Claimed Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle
Trevor
“You sure that you don’t mind doing this?” I’m speaking to Ginny, my sister, but my eyes are locked on Annie. As soon I got Jane’s daughter—no, my daughter—in my car and started on the road home, I called Ginny, telling her that I needed her help and to get to my house immediately.
Normally, she’d fight me some, because that’s apparently what younger sisters do, but this time she complied, meeting me at the house right as I was helping Annie from the car. She has some grace, thank God, and didn’t point out the fact that Annie is a mini-me, but instead acted like she had no idea that she was obviously my daughter.
That’s something that Jane will have to explain to Annie. There’s no way that I’m tackling that issue without her here.
“You mean do I mind hanging out with your daughter that you just discovered you have and keeping her safe while you try to save her mother—the only woman you’ve ever loved, might I add—from the Wicked Bastards and the Dark Devils? Do I might doing that?”
I frown at her and she smiles, obviously enjoying the position that I’m in.
“Yeah, I mean that,” I snap, grabbing her arm and pulling her from the room. I have no idea how much Annie is listening, but she is tearing through the plate of cookies I gave her like she hasn’t eaten anything in days, so maybe she’s more focused on that. “Listen, Annie doesn’t know. Hell, I didn’t know until I saw her.”
“You can’t deny it,” Ginny points out, and I shake my head.
“I don’t want to. I...oh, fuck, I had no idea how much I’d want to be a father. Sure, I’ve always thought about having kids some time in the future, but I have one and she’s...” My voice trails off as I try to think up the way to describe Annie. I’m not normally one to get tongue-tied or be unable to come up with words when I need to, but there’s something about my daughter that makes it difficult for me to express myself.
She’s just so fucking perfect. Everything about her is wonderful, from the way she tilts her head when she’s listening to what I’m saying, to how her eyes lit up when I handed her the plate of cookies. Fuck, I probably should have made her a sandwich or something, but I liked how excited she got when I gave her the treats.
I realize with a start that I not only want to spoil her and get to know her, but that I also want to have a life with her in it. It was different when I thought that Jane had a baby with some other man. I could accept that she got pregnant with someone else and had their child, but now that I know that Annie is mine...
Well, I’m never going to let her get hurt. I’ll do whatever I have to so that she can be safe from everything that might try to hurt her.
“Hey, I’ll take care of her.” Ginny grabs my arm and I look at her. “Please tell me that you’ll secure the house before you go, though. I don’t want to be here with all of the windows and doors and never know if anyone is going to try to break in.”
“I’ll secure it all.” When I moved into the house I had a state of the art security system installed. It doesn’t just alert me to when there’s movement at the house or when someone has tried to get in, but actually shuts down the house so that nobody can gain access.
All it takes is the push of a button and the windows get covered with steel plates, the doors are all triple locked, and the house becomes a fortress. Nobody can get in—or out—without entering the code, and I’m the only one who knows the code. It’s the perfect place to wait out a dangerous situation and I wanted Jane in here to keep her safe.
But at least I have Annie here. I might not be able to look after her mom right now, but I can guarantee that our daughter will be safe. Then, when I bring Jane back home, I’m going to make sure that the three of us can finally be a family. It’s all I want.
“Be safe, brother.” Ginny throws her arms around me and squeezes me tight. As I hug her, I look over the top of her head to Annie. My daughter has turned around in her stool and is staring at the two of us.
“You leaving?” She asks, her eyes locked on me.
Letting go of Ginny, I nod, then walk over to Annie. “I have to go check up on something,” I tell her, resting my hand on her shoulder. I want to hug her, want to pull her to me so that I can convince myself that this is real—that she is real—but I resist. I don’t want to scare her, and until her mom explains everything, I need to be careful.
“Bring back more cookies.” She grins at me, a huge smile that shows off the bits of cookie on her teeth, and I find myself grinning back before I can stop myself.
“You bet. Be good for Ginny, okay?”
“Okay.” She looks past me and I walk out of the kitchen, pulling my phone from my pocket to initiate the lockdown. As I go, I hear my sweet daughter talking.
“Why is your name Ginny?”
“It’s actually Virginia,” my sister says, “but I hated that name...”
Her voice trails off as I get farther from the kitchen. When I step outside onto the front porch, I type in my code and press the red button on my phone screen to lock down the house. There’s a loud sliding sound and then some thudding as the steel plates shift into position over the windows and the doors are protected.
The sound sends a shiver up my spine, but I turn away and head to my car. My daughter is safe and now I have to go find her mother and bring her back home.
* * *
“Tell me that you have good news,” I say to Salvatore, who picked up on the first ring when I called him. “Like where these fuckers are hiding and what the fuck they’re going to do to Jane.”
“Her mom is going to make it,” he tells me. “Which is probably good seeing as it sound like you’re a bit serious about this girl. The last thing that you want is for her mother to get murdered because she let you fuck her a few years ago.”
He doesn’t know about Annie.
It’s strange to me to have a secret that bit and I swallow hard. “She’s not just someone I fucked a few years ago,” I tell him.
“I know, you want her. I got it, Trevor, you don’t have to explain that to me. Trust me, Marcelo and I get it.”
“She has a daughter.” I swallow hard, then correct myself. “We have a daughter. Her kid is mine, Salvatore. She got pregnant all that time ago and she’s mine. Annie.”
He’s silent for a moment and I’m sure that he’s trying to take it all in. “Fuck,” he says, letting out a low sigh. “You’re a fucking dad?”
“I’m a dad.” Even though I’m driving, I can still see Annie’s sweet little face and I realize with a start that I’ll do anything I have to just to keep her safe. I love her even though I don’t really know her.
It doesn’t matter that I don’t know her. I want to keep her safe and I want to get to know her. I need her in my life, and I also need Jane. I have to save her mom.
“Please tell me that we know where they took her,” I say, but Salvatore is silent for a moment before answering. “Salvatore. I’m serious. I have to get Jane back.”
“We have no idea,” he admits, and I feel like I’m going to be sick. “Nobody can find out anything. They’re staying close to the ground and being quiet as possible so that we don’t find them and root them out. I’m sorry, Trevor, but we’re looking, okay?”
Swearing, I punch the red circle on my screen to hang up on him. He might be okay to sit back and wait for some intel to come through, but I’m not. If I’m going to save Jane and have a family then I need to move quickly, need to find her.
Without thinking about where I’m going, I find myself pulling into the train station parking lot. It looks the same as it did when I was here earlier, but I park the car and get out. This is the closest that we’ve gotten to finding out any information about what the motorcycle clubs are up to.
I have to find something here.
My gun is heavy on my hip and I pull it from its holster, keeping it close to my body as I work my way across the parking lot. The sun is still high in the sky but I know that it will drop low soon, taking with it not only the light, but also some of the hope of getting Jane back in one piece.
