Claimed Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle
Jane
I’m still strapped down.
I don’t know how I know it, but I swear that I can feel the ropes pinning me to the table. They bite into my skin and I shift, wanting to free myself from their discomfort.
I can move.
Not a lot, just because my body huts, but those aren’t ropes tying me down. When I realize that, I open my eyes, my heart pounding hard in my chest as I look around.
I’ve never been in this room. Forcing myself to sit up, I fight down the vomit that rolls in my stomach. I can’t get sick. Not here, not now, not when I don’t know where I am and don’t know where Annie is.
Annie.
The thought of my precious girl makes me gasp and I let out a sob, covering my mouth as quickly as possible with my hand. When I do, I see my arm for the first time, see the bandages wrapped tightly around it and I remember the crazy man with the scalpel cutting me.
If I were still with him, I think that I’d be dead.
But I’m not. I’m in a nice room with a huge bed that dwarfs me and stretched out under a soft fluffy duvet. On the floor is a soft rug and I want to swing my legs down and stand up but I suddenly feel lightheaded and weak and instead I lean back on my pillow.
Across the room is a single door, shut, and there’s a chandelier overhead. Other than that, the room is empty, but it doesn’t feel like I’ve been neglected. It feels cozy and warm here and I have to admit that I really like it.
If only I knew where I am. I can’t imagine that the doctor—because that’s what still I keep calling him in my head—would bring me someplace nice like this. I have a terrible sinking suspicion that something else has happened.
My head throbs and as much as I’d like to stay in bed until I feel better, I have to find Annie. Even on the off-chance that she’s here, I can’t stay in bed, can’t continue to rest. The guilt eats at me that I’m not already on my feet searching for her and I push the covers back, wincing at the pain that shoots up both of my arms when I do.
That bastard did a number on me.
“Annie,” I whisper, even though she isn’t anywhere near me. “Annie, where are you?”
The rug is just as soft under my bare feet as it looked and I brace myself on the bed before pushing myself up to a stand. My legs are wobbly but they hold and I step away from the bed, keeping one hand on the mattress for support until I have to let go of that to reach for the door.
It opens under my touch, which surprises me. I almost thought that I’d be locked in here, that whoever took me would shut the door and throw away the key, but I step out into the hall and suddenly I realize where I am.
Not because I see anything that clues me in, but because of the way it smells. It smells like Trevor, the overwhelming delicious scent that I’ve come to associate with him holding me close. This time, when my legs feel weak, I can’t hold myself up any longer, and I sink to the floor, my back against the wall.
The wide plank wood floor is cool under me and I lean my head against the wall, tears streaming down my face. I was such a fucking idiot to fight him in coming here and he brought me here anyway, obviously saving me from whatever was going to happen to me.
The memory of that doctor cutting my arms makes me wince, and tears stream down my cheeks when I glance down at my arms and see the bandages there. Someone took their time making sure that I was okay, and now I know who it was.
“Trevor? Annie?” My voice hurts. Speaking hurts. Hell, even being alive right now is much more painful than I ever would have thought possible, but I do my best to call out for help. To call out for one of the two people I’ve suddenly realized that I love and need in my life.
“Jane.” Trevor’s voice yanks me out of my pity party and my head jerks up as he comes down the hall. He sits down next to me, wrapping his arms around me, and pulls me close. “Jane, you’re okay, darling. Do you feel okay?”
My head pounds and the pain in my arms is almost overwhelming. It feels like I’ve dipped my arms into hot lava and the skin is burning away, but I’m not going to tell him that. He did everything that he could to save me and I’m not going to make him feel better about how I feel. This—this pain, this horrible searing pain—it’s all on me.
“I’m okay,” I say, leaning my head against him. He’s so warm and big, so strong, that I immediately feel safer than I did. Everything about Trevor makes me feel safe now that I know the truth about him. “But where’s Annie?”
