Page 25 of Mafia Pregnancy
I focus intently on organizing the papers on his desk, trying to make myself invisible while my heart pounds. Whatever Andrei wants to discuss, I have the feeling it’s not something I should overhear.
“Danielle,” Radmir says quietly.
I look up to find him watching me with an expression I can’t quite read. “Sir?”
“Could you finish the office later? I need to handle some business.”
“Of course.” I gather my supplies quickly, desperate to escape the oppressive weight of Andrei’s stare. “I’ll come back this afternoon.”
I hurry to the door and almost close it, but some instinct stops me. I leave it open an inch, listening when I shouldn’t but certain I need to.
“I have information about the boy?—”
I force myself to start walking again and maintain the steady pace of someone who hasn’t heard anything important, but my hands are shaking as I walk away from the office.
I make it halfway down the hallway before I have to stop and lean against the wall, fighting the nausea that has nothing to do with pregnancy and everything to do with fear.
Who is “the boy?” Leo? If Andrei has been digging into my life, if he’s found Leo and discovered the connection between us. ..
The conversation I almost had with Radmir feels like a missed opportunity that might have been my only chance. Now, instead of telling him the truth on my own terms, I might be forced to explain myself under interrogation.
I force myself to keep walking, appearing calm and professional as I pass other staff members in the hallway. Mrs. Yranda nods approvingly as I head toward the supply closet.
“How did the office cleaning go?” she asks, consulting her clipboard.
“Fine. Mr. Vetrov asked me to finish later this afternoon.” I keep my voice steady despite the chaos in my head.
“Excellent. I’ll have you work on the guest wing this morning instead.”
I nod and gather fresh supplies, grateful for a task that will keep me away from Radmir’s office while whatever conversation is happening behind that door continues, as much as I feel like I should know what they’re saying.
I also don’t want to know. As I work through the guest wing, I can’t stop thinking about the fragment of conversation I overheard.
The words echo in my mind as I dust furniture and change linens.
Was he talking about Leo? The thought haunts me, and it’s almost enough to make me run from the manor, snatch Leo from Aunt Molly’s, and hit the road.
How much does Andrei know? How long has he been investigating?
More importantly, what does he plan to do with whatever information he’s gathered?
I’m folding towels in the guest bathroom when Carmen finds me.
“There you are.” She closes the door behind her and leans against it. “I’ve been looking for you. What happened in Radmir’s office this morning?”
“Andrei showed up.” I keep my hands busy with the towels, needing something to do with the nervous energy coursing through me. “Right when I was about to tell him everything.”
“About Leo and the baby?”
“All of it.” I turn to face her, and she must see something in my expression because her face goes pale.
“What’s wrong? What else happened?”
“I overheard part of their conversation. Andrei said something about information about ‘the boy.’”
Carmen sinks onto the edge of the bathtub. “Oh, Danielle. Do you think he meant Leo?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I hope not, but if so, I have no idea how much he knows, but if he’s been investigating...” I press my hand to my stomach, feeling the small but growing bump beneath my polo shirt. “I might be out of time to handle this on my own terms.”
She looks as worried as I feel. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” I say again, and the admission feels like defeat. “If I tell Radmir now, it’ll look like I’m only confessing because I got caught. If I don’t tell him and Andrei reveals everything, it’ll be even worse.”
“Maybe Andrei doesn’t know anything specific. Maybe it’s just routine background checks? Maybe the boy has nothing to do with your boy.”
“Maybe.” I don’t believe it though. Andrei doesn’t strike me as someone who wastes time on routine anything, and “the boy” feels so ominous.
“We should get back to work before someone notices we’re both missing.” Carmen stands and smooths her uniform. “Whatever happens, I’ll help how I can.”
“Thank you.” The words feel inadequate for everything she’s done for me.
After she leaves, I finish the guest room and move on to the next, but my mind isn’t on the work. Instead, I’m thinking about the conversation with Radmir and the vulnerability I saw in him when he talked about Luca and the costs of his world.
For a moment, he’d seemed like someone I could trust with the truth, who might understand why I’ve been hiding Leo, and why I’m so afraid of what his life could mean for my children.
The loneliness in his voice when he talked about people he couldn’t protect made me think that maybe he’d want to protect us too. Damned Andrei for his timing.
The rest of the morning passes in a blur of routine tasks, but I can’t get rid of the sense everything is about to change.
Every time I hear footsteps in the hallway, I expect to see Andrei or Radmir coming to confront me.
Every phone that rings could be someone calling with information that unravels my carefully constructed lies.
By lunchtime, my nerves are stretched to the breaking point. I eat a sandwich in the staff kitchen while Carmen fills me in on the morning gossip, but I barely hear what she’s saying. My attention is focused on listening for any sound from Radmir’s office.
“You’re not listening to a word I’m saying,” Carmen says, but without censure.
“Sorry. I’m just distracted.”
“Understandably.” She lowers her voice. “Have you seen either of them since this morning?”
“No. I’m supposed to finish Radmir’s office this afternoon, so I’ll have to face whatever’s waiting for me there.”
At two o’clock, I gather my cleaning supplies and make my way back to Radmir’s office. The hallway feels longer than usual, each step bringing me closer to whatever confrontation is waiting.
I press my hand to my stomach, where the baby is growing larger each day, and whisper a promise I hope I can keep.
“I’ll figure this out. I’ll keep you both safe.”
But as I approach Radmir’s office, listening to the low murmur of voices that might still be discussing something I’m not allowed to hear, I know that time has finally run out. The harsh reality clings to me like as gremlin.
Whatever Andrei has discovered, whatever conversation happened behind that closed door, my carefully constructed world of secrets is about to come crashing down.
The only question now is whether I’ll have any control over how it falls.