Page 16 of Ruthless Secrets (Alpha Mafia Daddies #6)

Chapter Thirteen

MARCO

I had no idea that taking a baby out of the house was such a military operation.

Clara finishes packing Zoe’s diaper bag. “I have this system down.”

I chuckle as I balance Zoe on my knee. “I can see that.”

Zoe’s watching Clara intently, and every time Clara looks over at her, she waves her little fists around. It’s the most heartwarming thing to witness.

Clara starts ticking off her fingers. “Okay, we have diapers.”

“Check.”

Clara laughs and shakes her head before ticking off another finger. “Change of clothes.”

“Check.”

“Bottles and formula.”

“Check and check.”

“Now all we need is the baby.”

“Check!” I lift Zoe up over my head and blow a raspberry on her stomach .

She squeals with delight, and the sound has my heart swelling in my chest.

Even in such a short amount of time, she’s added such a light to my life that I didn’t realize I was missing.

I just have to hope that Alfonzo Rossi isn’t about to extinguish that light for good.

Doing my best to ignore the voice in the back of my head that is telling me to walk away, I follow Clara out of the kitchen now that she’s finished packing Zoe’s things.

She hesitates when she spies the black Hummer parked in the driveway. “Did you get a new car?”

“Oh, no. I had Andre take me into the city yesterday so I could pick up some stuff from my apartment.”

“And by stuff, you mean another car?”

“Among other things. Is that a problem?”

Clara shakes her head. “No. We are just from very different worlds.”

Is she referring to money? Because I am under no illusion that my financial situation is vastly different to Clara’s, but I sort of assumed that now I am in Zoe’s life, I would be shouldering a lot of that burden. Unless, of course, Clara doesn’t want that?

We definitely need to sit down and have a conversation soon about how we’re going to navigate co-parenting moving forward, but we’re already running late for Zoe’s pediatrician appointment, so now is not the time.

Clara opens up the back door of the Hummer and looks back at me. “You bought a car seat?”

I nod. “I went and picked one up yesterday, and a monitor too.”

Clara watches me buckle Zoe into the seat with a deep crease between her eyebrows.

I check that I’ve fastened all the buckles and that they’re pulled tight. I also check that the camera is on, which allows us to keep an eye on Zoe while we’re driving.

Everything looks good, so what am I missing?

“Did I get the wrong car seat? This one was rated the safest?—”

She waves a hand. “No, there’s nothing wrong,”

“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

“It’s just…it’s nice how much you care. About Zoe.” Her face is turning a beautiful shade of pink when she looks up at me.

“It’s just a car seat, Clara. It’s no big deal.”

She nods despite the fact that her eyes are already starting to glisten with tears.

I don’t press her to talk. Instead, we load the rest of Zoe’s things into the car, and then make our way into the city.

“You don’t need to be nervous,” Clara says as we sit in the waiting room of the pediatrician’s office.

It’s filled with parents with young babies even smaller than Zoe. The walls are one big mural of some kind of safari scene, with tigers and giraffes with terrifying smiles painted on their faces.

If I were a kid, it would likely give me nightmares.

“I’m not nervous,” I lie as I check the time on my phone again.

Our appointment was at ten, and it’s now quarter past.

“Dr. Wyatt always runs late.”

“Not off to a great start.” I bounce my knee up and down.

Clara sighs, but she doesn’t say anything.

I suggested taking Zoe to a different doctor, one that was much higher rated, but Clara said no. She feels more comfortable with Dr. Wyatt as he knows Zoe’s full history .

I add Dr. Wyatt to the mental list I’m keeping in my head of all the things we need to discuss when we ultimately have ‘the talk’.

“Zoe Peterson,” a nurse suddenly calls out.

My head snaps up at the sound of my daughter’s name.

She’s not a De Luca.

Clara gets to her feet. “Great, let’s go.”

Of course, she isn’t a De Luca. Why would she be when Clara didn’t even know my name until a week ago?

It shouldn’t hurt as much as it does to have my daughter not share my name, but then again, Clara has been the one to do all the work up until this point. Though that was only because I didn’t know about my baby.

Clara frowns. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I plaster an easy smile on my face.

Dr. Wyatt’s office is painted a bright yellow, and the walls are covered in drawings along with charts displaying all sorts of horrendous symptoms for various infectious diseases, which only adds to the nervous feeling in my stomach.

