Page 24 of Malicious Marriage (Mafia Lords of Sin #9)

CLOVER

T risha’s baby isn’t Dean’s.

I’ve been sitting on this information for two whole days, with no idea what I’m supposed to do about it. Do I tell him? Is it even my place? Will it fuck up my own plans for rescuing my sister?

Does it even matter?

It feels like the kind of thing that’s far too big to keep to myself, especially when Bobby called Conor the next day after he sobered up to confirm what he drunkenly admitted.

I didn’t want to stew over something we might have misinterpreted during Conor’s drunken rambles, but even sober, he admitted it.

In his words, he’d been sleeping with Trisha regularly until she fell pregnant and that’s when she dumped him and went back to Dean.

Makes sense. She’s surely under the same kind of familial and societal pressure as Dean and saw her opportunity to have her baby without shame, and trap Dean at the same time. Surely, it’s my place to tell him otherwise?—

“Ahh!” My thoughts derail as shampoo leaks down my forehead and turns my eye into a ball of fire. I turn under the water and angle my face into the spray of the shower, trying to wash it out while every muscle of my face contracts in agony. “Fucking hell! Ow, ow, ow, ow!”

Within a few minutes, the shampoo washes out of my eye and my vision clears despite the heat radiating from my lid. Another few rubs of my knuckle and my tears mingle with the spray washing over my face.

Fuck. I’m distracted. This is tearing me up because any sort of news like this risks uprooting all my current plans and I’ve only just got Dean to agree to marry me before the end of May.

He’s made his feelings clear on Trisha, but each time he’s spoken about the baby, he’s been excited.

It’s something he’s looking forward to. Can I really take that away from him without proof?

By the time I finish my shower, I’ve made my decision. It’s too cruel to keep this from him and regardless of how truthful it is, he deserves to know that this is even circulating. There’s no telling how many other people Conor might have already told while drunk.

I dress in jeans and a shirt then head through to where Bobby’s been hanging out, but instead of being busy reading or going over a few wedding things he’d asked to be in charge of, he’s fast asleep spread out over the couch.

Waking him feels wrong. I can only imagine how exhausted he must be from running after me all the time on top of caring for his husband and his son.

There’s no need to wake him for this.

Grabbing the car keys, I head out of the house and send Bobby a quick text explaining where I’m going so he doesn’t wake up in a fright, then I drive out toward the city. I’m only a few miles from him when Bobby immediately calls.

“Hello?”

“Clover! What the hell?”

“What do you mean what the hell?”

“You left?”

“Yeah, I texted you and told you.”

“That’s why I’m calling! Why didn’t you wake me up if you wanted to go somewhere?”

“Well, firstly, I’m an adult and I’m capable of traveling by myself.” I chuckle as I pull around a corner. “And second, you were fast asleep and you looked exhausted so no, I wasn’t going to wake you up.”

“Clover, you can’t travel by yourself.”

“Bullshit.”

“Not like that.” The sounds of fabric ruffling rush past the speaker. “You pay me to protect you, which includes being your shadow!”

“I’m not paying you. I fired you, remember?”

“You know what I mean!”

“Look, you need rest. I’m literally just going to the bakery and then I’m going to see Dean. I’ll be fine.”

“That’s not that—” Bobby groans. “Just, wait for me, okay?”

“No!” His caring is welcomed, but I care for him too, and I don’t need him to drive me to buy dessert and then possibly go and break Dean’s heart.

“Listen, Bobby. I’m going to Dean so I’ll be fine.

You know I will be. Just please, rest. You’ve done so much for me for so long, and I can’t even pay you, so let me pay you in time off. ”

“I hate you.” Bobby also mutters something else I don’t quite catch. “Clover?—”

“See you when I get back!” Ending the call to Bobby’s indignant grumbling makes me feel a little guilty, but it’s for the best. He’s been by my side for so long, put up with so much from me and Ryan and everything else.

I’ve never had a more loyal friend, but each time he’s there for me, my fear of taking advantage grows.

I have so few ways to show my appreciation for him, so this is the least I can do.

Bobby does call me back, but I ignore it and crank up the music, humming along while I drive to my favorite bakery.

If I’m going to be delivering such bad news to Dean, then I want to at least cushion the blow with something nice and sweet.

I’m not a hundred percent sure on what Dean actually likes in terms of sweets but at the gala, I noticed he favored the sweeter entrees over the savory ones.

Best bet is I get a bunch of donuts and a cream cake and hope one of them is to his liking.

It doesn’t take me much longer to reach the bakery, although I get stuck in traffic for about ten minutes due to someone stalling at the lights and causing a whole host of brief chaos.

Not that I mind. As much as I want to tell Dean the truth, I’m happy for it to take some time because I’m also sort of terrified.

We’ve only known each other for a few weeks, so I don’t know him well enough to gauge how he might react to this kind of news. Maybe the calm, gentle giant will suddenly explode, and I’ll find out firsthand why everyone is so cautious around the Savoys.

The bakery comes into sight so I speed up a little. I don’t want to miss out on the freshest of cakes so I pull up to the sidewalk right outside the front of the bakery.

Suddenly, as I bring my car to a stop, something crashes into the back of my car with alarming force. I’m thrown back against my seat, then my head snaps forward as I jolt against the steering wheel with a cry of fright.

