Page 75 of Knocked Up by My Dad's Mafia Boss

“Need you here at oh-six-hundred.”

He groans. “Six?”

“I know. Elio is dying to come home from Doc’s. I won’t be gone long, just need you to watch out for Samantha for a couple hours while I drive into town and back.”

He grunts. “Alright.”

I hesitate. I don’t know Ricardo well. Never have. I met him a couple times before I left for Italy, but he’d just been a kid then. It’s not really my place, but I say it anyway.

“Heard about your mother. I’m sorry.”

He goes quiet. “...thank you.”

I hang up the phone and climb back up the stairs, feeling like my feet are made of lead. I wonder if the cleaners have come by to take Grice’s body out of the panic room. I tell myself I should go check. But I’m too fucking tired.

Besides, it’ll get done.

Gregor Volkov, our cleaner, works for us and the Bratva, and he stays busy.

He knows Elio’s gate code, so he can get in and out. He usually comes in the middle of the night, so it’s probably done.

I walk past my room and to Samantha’s door even though I tell myself not to.

Light spills out from under it.

She’s not asleep. I could knock on the door. Say I’m sorry. Tell her that I’m a fucking idiot.

That I love her. And all that would be true.

But it wouldn’t fucking change anything.

My hand twitches at my side, but I turn around. Head back to my room.

It’s for the best.

19

SAMANTHA

I don’t leave my room for a week. Maria’s kind enough to bring meals, although I can’t keep much down anyway. I subsist on crackers and ginger ale and the occasional sandwich.

I learn that the baby doesn’t like strong smells like onions or garlic.

I cover my tracks by telling Maria I have the stomach flu. And it sure looks like it, with how pale and nauseous I always am.

The heartbreak doesn’t help. It makes my stomach feel empty even when I’ve eaten.

Papa came to visit me the day he got back from Doc’s, knocking softly on my door.

“Yes?”

“It’s me. Can I come in?”

I scrambled out of bed and unlocked the door. He wore a sling over his right shoulder, but he looked okay, and tears instantlysprang to my eyes when he pulled away, frowning at me. “Are you alright,cara mia?”

I sniffled. “Just a little under the weather. Don’t get too close, you might get sick.”

He frowned deeper. “I have the constitution of an ox. I never get sick. Your mother was…” He trailed off.