Page 25 of Taken By the Enforcer

“You think you humiliated me? You think you can run from me and spread your legs for that bastard Romano?Sporca puttana.You’re carrying his brat, and you think anyone will respect you? You’re filth. I know where you are. You’re not safe from me. I’ll cut that baby out of you. Better yet, I’ll fuck it out of you. Show you what a real man is like. Hell. Maybe I’ll let you crawl back to me when he’s done with you.”

He laughs maniacally.

“Oh, and if it’s his money you’re after, I’ve got my own. The dumb fuck doesn’t even realize I’ve been skimming from the shipments, moving guns on the side. He thinks he knows everything.Stronzo.He'd better watch his back.”

His voice, so familiar once, is poison now. Rage slithers with every syllable.

I can’t answer. Tears blur my vision. My hand presses to my belly, instinctively shielding. The baby shifts as if stirred by my panic.

“Dirty slut,” Aldo snarls, louder now. “I’ll tell your father what you are. He’ll spit on you. He’ll thank me when I put you back in your place. See you soon, troia.”

The line goes dead.

I sit frozen, phone limp in my hand, body trembling with aftershocks of fear. My breath comes ragged, chest aching.

The door bursts open. I jump to my feet expecting Aldo. Instead, a guard enters, machine gun raised, sharp eyes search the room. “Signorina? I heard raised voices.”

I can’t answer. My throat burns as tears stream down my flushed cheeks.

He takes one look at my face and doesn’t wait—he pulls out his radio. “Get D. Now.”

I sit frozen, phone limp in my hand. My body trembles so violently I can feel the mattress shift beneath me. Donatello is going to kill him. He’ll take Aldo apart piece by piece until nothing remains but blood and silence. And what then? Aldo may be a snake, but he’s still famiglia. Killing him without sanction could ripple straight up to Luca and the Lucchese brothers. Even Marcello may not be able to stop his fate at their hands. I know enough to understand what it means when men like Donatello act outside the chain of command.

If he does this because of me… I’ll be the problem. The ruin. The cause of a war in the family.

Thirty minutes later, the door bursts open. Donatello fills the frame, eyes narrowing when he sees my face. He crosses to me in two strides, crouches so we’re eye level, his stare black fire. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” I blurt out, clutching the phone tighter. “I just… I overreacted.”

His gaze slices through me. “Don’t lie.” His hand clamps around my wrist, not painful, but unyielding. “Tell me. Now.”

“It’s nothing?—”

“No.” His voice sharpens, steel over stone. “You never lie to me, Paolina. Ever. Or else.”

Fear and shame tangle. “I don’t want to cause trouble for you,” I whisper. “For the family. If you hurt him?—”

He scoffs, jaw flexing, a harsh sound that shudders through me. “One last time,bella mia. Tell me. Or I find out my way, and then your silence will matter less than the truth.”

Tears sting my eyes. My throat closes. He waits, silent and immovable, until my breath breaks on the confession. “It was Aldo. He called. He… He called me names. Said I was a dirty slut. Said he’d take the baby. That my father would spit on me for what I’ve done.” My voice shakes, falling to a whisper. “He said he’d find me. Fuck my baby from me. He’s been stealing from the Family.”

Donatello stills to stone. His grip tightens once, then releases as he stands. His expression is no longer man, no longer human. It’s predatory.

“Good girl,” he says, soft and terrifying as he rises. “Now I know exactly what to do.”

I try to speak. Instead, I fold, sobbing.

He gathers me into his arms before the sounds finish leaving my mouth. “Shhh,” he murmurs, tucking me under his chin. His palm spreads over my belly, protective, calming. “I’ve got you. He’ll never touch you. Never touch her. Not while I breathe.”

The tremors take a long time to ebb. My tears dampen his shirt. His thumb strokes slow circles on myback until exhaustion drags me under. My last awareness is of his lips brushing my hair.

“You’re safe,bella mia.Sleep. I’ll handle this.”

Donatello

Her sobs echoin my head long after she falls asleep. They crack something in me no bullet ever has. Aldo’s voice came through this room like filth through clean water. I won’t let it happen again.

I press a kiss to her temple, careful not to wake her, and ease from the bed.