GemNoir

“You need my help, Tesoro. You choose. A marriage with me or be torn apart by them” His voice was cool as though this wasn't a matter of life or death.

I didn't want this life. My father had gambled a lot and left me with a lot of enemies and now I needed the help of Don Vincenzo LaRosa who was my high school bully and now the Don of the most powerful mafia family in Italy if I was going to survive it.

It was just a marriage of convenience but I realized something. He wasn't helping me out of a good heart. I had been sold without my permission to him. I was the mafia's pawn.

Sold to the Capo

The coldness of the examination table seeped through the thin hospital gown I had been given, but I barely felt it. My mind was elsewhere—split between the baby growing inside me and the man lying unconscious just a few rooms away.

This was tiring to say in the least and today was a day for a full checkup and I knew I would be checked down to the last bit today. Not exactly the best way to spend hours at the hospital. I had been on this for the last 30 minutes and I swear to God, one more minute and I would have screamed.

I kept my gaze fixed on the ceiling, trying to steady my breathing as the doctor pressed the stethoscope against my stomach.

"You seem tense," he noted, his voice calm and professional.

I let out a slow breath. "I just have a lot on my mind."

A NEW DAWN IN THE FAMILY