You would think with all the violence that I’ve been exposed to in my life, being in a pediatrician’s office would be a breeze. But I guess when you’re here for your baby, it makes you see things in a whole new light.

Dr. Wyatt himself is an elderly gentleman with stark white hair and a heavily lined face and round glasses that sit on the end of his nose. His white coat has yellow ducks embroidered on the collar which match those on his tie.

Clara shakes the doctor’s hand before pointing to me. “Dr. Wyatt, this is Zoe’s father, Marco.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Marco.”

I dip my chin at the doctor who eyes me warily, no doubt wondering why I’ve suddenly materialized after six months.

His eyes turn to Zoe. “Shall we get started? ”

Clara gets Zoe out of her stroller and strips her down to her diaper before placing her on the examination table.

Zoe is nothing but smiles as she looks at the doctor which makes me feel a little better.

Dr. Wyatt places his stethoscope in his ears and presses the other end to my baby’s chest.

My heart beats a bit faster. “The news of her heart murmur is a concern.”

Dr. Wyatt nods sympathetically. “It sounds scary, but I can assure you that Zoe is perfectly healthy.”

“And is this something that will follow her through life?”

“Not necessarily. These things tend to resolve as the child grows.”

“And in terms of her growth, how is she doing?”

Clara chuckles under her breath, and I frown.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re asking a lot of questions.”

“I want to be informed.”

“I know, and it’s adorable.” Clara grins up at me, and I roll my eyes.

I’ve been described as many things in my life, and adorable certainly isn’t one of them.

“She’s in the eightieth percentile for her weight and height.”

“Is that good?”

“It’s very good.”

“And is she hitting all of the relevant milestones? I’m aware that babies develop differently, but should we be concerned that she’s not crawling yet?”

Clara seems to bristle. “She’s trying to move. She’s started to push herself up onto her knees.”

Dr. Wyatt nods. “That’s great progress.”

“And Clara has started her on some solids, but should we?— ”

Clara places her hand on my arm. “You need to relax.”

“I am relaxed.”

Clara raises her eyebrows at me, and I roll my eyes.

“Fine, I’ll stop talking.”

She chuckles softly, and my lips twitch at the sound.

A few minutes later, the doctor seems to be finished with all his checks. “I’m happy with Zoe’s progress, so I’ll book you in for another appointment in six months’ time.”

Clara smiles. “That’s great, thank you so much.”

His gaze turns to me. “And if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to give me a call.”

Zoe is already asleep in her stroller by the time we exit the pediatrician’s office, which apparently is not a good thing.

Clara groans. “She’ll wake up if I try and transfer her to the car seat.”

“Do you want to go for a coffee while she naps? There’s a great place around the corner.”

Clara glances around. She’s gripping the handle of the stroller so tightly that her knuckles have turned white.

“Isn’t it too dangerous?”

“We’re in a very public place, so I wouldn’t worry. Besides, I have men watching us.”

“You do?” Clara eyes widen.

“Yes, and if anything were to happen, I would protect you.”

She must hear the sincerity in my tone as she doesn’t question me further.

Instead, she steps aside so I can be the one to push Zoe.

It feels strangely natural as we walk along the sidewalk, enjoying the June sunshine.

In a few weeks, the city will be unbearably hot, so I’m glad that Clara and Zoe will be at Andre’s place, making use of the pool and the garden during the warmer weather.

When we arrive at The Greenhouse café, I grab a table in the corner by the window.

There are plants situated in every available space, which makes it hard to navigate the stroller through, but somehow we manage to do so without waking Zoe up.

The waitress comes over and takes our drinks order before leaving us again.

Clara looks around. “How did you know about this place?”

“My sister Rosa likes to come here. Apparently, they make the best matcha, or whatever.”

“You’re not down with the kids?”

“Apparently not.” I laugh.

“I think that’s part of the deal when you become a dad. You’re no longer cool.”

“I think I’m cool in my own way.”

Clara laughs, and a warmth spreads over my chest as her face lights up.

“When will your sister get back?”

“Just over a week.”

Clara smiles. “I’d like to meet her.”

“You won’t be saying that when she’s talking your ear off about boys and makeup.”

