Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Fabiano wiped his forearm over his eyebrow, smearing blood everywhere.
I spit out blood, then turned to Dad with a grin. He stood in front of the cage with a thunderous expression.
“What’s the matter, Dad? I thought you want us to take fight training seriously?”
“This looked a bit too serious for my taste,” he muttered.
I glanced at Fabiano, who’d given up on stopping the blood flow from his eyebrow. My ribs hurt too, and from Fabiano’s stiff movements, I suspected it was the same for him. Fabiano walked toward me. “Good fight,” he said, less tense than before the fight. Maybe he’d gotten his anger out of his system with our fight. For me, that trick never worked. “But this is nothing to how I’m going to kick your ass if I find out you’re messing with Aurora.”
“I’m going to be Capo. Many fathers would love to give me their daughters.”
“I’m not one of them,” he said as he headed out of the cage. I followed him.
Dad sent me a hard look, as if this was only my doing.
Grabbing a towel, I steered toward the changing room where Alessio and Massimo had disappeared a couple of minutes ago.
They sat across from each other, straddling the bench.
Alessio tipped an imaginary hat. “Every time I think you can’t fuck up more, you raise your game. Cudos for still managing to shock me after I’ve seen you use the head of a corpse as a hand puppet.”
Massimo motioned me forward and grabbed my hand. “I don’t know why I bother treating your wounds.”
“Fabiano wanted the fight.”
“A kid, really? Ever heard of condoms?” Alessio asked.
“Why don’t you scream a little louder so everyone can hear it.”
Massimo got up. “You should tell them. This isn’t a small secret. This is a child. You need help with this. You aren’t equipped to take care of a child.”
“Trust me, I know, which is why I asked Aurora for help.”
“What’s wrong with the girl that she can’t say no to you, for fuck’s sake?” Alessio asked, pushing to his feet.
“Ask her,” I said with a shrug. Then I became serious. “You can’t tell my parents or anyone else about this.”
Massimo and Alessio exchanged a look. “You can’t keep it a secret for long. Aurora can’t play babysitter forever. Your father will rip your head off if he finds out you kept a child from him.”
“He’ll rip my head off either way.” In this case, Mom would probably resort to violence too. Fathering a child with a woman I’d fucked once was definitely not something she’d accept.
“This is serious,” Alessio said.
I glowered. “I fucking know that.”
“I seriously doubt that, or you would have told our families right away. This is probably just your way to bind Aurora to you. The girl was trying to get away, but you couldn’t let her,” Alessio muttered.
“I know your stance on Aurora and me.”
“Why don’t you show us your son?” Massimo asked.
“Give me a sec to shower.” I stepped into the shower stall after telling Aurora we would be coming over.
Thirty minutes later, Alessio, Massimo, and I knocked at the apartment’s door. I was pretty sure that Massimo’s interest in my son was only an excuse to see Carlotta.
Aurora opened the door, looking slightly disheveled, her cheeks flushed. I’d left her in a similar state yesterday, and the memory made me smirk. Aurora avoided my eyes as she let us in. “Carlotta and Battista are in the living room.”
We followed her inside and found Carlotta and Battista on the floor on a blanket, playing with all kinds of kitchen utensils.
“So you finally decided to tell someone,” Aurora said as she stopped beside me while Alessio and Massimo settled on the sofa beside Carlotta. She didn’t look at me, though, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the others.
“Alessio and Massimo are loyal. I should have trusted them from the start,” I said.
“I guess I should feel honored that you considered me trustworthy enough to confide in me.”
“You really should,” I said honestly.
“I don’t suppose they’ll help with child care, though?”
“They might.” I wasn’t sure I wanted those two to take care of my kid. I leaned closer to Aurora to whisper, “Won’t you look at me?”
She turned to me with narrowed eyes, but the blush on her cheeks was exactly what I wanted to see. “You’re not the only one around.”
She moved to the sofa and sank down beside Alessio. Her hair was in a high ponytail, revealing her beautiful neck I wanted to mark as mine. I’d never left a hickey on anyone, but with Aurora, I couldn’t wait to change that. I would have loved to tease her a bit more about our kitchen adventure yesterday, but I had a feeling she’d avoid being alone with me.
Massimo got up and came over to me with an analytic expression. He crossed his arms over his chest. “You didn’t even go over to the kid, and he barely reacted to your presence, so I suppose you two haven’t bonded yet.”