Russian Boss’s Secret Baby by Bella King
Ch 32
SLATE
We pull into the gates of the headquarters at four in the morning. Mia is just about ready to fall out of the passenger side onto the pavement before I catch her, growing more exhausted by the minute myself.
“Do you want to eat something before you sleep?” I ask her.
She quickly shakes her head. “No, I’ll worry about that when I wake up. I just need to sleep,” she replies.
Without her asking, I pick her up from the ground and carry her into the house, positive that she’s ready to collapse at any moment.
I bring her over to the bed, and she doesn’t even bother to crawl under the blankets before she curls up for sleep. I don’t even try to move her. I just climb in next to her, pulling her close to me.
Even though we’ve fucked twice now, I feel like I’ve never been this close to her. I love how it feels, how her body feels next to mine like this. Have I ever felt this close to anybody?
After only a couple of hours, I’m awoken by the daylight streaming into the bedroom. Mia is still absolutely knocked out from the night before, so I decide to wake up before her to make her some coffee.
I’m halfway to the kitchen when I realize that pregnant women can’t have coffee. Shit, suddenly I feel so behind. What can she eat? What is she allowed to do? Is it dangerous to have sex with a pregnant woman?
Before I begin to spiral with questions and confusion, I decide that I’ll just make her a cup of green tea. It’s more about the gesture, really. I’m not even sure if she likes tea.
When I return to the bedroom with the tea, I’m pleasantly surprised to see that Mia is already waking up. “Hey, I made you some tea with honey, if that’s okay,” I say, feeling a bit awkward to be showing so much affection after such a long time.
“Oh, that’s really sweet Slate,” she says as she takes she cup. “So, we need to talk about the baby for real now,” she adds, putting a knot in my stomach.
What more is there to talk about? I already agreed to never kill someone in front of the child. I’m not sure what else needs to be covered.
“We need to talk about everything, because I’m terrified. I’ve never been pregnant, I wasn’t even thinking about having kids before this happened. So I need your support every step of the way, even if you feel like I’m overreacting, okay?” she says, and I can hear just a bit of panic rising to the surface of her words.
“Why do you feel like I wouldn’t be?” I ask, uncertain how to approach the question without sounding just a little bit accusatory. I mean, why would she think automatically that I wouldn’t support her?
She shrugs.
“Mia, you’re carrying my child, of course I’ll support you. I have more money than I know what to do with, giving you and the baby everything you want will be easy,” I reply.
Mia stops to think carefully about what she’s going to say next. She doesn’t want to say it, but I know what’s coming. “Slate… it’s just that your work is so dangerous. What if you piss off the wrong person and they try to come after me and the baby?” she asks, feeling less confident in her words now than she had before.
I know exactly what she’s afraid of, and I’m uncertain that I know how to calm her fears. Her place in a life like mine is more dangerous than that of the average housewife. “Mia, I know this is going to be hard, and it’s going to sound like an excuse, but I need you to trust me. Especially after everything with Katya, I’d never let anything like that happen to you again,” I reply.
“Well, what are you going to do about her?” she asks. Fuck.
“What do you want me to do to her, Mia?” I ask her. “What would you realistically do if you were in my position? Would you like me to go find her and kill her?”
“Yes, that’s what I want you to do. I’ll even help if I have to.”
“I know she needs to be taken out, that’s obvious. She almost killed you and the baby on two separate occasions,” I say. “But I’ll need to go in more prepared than I was when I found you. She likely has more backup than I’m anticipating if she was working with the Imposter. I’ll have to make a plan and pull together a whole team of men to ensure that she doesn’t counterattack,” I say. “Do you see where I’m coming from? This is going to be more of a process than just finding and rescuing you was. She’s not smart, but she’s got resources.”
Mia takes my hands in hers. “I know all that. All I care about is that you can promise to keep us safe. That’s the exchange here. If you can’t promise that, I can’t stay,” she says as she looks into my eyes with intent.
“I might need you and the baby to stay at one of the safehouses once you start showing, otherwise the obvious pregnancy will make you an easy target. The safehouses are all really nice, just a lot smaller and less obvious on the outside. I think you’ll be happy there while we wait for the baby to come,” I reply, trying to read her eyes for a reaction.
“Will you be around much?” she asks.
If I try to empathize with her, I know that it might be just as scary staying in a strange new house with only a guard or two to keep her company. Occasional visits won’t work.
“I’ll be there as often as I can. I’ll try to find another assistant like Eli who can take over some of the finer points of the operation so I don’t need to oversee as much. I’ll do whatever it is you need me to do. I just want you to be happy.”
She smiles and gazes up at me. “That’s all I needed to hear. I do have one request, though.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“I want you to fuck me in the dungeon again.”
