Falling for the Killer: A Dark Possessive Mafia Romance by B.B Hamel (books to read for beginners .txt) 📗

“I’m giving you seven days to come home,” he said. “Seven days to return back home and let us figure out how we’ll handle your little misfortune.” He gestured at me vaguely.

“You mean my baby,” I said. “The baby that I very much plan on keeping.”

He made a face and nodded. “Seven days to come home. If you don’t, then I will revoke you from the will and lock your trust fund. You’ll be cut off, Ashleigh, kicked out of the family, and good luck living on your own. Or do you really think the man that got you pregnant’s going to take care of you?”

“I can take care of myself,” I said, feeling my anger rapidly rising. “I don’t need either of you.”

Dad gave me a flat stare. “Ash, you’ve never once worked a day in your life. You don’t know the first thing about surviving in this world, and if you stay with that man, with that animal, then you’re going to learn the hard way.”

“I bet you’d like that,” I said, crossing my arms.

“I wouldn’t,” he said, but he didn’t sound very convincing. “If you come home, we’ll reinstate you. You’ll help you with the baby. And we can discuss what we’ll do about Stuart.”

I groaned, leaning my head back. “I just told you that Stuart’s abusive, and you still think I might marry him.”

“Ashleigh—”

“No,” I said, cutting him off, and met his gaze. “You need to understand this. I’m never, ever, ever going to marry Stuart. No matter what you do, I’m not going to marry him. It won’t happen.”

He was quiet for a moment. His fingers turned the cup in front of him in circles, the porcelain scraping against itself, then nodded once. “If you say so,” he said. “But you have one week to decide.”

“Dad—”

He stood up abruptly, nearly knocking his chair over. He stared down at me with so much loathing that it almost made me sick.

“Seven days,” he said. “Get your shit together and come home. The daughter I knew would never have done this to her family.”

He turned and stalked off. I watched him go, feeling stunned.

I knew my father was a hard man, even a bastard, but he’d been good enough to me growing up. There wasn’t kindness or warmth, but he took care of me and never raised his voice. He expected things, and so long as we didn’t let him down, he gave us more or less whatever we wanted.

That man felt like a stranger now.

I couldn’t believe he thought there was any way I would marry Stuart. The fact that he didn’t outright say it was an impossibility scared the hell out of me and only proved what I always feared—my father cared more about the family name than he did about his own daughter. I expected it from my mother, but there was some stupid part of me that hoped my father wasn’t that horrible.

I was wrong, so very wrong.

I leaned forward, face in my hands, and cried.

Gian pulled up a chair and sat next to me. I leaned on him and he held me. I didn’t care about the people that walked past, and he didn’t move to stop me. He only comforted me, Gian and his big, strong arms, until I finally got myself together.

“I take it that didn’t go well,” he said softly.

“Seven days,” I said. “He’s giving me a week to come home or I’m cut off.”

Gian nodded slowly. “I guess now you know at least.”

I looked at him and wondered if maybe my father was right. I was taking an enormous risk, coming to Gian like this. If I went home, I’d have a trust fund again, I’d have financial support. My father could be convinced to let me marry someone else, and Stuart would be a dark footnote in my life. I’d have my baby, and there’d be nannies and family to get me through.

With Gian, I didn’t know what would happen. Maybe he’d support me, or maybe he’d get sick of me after a while and leave. I could put on weight from the baby and he might hate me for that, or start cheating on me, or any number of horrible things. I felt a shiver down my spine and realized I was so far from sane, so far from anything remotely normal, and had no way of getting back.

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to trust Gian, but I didn’t know him. He was still a stranger, even if he was a beautiful, delicious stranger, even if I wanted him.

“Come on,” he said softly, and took my hand. “Let’s go home. You don’t have to make any decisions right now.”

I smiled a little and realized that this mobster was being kinder to me than my own father.

What a fucked-up world.

“Okay,” I said, and let him lead me away.

10

Gian

I visited Brett in the hospital after Ash’s meeting with her father. The kid was happy to see me. His face was all fucked up and he had a concussion and a broken arm, but seemed in good spirits.

“Can’t wait to get back out there, man,” he said.

“Rest,” I said. “Heal up. You’ll be fine. And don’t worry about the bill, I got you.”

He looked at me like I was the greatest guy in the world.

I felt like the biggest piece of shit.

Well, maybe the second biggest. Ash’s father was the biggest piece of garbage I’d ever seen. The way he treated his daughter was appalling, like they were some fucking nineteenth century royals, and she was his property to be given away in a marriage of his own convenience. It was sick, and it broke Ash to pieces, I could tell.

I didn’t want to leave her alone, so I picked her back up after the hospital. She lounged back in the passenger seat as my truck rolled slowly along my territory, and I started pointing out some spots to her as we cruised