My car shunts forward a good few inches as metal crunches and screams behind me.

I slam both feet down on the brakes as panic and fright surge through me, sending my heart into frantic overdrive.

Deep muscle pain blooms across my shoulders and settles into the back of my neck as my car comes to a stop.

Holy shit. Did someone hit me?

My thoughts bounce around between making sure I’m okay while worrying about whoever it was who crashed into me. Are they okay? Was it my fault? Did I not signal clearly enough?

Are they as desperate for cake as I am?

My hands shake as I fight with my seatbelt. As soon as it unclips, I reach for the door handle and dull pain radiates across my chest. I’m dizzy but all in all, nothing feels broken or torn. Just bruised.

No sooner am I climbing out of the car than hands grab me by the shoulders and drag me backward, then slam me up against the rear door of my car. My face hits the glass then I’m flipped around.

“Ahh! What the—” I’m wrenched about, and nausea pulls through my gut at the sudden motion, then bile rises in the back of my throat as I’m now face to face with Ryan. “Ryan? What the fuck?”

Behind Ryan’s head, I glimpse a man inside the bakery watching us with a worried look while his phone pressed to his ear. To my right, a black car with its front door hanging open is rammed right up into the back of my car. Windshield wipers dart back and forth while metal subtly creaks and groans.

“You fucking bitch! I swear to God I’m going to kill you!”

“What? What the—” Ryan keeps me pinned with both hands gripping painfully at my shoulders.

I try to push him away, but his grip is like iron and my head swims. For a moment, there are two of him weaving back and forth in front of me so I shake my head and blink repeatedly to try and clear my vision. “Ryan?”

“Yeah, forget me already?” he snaps angrily. “Did you think I’d been taken care of already, is that it?”

“I… what?” I taste iron across my tongue and hot pain tightens around my chest like an ever increasing band. “Ryan, what are you talking about?”

He pulls me briefly away from the car only to slam me right back against the door. “Don’t act dumb! I know when someone is trying to get to me, you fucker. You and your rich boyfriend, huh? You think you can pay me off and then kill me?”

I get one arm between Ryan and me to try and push him off, but he’s much stronger than me and I can’t gain any leverage by twisting away from him. “Ryan, please!”

“No, I’m done with this fucking bullshit.

I covered for you for years because you seemed like a good person and I thought sure, we fucked enough times that even if we weren’t together, I was happy to help you out.

And this is how you repay me?” He bats my hand away from his chest and grabs my chin.

“Does your rich boyfriend even know the truth? He doesn't, does he? That’s why you had Bobby drag me out of that party.”

I try to pull my head out of his grasp but he clings on even when I slap both hands against his chest and shove at him. “I haven’t done anything!”

“Bullshit, you lying bitch! Men came, Clover. Do you understand? Assholes came to take care of me but I slipped away. Why? Because I’m a fucking roach. No one can kill me, understand? No one. And now I’m going to make you pay.”

His words don’t make any kind of sense. I paid him and thought that would be the end of anything I ever had to do with him, but he’s talking about people trying to silence him? Would Bobby do that?

No, it’s not his style.

Tears flood my eyes as each struggling attempt to get free of Ryan only amplifies my pain and my head simply won’t stop spinning.

“I won’t be silenced, cunt. I’m going to tell him.

I’ll track down that rich bastard and tell him all about the real reason you owed me money.

A man like that, a Savoy of all things? I know how they work.

There’s no way he’d look at you twice if he knew your uncle kicked you out, or that you spent years maxing out credit cards to pay for living and Bobby’s wages, only to end up in so much debt that you had to crawl to me and beg for an out. How would he feel, huh?”

Ryan’s fingers dig cruelly into my jaw. “Would he be willing to be with you knowing that I paid all your debt and took it on myself? And still, you asked for more so you could eat and pay your bills. Fuck, I even paid for this fucking car, didn’t I?”

“No!” I gasp finally. “That’s not true!”

“Bullshit, it fucking is and you know it! And I know how much money Uncle Byrne has locked away so I was patient enough to give you the grace to pay me back whenever you were done with your stinking little plan. But you made me wait too long and now you send people to try and kill me? Nah, Clover. Fuck that and fuck you!”

He shoves against me then stumbles backward, throwing his hands in the air while he laughs. “Once he knows the truth he might fucking pay men to kill you. How funny would that be, huh?”

I sag forward, gasping for air and clutching at my chest while struggling to keep up with everything he’s saying.

“This is the last time you screw me over, Clover. You never should have messed with?—”

Ryan’s body suddenly catapults up into the air and somersaults over the hood of a blue car that screeches to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk.

I scream, watching Ryan’s body twist and contort before it slams down onto the hood of the car and slumps off onto the ground.

The blue car veers to the side and crashes hard into the wall.

“Ryan!”

The door of the blue car swings open and Bobby stumbles out, panting and unsteady on his feet. “Did I get him?” he gasps, hanging onto the car door. “Did I get the fucker?”

“Bobby?” This is too much and bile sweeps up my throat despite how hard I swallow to keep it down.

“Oh, my God.” I spin on the spot and double over as I spew onto the ground, gagging and heaving as heat crawls up my body and tightens around my shoulders.

Gasping for air, I straighten up to see Bobby standing over Ryan’s broken body.

“The fuck—is that my uncle’s car?”