I have to ask even though I know that by doing so, I’m just drawing attention to the fact that she’s his daughter. There’s no way that he hasn’t figured it out by now, and I wince a little when I ask, not wanting to see the look on his face. A man like Trevor—he doesn’t forgive. He doesn’t have the lifestyle that you need to raise a child and take care of them. I have no way of knowing if he’s going to be happy that he’s a father, but I’m afraid to look at him and find out.
“Jane,” he says, taking my hands in his and lightly squeezing them. He pulls back from me when he does this and I look up at him, terrified of what I’m going to see on his face. “When were you going to tell me?”
My stomach drops and I shake my head, doing my best to scoot away from him. I’m just so weak and every part of my body hurts, but I don’t want to be anywhere near him right now. I don’t want to have to look at him and see the disappointment on his face when he realizes that I’ve been lying to him for years.
“She’s not two, is she? I knew that from the moment I saw her, Jane. Did you think that you were going to be able to keep her a secret forever?”
I can’t tell from the tone of his voice what he’s thinking. He’s impossible for me to read and tears fall faster, dripping down my cheeks as I angrily wipe them away. My entire body feels hot and I’m reminded once more how much I hate being put on the spot about something. “I’m sorry!” I burst out, somehow finding the strength to push myself up to my feet. “I didn’t mean for you to find out!”
He stands too, faster than me, and I feel a bit dizzy when I look at up him for a moment. As quickly as I do that, though, I drop my gaze from his face. I can’t look at him, can’t make eye contact with him when I’ve been lying to him like this. He knows the truth now and he’s pissed.
He has to be. No man in his right mind would want a baby just dropped on his doorstep like I just did with Annie. There’s no reason why he’d be okay with it or why he wouldn’t want to walk away from me right now. I fucked up, big time. And the only thing that I can do is feel like shit about it while he kicks me out.
“You didn’t mean for me to find out?” His voice is dangerously low and a shiver dances up my spine when he speaks. I haven’t fucked him over, not really, not like some of the people he deals with have, but I’m still terrified of what he’s going to do to me.
“I didn’t,” I promise him, shaking my head. “I didn’t think that I’d ever run into you again, and I thought that you wouldn’t want any part of being a father, so I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to be one. You have no idea how badly I tried, Trevor! But when I came home because my mom said that she needed me, I didn’t...I didn’t think that I’d see you.” I finish lamely and stand there like an idiot, holding my hands out at my sides like I’m just waiting on him to crucify me.
Honestly, it’s what I deserve.
“And Annie never asked about her father?” There’s danger in his voice, an undercurrent that I’m afraid will sweep me away if I’m not careful, but I know that I have to answer him anyway. As much as I’d like to pretend that he didn’t just ask the question, it’s one that’s been eating me up inside for years.
“Of course she has,” I say, giving my head a little shake. “But I just told her that she didn’t have one. That it was just the two of us.” A sob wrenches its way out of my body and I grab for the wall for support, but instead I find his strong body there supporting me. Trevor wraps his arms around me and even though I want to fight him off, I don’t have the energy to do that right now.
“You really weren’t going to tell me? Jane, do you have any idea what I thought when I saw her?”
Guilt washes over me. “I didn’t think that you’d want to be a dad,” I breathe. It’s dangerous for me to inhale his scent but I do it anyway, letting it wash over me. “I didn’t think that you’d want it. I’m sorry you had to find out.”
He stiffens. I swear, I feel his body stiffen under my touch and I risk a glance up at his face. Holy fuck, he’s giving me the same dark look he gave me the night that we first met. I feel my knees go weak but remind myself that I have to be strong. Not for me, but for Annie.
“You hid it from me without once thinking about what I would want.”
I did. Oh, fuck, I did. And, you know what? I’d do it all again if it meant keeping Annie safe. He’s pissed. The anger radiates off of him in waves and I know that there isn’t anything that I can do to fix what’s been done, so all I can do is stand here and wait for him to decide how he’s going to punish me.
