Page 38 of Forbidden Pregnancy

The hairs on the back of my neck rise up. The brewery suddenly feels like a small pub with barely enough seats to fit all the occupants. Gino analyzes my face quickly. I don’t know how much he can read. Fixing my missing eye and repairing the scar damaged several of my facial muscles. I’m not as easy to read as I used to be.

“What type of job?”

“You don’t know?”

“No. Nobody knows I’m here, not even your brother.”

Gino knows I’m telling the truth. I’ll have to open up completely about Myra, but I need to be extra sure he’s safe first. After all, I’ll need him on my side to go after his twin brother and get my girl back.

“Everything that went down in Pittsburgh has dad real nervous,” Gino says. “He trusts you and Peter. I mean… he knows you still work out with Luigi and he gets his answers there.”

It’s hard not to feel offended that Leandro Taviani would suspect me of disloyalty. I’m forty-one years old. I’ve spent all of my adult life serving this family’s mission. Sure, I have plenty of money, resources, and power to show for my loyalty, but I would have also appreciated Leandro’s trust.

Gino gives me a quick glance and hastily senses what bothers me. “It’s not that he doesn’t trust you.”

“Right.”

“He’s just paranoid.”

“Right.”

“Renzo had a meeting with your father then disappeared from Buffalo. We don’t know what he could be doing because there’s nobody on dad’s hitlist and we don’t know anyone who has property out here in Ithaca.”

If they don’t know about the safehouse, that means at the very least I can trust my cousin Luigi. He knows about my house on the lake and never told.

“I might have a place nearby.”

“But that’s not where my brother is,” Gino says. “I’ve been watching him for the past two days. I think he’s out trying to hunt somebody.”

“Do you know who?”

“No. He’s good. But I know where he’s staying.”

“Perfect,” I answer him, finishing off my beer. “Because I think I know who he might be hunting.”

“He has her then,” Gino says. “Who is she?”

“Did I say it was a she?”

“No,” he says. “But I know the men in our family pretty damn well.”

“She’s pregnant. I need to get her back.”

“Why the hell did your dad send Renzo after her?” Gino asks.

“Because she’s black and he knows your brother would be willing to kill her for that reason alone.”

Gino sighs. “Renzo is so fucked up.”

“Didn’t you learn the same old school mafia bullshit he did? Why aren’t you out there helping him?”

“He didn’t ask me to.”

“Interesting.”

“It’s not, really,” Gino says, visibly frustrated for the first time in our conversation. “We’ve always been different from each other. Renzo has unbridled ambition. I’m just happy to be a part of this family.”

“And you don’t agree with them?”