“I-I’m not running away. I’m going home because I’m pregnant.”
He shoves my knees aside and his eyes travel down my body, lingering on my stomach. I’m wearing jeans. They’re tighter than they were when I arrived, but either he won’t believe that I’m pregnant, or he’ll figure out that I’m still in the first trimester.
Fear slithers through my veins when he asks his next question. “Is it true that Declan Byrne got married after his son died?”
I could lie and say that I don’t know, but he isn’t going to buy it. “Yes.” I hate how feeble and weak I sound, but this guy has already proved that violence is his first language, and I’ll protect my unborn baby in any way possible.
His smile is back, revealing a crooked front tooth. On anyone else it might be cute, but on him, it simply adds to the aggressive mafia boss vibes he has going on here.
“And I guess the new Mrs. Byrne isn’t happy about her husband’s affair with a member of staff.”
The new Mrs. Byrne.
I could correct him, but it’s safer for everyone concerned if he doesn’t know the truth. My mom got lucky when he married someone else. I don’t even want to think about the life she would’ve had with this fucking monster.
“Maybe I should pay her a visit.” He leans over me. His cologne is so strong that I gag. “What’s her name?”
“I… You’re hurting me.” I claw at his arm, but he forces my head further back till I’m afraid that he’ll snap my neck.
“Her name, Amelia.”
Fuck. My mind has gone blank, and I can’t think of any typical Irish names, so I say the first name that comes into my head. “Carol.”
“Carol,” he repeats.
His eyes glaze over as if his body is here, but his mind is elsewhere. It scares me more than my body contorting to protect my baby, because I don’t know what he’s capable of.
“On second thought, why go to the missus when Declan will appreciate me taking care of his little problem for him?” He blinks, snapping back to reality. “How much do you think he’ll pay to keep you quiet, Amelia?”
Panic courses through my veins. What does he mean, keep me quiet?
He is mafia. They’re all fucking mafia. They all carry weapons, and own mansions, and go on business trips after they bury their dead.
“He doesn’t know about the baby,” I blurt out. “No one knows.”
I believed Declan when he said that he would protect me and the baby with his life. But that was before he found out about me and Ruairi. Now though… Would he pay this man to get me out of his life, or would he be the hero that he promised he would be and save me?
I remember the look in his eyes in the stables before I left. He didn’t look at me with love. He looked at me like I was a stranger. No, he’d have shown more kindness to a stranger.
He looked at me like someone he’d cross the road to avoid even if I were begging for help.
“He doesn’t know about the babyyet, Amelia. Someone should deliver the good news, what do you think?”
“He won’t pay you to get rid of me.”
My thoughts are buzzing around like wasps who lost their nest. I have to stop him going to Declan. If he finds out that I’m Mrs. Byrne, but Declan doesn’t care about me, he’ll have lost whatever power he thinks he has over us both, and there’ll be no reason for him to keep me alive.
Because I have no doubt that this man,my father, wouldn’t hesitate to murder anyone who stands in his way.
It’s too late to wish that I’d listened to my mom. She thinks I’m on my way home. I haven’t spoken to Carol in days. And Declan probably thinks that I’m in the guest room of his mansion, staying out of his way. No one is coming to help me.
It’s just like my mom always says. “You gotta look out for number one, baby.”
“He won’t pay you to get rid of me because his dead son is the baby’s father.”
Michael releases his grip and stands up, and I feel my scalp with my fingertips, expecting to find half of my hair ripped out by the roots.
“Oh, this is too fucking brilliant, Amelia.” He studies me like I’m an animal that got in the way of his boot. “Like mother, like daughter. Only your mom had the sense not to try swindling me for cash to bring up her kid.”
