The one with the honey and red grapes and pecans that he likes. He thanks me with a kiss, then sits down to eat. He says, “What a day. I didn’t see this coming.”
I sit across from him, too keyed up to eat. I ask, “Was he upset?”
In between bites, he answers me. “Would have been if he wasn’t so damn happy.
Honestly, I think you’d be surprised at what a softy Bronson really is beneath his mafia leader persona.
I think this is going to be a really good fit for him.
In the Hamlet, running the legal side of the business, he won’t have to have such a hard edge.
And he can focus on Paige and the baby.”
“And how do you feel about being the head of the Village? And thus, the head of the family?” The words seem surreal as I speak them. He’s unfazed.
He shrugs, taking another bite of the salad. “Fine. It’s no different from running the Parish. I’m honored to take it on. Being back—in some ways, it’s like I never left.”
“But now Carter and John are leaving for the Parish tomorrow. Who knows how soon Bronson will leave? That leaves your second and third open. Who will take those positions?”
His eyes meet mine. He asks, “Do you remember Dante?”
“The man from the boat?” The massive dude with the black tee, shaved head, and green eyes. Hard to forget.
“Yes. That’s him. He’s eager to join us. He’ll be my number three. Adrianna’s been missing me and I think she’s going to travel over with him. She’ll take Sasha and Carter’s house, Dante will take Mary and John’s.”
“But if Dante’s your number three, who’ll be your number two?” I flip through the men of the Brotherhood, trying to guess before he answers.
His gaze rises to meet mine. He says, “You.”
My mind stops spinning. He must be kidding. I smile. “You’re joking.”
“Do I ever kid about business?”
He doesn’t. I say, “Me?”
He looks at me as if I’m crazy to question him. As if it’s the most logical decision in the world. He wipes his hands on the napkin, takes a swig of iced tea. “Yes. You.”
“I… but… I’m a woman.”
He shrugs. “I think that makes you all the more qualified. We could use your perspective. Management is a little cock heavy at the moment.”
“But I thought… I mean—everything the Village has been built on is the idea of women being protected, submissive—”
He winks at me. “You’ll still submit to me, sweetheart.
In our relationship and in the bedroom. But in business, I already view you as an equal.
You’ve been running the numbers for this Village over seven years and there isn’t a man in this family who can keep up with your math skills.
You’re brilliant, strong, a hard worker.
Devoted to the family, loyal to the Village.
You’d be a wonderful addition to the team. ”
“What about the Brotherhood? The secrets, the initiation?”
“None of that will change. You’ll still be protected; you won’t be privy to certain information for the sake of your safety.
But you will be let in on the inner circle in most things business.
Your advice sought on all financial decisions concerning the family.
You still get to be a cherished woman. But a boss at the same time. ”
“It’s a lot to take in. Everyone leaving. Your moving up. Me being the first woman in the hierarchy…” But as I say it, I realize it’s not nerves or doubt that’s churning my stomach.
It’s excitement.
I was born for this life. I was born for the Village. And I want to live my life working by Rockland’s side.
And so I say, “I accept.”
He smiles. Leans over the table and kisses me. Says, “Good girl. But before we get to work, we have one matter to discuss.” From his breast pocket he pulls the silver bullet. The one I’ve forgotten even existed. He twirls it in front of me and it flashes in the light. The T stares at me.
My brow knits in confusion. “Why—why would we need that?”
“Bronson’s orders.”
“What? Why? What have I done?” Heat creeps from the center of my chest to my face.
“Paige broke a pretty serious rule. And apparently some of the Beauties were in on it and didn’t say anything.
She’s pregnant so he won’t spank her. But she’ll be wearing her little bullet to the goodbye party.
And so will you. And every other Beauty in the Village.
As a reminder of the hierarchy and the rules of the Brotherhood. ”
“But that’s not fair—I’ve done nothing wrong!”
“Dear Tessie. You can always, always use a reminder of your submission to me. Especially with us working together in the near future.”
My eyes widen, taking in that… thing. My bottom hole clenches beneath me and I scoot my chair back to create some distance between me and the bullet. “We’re all going to be plugged during the party?”
“Not just the party. All day. Starting now. Oh, and seeing as the goodbye party now involves Bronson and Paige, it’s been moved from the Village to the Hamlet.
You’ll have a nice long car ride to enjoy this little beauty.
” He rises from his seat and I begin to panic. He says, “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”
I’m up, out of my chair and running toward the back door in two seconds flat. I fling it open and as I run toward freedom, there’s a flash of purple to my right and then a bump. I’m on the ground with a squeal. When I gather myself and look to what I’ve run into, I’m greeted with a wild-eyed Mary.
“I hate the plug,” she says between gritted teeth. She looks to her right and left, ready to spring forward in whatever direction John is not. Before she can get up off the ground, there’s a huge hand lifting her up by her arm.
John speaks through clenched teeth. “Now, Mary. We’ve been over this before.”