“I don’t mind. When I was little, I always asked my mom when I was going to get a little sister. I guess this could be sort of like that…” Clara is looking at Zoe with such an odd look, but before I can ask her anything, the waitress appears with our drinks.

As soon as the waitress leaves, Clara turns her attention to me. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Were you the one who headhunted me for the management job at Nox? ”

“Yes.”

“I don’t understand. If you didn’t know about Zoe, then why did you want to hire me?”

Does she really not know?

I lean forward and rest my forearms on the table.

“Because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. The only reason I was able to leave that night and didn’t find you sooner was because I wasn’t in the right headspace for a relationship.”

My lips twitch as Clara’s cheeks start to turn a soft shade of pink.

“And what about now?” Her voice comes barely above a whisper.

“Things have changed.”

I look over at Zoe as she sleeps, and a tidal wave of affection takes my breath away.

Will I ever get used to this feeling? I hope not. I hope that I feel this every time I look at her for the rest of my life.

“I still can’t believe the stupidity of your asshole fiancé for letting someone like you slip through his fingers.” I take a sip of my blisteringly hot espresso.

“I guess Jess was the better choice.” She shrugs, spooning the froth off the top of her cappuccino and eating it. “Anyway, they’re married now with a kid of their own.”

“Do you ever think about the alternative?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you hadn’t found out, and he decided to marry you anyway.”

She sighs. “Sometimes. But I’m glad things didn’t work out because then I wouldn’t have had Zoe.”

Her green eyes flick to mine and for a moment, we just stare at each other across the table.

It seems strange that so many things had to go wrong for each of us in order to have brought us to this point .

“But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love to hurt Adam like he hurt me.” She looks away. “Zoe did prove to be a great distraction from it all, but I often wonder if I used the pregnancy as a way to avoid dealing with the aftermath of it all.”

“In what way?”

“I mean, Adam and Jess pretty much fucked up my ability to trust people.”

“That’s understandable.”

“And it’s not just that. I mean, the last time I had sex was…” Clara’s eyes widen, as if she’s just remembered who she’s talking to.

My eyebrows shoot up.

Is she insinuating that she’s not had sex since we were together? From the way her face has turned a bright shade of pink, I’d say it must be true, and I can’t deny that this piece of information makes me very happy.

I can’t help but tease her a bit. “I guess I must have just set the bar too high.”

“Don’t go getting a big head. Having a baby doesn’t leave you with much time for dating.”

“Trust me, love. My head is not what’s growing in size.”

Clara’s jaw practically hits the floor, and I can’t help but laugh.

She groans as she buries her face in her hands. “Please, can we change the subject?”

“Absolutely not. I like hearing about your lack of sex life.”

She folds her arms across her chest. “Don’t worry about me. I’m very good at taking care of myself.”

Now it’s my turn for my jaw to hit the floor.

When we finally make it back to Andre’s house, Zoe has woken up and is full of energy. Before I even have a chance to offer to take her for the afternoon so Clara can rest, Lila suggests a cousin playdate out in the garden.

I’m grateful that Andre and Lila have taken us in while we get this Alfonzo situation under control, but part of me wishes that Clara, Zoe, and I could have some more alone time with just the three of us.

I want to get to know my daughter, as well as Clara, but I can’t do that when Lila keeps stealing the two of them away from me.

To hide the fact that I’m sulking due to not being invited along on the garden playdate, I decide to head upstairs to Andre’s office and catch up on some work for Nox.

I’ve left Levi in charge while Clara and I are away, but I want to check in and make sure everything is running smoothly.

As I scroll through my inbox, I can’t stop my mind from replaying the conversation I had with Clara earlier about her past relationship. I’m not surprised to learn that she used Zoe as a way to distract herself from dealing with the trauma of learning her fiancé had knocked up her best friend.

In many ways, I can relate. At least to the distraction part.

After Melanie died, I threw myself into work and didn’t come up for air until the night I met Clara.

It seems she and I are more similar than I thought.

Maybe that’s why I formed such an attachment to her. I think she dragged me out of a depression I didn’t even realize I was in, and it’s about time I returned the favor.

I click out of my emails and open up my contacts and scroll through them until I find my PI’s number. If anyone can find Adam’s address, it’s Liam.

Clara deserves to be free of her trauma. She said so herself that she wished he could hurt as badly as she did, and lucky for her, pain is my area of expertise.