Chapter 31
EMILIA
I won’t whine. He has to leave; it’s fine. I thought to myself.
“It’ll only be three nights.” He looked up from the suitcase he was packing. “I wish you could come with me; the others will miss having you there.” The lilt in his voice was hard to miss.
An impromptu meeting with the Five heads of the Cosa Nostra had been called, and this time it was in Los Angeles. Nico had been tight-lipped as to why they were meeting, and as much as I’d been welcomed in, I knew my place.
“It’s fine, Trixie and I will spend a few days drinking all your wine and watching bad movies.” Sitting at the end of the bed, I watched him walk to his closet and grab a shirt.
“You know I believe you two would be able to get through that wine cellar.” He laughed as he slipped his shirt on.
Motioning him to come to me, he stood in front of me and let me do up the buttons. “This is the worst part of my day, do you know that?” I let my eyes move up his chest until I met his gaze.
“And why is that wife?” He asked, lust filling his words, making me damp between my thighs.
“Because I could stare at your shirtless body all day and I’d never get enough.” Grinning, I flopped back on the bed. The mattress dipped as he moved over me.
“Maybe when I get back, I’ll have to whisk you away someplace where shirts for both of us aren’t required.
” He dragged his finger over the swell of my breast. “Because I really enjoy you without a shirt on as well.” He cupped my breast, and even through the padding of my bra, the warmth of his hand made me long for him.
“What time does your flight leave?” I asked, running my hands up his chest as I bit the corner of my mouth. Normally, I wasn’t this forward, but he’d been encouraging me to ask for what I wanted.
“Unfortunately, I have to be there in forty minutes.” He rested his head on mine, and I wrapped my arms around him.
I was pretty sure we could have a quick romp before he left, but nothing in our bed was ever fast. Nico liked to take his time, and I wasn’t about to complain.
“I’ll call you tonight, and we can try something new,” he said before lowering his head and pressing his lips to mine.
Nico slid his hand behind my head, wound his fingers in my hair, and I deepened our kiss. His cologne filled my nose, and made my stomach flutter. Who knew cedar, cloves, and a hint of vanilla could be so intoxicating?
The shrill ring of his cell phone stopped him from letting his hand wander down my body. He broke our kiss with a disgruntled growl and grabbed the phone out of his pocket. “What?” His gruff voice hollered into the phone. “I’ll be right out.”
“You have to go,” I sighed.
“Yeah, we’ll lose our departure time if I’m late.
And then I will be gone longer.” Moving to my lips again, he gently kissed me before shifting.
The pressure of his arousal against me almost made me whimper, but I knew that wouldn’t help the situation.
“Walk me out?” He asked, holding out his hand to me.
Placing my hand in his, he pulled his suitcase off the bed and dragged it behind us as we walked to the front door in silence.
I knew us being apart would be inevitable, but in the months we’d been married, we’d never spent a night apart. “I’ll text as soon as I can, and I’ll call you tonight after the first meeting is over.” He smiled.
“Okay,” I sighed and wrapped my arms around him.
“Trix, look after her, okay?” he said over my head.
“I will,” she answered, and I backed away from him. Reaching for me, he grabbed my arm and kissed me again. Hard and passionately, like he was sure he’d never see me again. He stepped away, and without another word, he climbed into his car as I watched it drive off.
“He’ll be back before you know it,” her quiet words should have made me feel better, but they didn’t. “Let’s get started on that wine and those movies.”
“I need to run upstairs for a minute first,” I grimaced, and Trixie frowned.
“What’s going on?” She asked, arching her brow, her eyes narrowing like she was trying to figure out by telepathy what was going on.
“Nothing, I just need to change into something more comfortable.” I brushed her off and ran into the house. Tears stung my eyes, and I barely made it to our room before they fell.
Walking into the closet, I grabbed a bag I’d snuck in a few days ago and went to the bathroom. Pulling the box out of the paper bag, I stared at it. How hard can this be? You just pee on the stick, right?
Opening the box, I pulled out a paper folded into a tiny square. Opening it, I read the instructions and sat on the toilet. Now I had to wait five minutes.
I wasn’t good at waiting, so I closed the bathroom door and paced in the room. Changing into something I could watch movies in took all of thirty seconds. Watching the clock, I swear minutes were really hours long.
Running back to the bathroom, I looked at the test on the counter.
I stared at the plus sign on the display.
I was pregnant. Grabbing another one, I took it again.
This time, this one would tell me roughly how many weeks along I was.
Judging from how I was feeling the last few weeks, I’d say five minimum.
Thinking back to a little over five weeks, I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. The morning after Nico had been shot, in the extra bed I’d brought into the room when I was mad at him.
The screen showed six weeks. Placing my hands over my abdomen, I looked down at the non-existent bump.
“Welcome to the family, little one. I wish your daddy were here, he’d be over the moon.
” Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves and the fact that I’d have to tell Trixie before Nico because tonight would be wine-free for me.
“Hey Em, what’s taking so long?” Trixie asked as she walked into the room and looked at the test in my hands. “Oh. My. God. You’re pregnant.” She screamed, and I wanted to drop the test and cover my ears.
“You’re pregnant?” An excited voice said from the door, and I looked up to see Letty walk in.
“Neither of you can breathe a word of this.” I pointed between the two of them. “Nico doesn’t know, and I didn’t even tell him I suspected I was, so guard this secret, like it’s mafia information.” I watched them both nod, and I set the test on the dresser.
We left the room and all I could focus on was that test on the dresser. What was I going to do?
“Did you and Nico discuss this?” Trixie asked as we wandered out of the kitchen with bowls of popcorn the size of a small child.
“No, we didn’t, and I guess I never thought to. I don’t know if we even discussed having kids,” I said as I shoved the buttery deliciousness in my mouth.
“Were you on birth control?” Letty asked as she plopped down on the couch beside me.
“No, I never really thought I needed to be.” I shrugged, and for the first time in a while, it hit me how inexperienced I was.
“Well, I wouldn’t worry, Nico has always wanted kids, so he’ll be happy.” Trixie brushed away my worry with ease.
“Don’t you worry about bringing kids into this life?” Having kids was something I’d vowed I’d never do as long as I was in the mafia world. But now, due to my innocence, I didn’t have a choice.
I’d lost track of the number of movies we’d watched. Letty and Trixie had fallen asleep on the couch, so I covered them up with blankets and walked up to my bed. Nico hadn’t texted when he landed, and a pit in my stomach grew, and it wasn’t from the baby.
“I didn’t expect two for one, but it will give him more power.” The low voice spoke from somewhere in the room. Turning, I watched the man shift from behind the curtains. “Did you miss me?”
“Mathias,” I whispered, backing up, trying to get to the nightstand where I kept a gun.
“You can look there, but I’ve already found all your hiding spots.
It wasn’t smart keeping them all in the same place you kept them at your father’s.
” The sick smile on his face was almost enough to make me throw up.
“That’s right, I was in your room, often actually.
Sometimes you were even sleeping.” His grin made me shiver.
“Lucky me, I get to see you sleeping again.” He reached out toward me, and I backed up, sending the things on my dresser clattering across the floor.
I backed away from Mathias and slammed my hip into the table, making the vase of flowers wobble and fall to the floor.
The vase shattered into a million pieces.
I needed to scream, but nobody would hear me. This room was soundproofed, thankfully, or most mornings I’d be too embarrassed to be seen.
“Nighty, night,” he sneered as he reached out his gangly arm and pressed something against my face.