Indebted to the Mafia King
For Real

Eleni

"Okay, this might feel a little strange. Just take a deep breath." Dr. Hanna inserts the ultrasound wand, the very last step of the appointment.

I breathe through the weirdness, and a grainy, black-and-white picture pops up on the screen. In the middle of a big patch of darkness sits a little grain of white.

"There's your baby," she says quietly. "It's too early to tell sex, but do you see right there?" She points to another bump on the screen.

I lean closer. Dante holds onto my hand like a lifeboat in a storm. "Yeah?"

"That's an eye." She smiles at me. "You're right on track, nine weeks pregnant."

I nod. The picture on the screen is...strange. It doesn't look like a baby yet. It looks like the thing they show pregnant women on TV that makes them cry.

Dr. Hanna looks at me for a moment. "Let me guess. You haven't started showing yet, and you're young, so you're having trouble believing you're really going to give birth."

I bite my lip. "You could do the maternal a little less well."

She laughs. "That little baby in there has a heartbeat. Would you like to hear it?"

I don't look at Dante. I haven't since the appointment began. I can't. But his fingers clench around mine, certain proof he wants this. I nod.

Dr. Hanna flips a switch on the monitor, and a whooshing, underwater noise fills the room. The longer I listen to it, the more I can pick out the fluttery ba-BUMP, ba-BUMP, ba-BUMP beneath.

A heartbeat. My baby's heartbeat. The little boy or girl growing in my stomach, the son or daughter I'm going to raise to be better than I ever dreamed I could be. I blink, and tears streak down my face. "Why is it so fast?" I whisper. "Is it okay?"

"Yes." Dr. Hanna smiles. "Right now, their heart should be beating about 160 times per minute, and this sounds perfect. It'll even out as they grow."

In my mind's eye, a girl with Dante's eyes sprouts from a toddler to a teenager in seconds. A boy with Baba's chin. A million children, all full of pieces of the people I've loved, grow in fast motion. "Would you like the DVD?" Dr. Hanna asks.

I'm beyond words. I look up at Dante and replace him crying silent tears above me, his gaze locked on the screen. He nods like he can't make the words come out either.

"All right." Dr. Hanna pats my shoulder. "I'll go get that set up, and then we're done for the day." She withdraws the ultrasound wand and leaves.

The noise of my baby's heartbeat echoes off the walls. Dante and I sit silently for a moment, both crying.

"I love them so much," I mumble.

"There is nothing I wouldn't do for our child," Dante replies.

The truth of that rings through my bones. I sit up. I'm

ready to go home and play that on a loop until the day the baby is born. Sometime in May, Dr. Hanna said.

while we can still" He pulls out a small, velvet box and opens it to reveal a perfect replica of the engagement ring he gave me before my kidnapping. My tears flow harder as I pluck it from the cushion and slide it back onto my finger.

"Wait." Dante puts a hand on my shoulder. "I need to

"It's not the same." He turns my hand over and points to one stone on the back, a dark one I don't remember. "That's for Baby. I keep dreaming of them having my eyes."

I throw my arms around Dante's neck and cling to him like the world might tear me away. This is real. The man who loves me. Our child together. I can't forget that again. I pull back and look in his eyes. "Send Amando home," I say. "And get a hotel. I'm not waiting."

Dante grins. "Only if you give me my ring back first."

Minutes later, Dante and I stumble into an Airbnb that turned out to be the only place nearby willing to give us a room. I cling to his neck, kissing every inch of skin I can reach. He half drags me over the threshold, grabbing handfuls of my ass. "No games," I gasp between kisses. "No pretend. Just us. For real."

He claims my lips. "Nothing would make me happier."

I grind up into Dante, delirious with want. I need to prove all of this is real, once and for all. I need every inch of him with nothing in between. So the clothes are going to have to go.

He's barely kicked the door closed when I start tearing at his shirt. His jacket floats to the floor easily, and I can untie his ties blindfolded-literally-but the shirt buttons give me trouble. My hands shake to the beat of the tiny second heart within me. Dante starts to take over, then quickly grows impatient. With a grunt, he yanks on each side of the shirt. Buttons scatter to the floor. I laugh.

"We have to go home after this."

Dante grins sheepishly. "We'll leave your bra here and call it even."

My mouth falls open. "You wouldn't."

He waggles his eyebrows, then dives for my mouth once more. My knees weaken, and I nearly slump in his grasp.

"Not good for baby." He picks me up, bridal-style, and kicks open what looks most like the bedroom.

A tiny office/yoga studio stares back at us.

"I hate New York sometimes," Dante growls.

I laugh. "Try again, Daddy."

He wrinkles his nose. "Only if you never call me that again."

I seal the deal with a kiss. The next door is a bathroom with a drop-down tub, but the third is, finally, a bedroom. With a twin bed. Dante just stands there for a moment, dismayed. "This is perfect," I murmur.

"What?" he demands. "I can barely fit on that thing."

I smile up at him, tears threatening again. My chest squeezes. "It's perfect. Unforgettable, and totally, completely real."

His confusion melts. "I'll never understand you."

I show him my ring. "You've got a lifetime to figure it out."

"Thank god." He kisses me again, carries me into the miniscule bedroom, and lays me down on the bed like I'm made of glass.

I shed my sweatshirt, tank top, and-eyeing him-the bra underneath, then my sweatpants and underwear. Dante strips off the remainder of his suit without destroying any of it, much to my disappointment. I reach for him, and he obliges with a smile. He cages me with his arms, holding his body carefully above mine. Only his cock brushes against me. I press a kiss to the taut muscles of his arms and wrap my legs around his waist.

"I'm not breakable," I remind him.

"But-"

I shake my head. "Luca couldn't do it. Camila couldn't. You think you're going to be the one?"

Dante stares at me for a long moment, dark eyes full of something I can only describe as awe. "Of course not. But I want more for you than not breaking. I want to put you back together."

My eyes sting with more tears. "Come here, you ridiculous man."

Already knowing what I'm asking for, Dante sinks his cock into me. I moan softly. Finally, his chest touches mine. I lock my legs around his hips, wind my arms around his neck, not allowing a breath of space between us. There will be enough time for that when I start showing. Right now, I want all of him. He thrusts forward.

The bed squeaks loudly, and we both laugh.

"Perfect," I say.

Dante shakes his head, then slips a hand between us and circles my clit. I drag my mouth over his chest and shoulders. We rock back and forth, squeaking as little as possible and laughing every time we do. Dante's leg falls off the bed. I drag him back in with a hand on the back of his thigh. When our orgasms wash over us, they aren't the wild, explosive blackouts of pleasure we've shared before. My orgasm is quiet, soft. Real.

"I love you," I whisper against his sweaty shoulder.

"I love you too."

The bed squeaks.

"And I hate this Airbnb!"