Arranged love

“Mia-”

His ringing cell interrupts him. He taps my thigh, and I crawl off him. Lying down on my back, I watch him get out of bed and go over to where his slacks lie on the floor, and he removes his cell from the pocket. “Hello?” He runs a hand through his dark hair. “Yeah. I can be there in thirty minutes.” He hangs up and walks over to where my dress and underwear are on the floor.

He walks back to me and leans in, gently kissing my lips before dropping them on my chest. “Get dressed. We have to go.”

“Where are we going?” I sit up.

“I’m taking you back to the house to drop you off,” he says before entering the bathroom, and I know that’s all he’s going to tell me.

BONES

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, I sit down at my desk just as my cell goes off.

“Hello?” I answer when I see who it is.

“Mia Rosa Bianchi,” Marsha Wells says in greeting.

I sit back in my chair. Damn, even I’m surprised at how fast she found that out. “Someone really did her homework.”

“Not quite.” She snorts. “As much as I’d love to take credit, it was an anonymous tip.”

“Anonymous tip,” I repeat, not liking the way those words sound.

“Yep. I took two photos of you guys together the moment you arrived and posted them. Only took an hour for someone to contact me.”

“I see.”

“I feel like you’re holding an even bigger story from me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Well, the same anonymous caller also informed me that Luca is in the hospital for a gunshot wound.”

My teeth grind. “Can’t believe every source …”

“True. But I just so happened to have someone follow Haven after she ran out of the restaurant. Care to explain why she went straight to the hospital? I was told that Oliver Nite was also seen there.”

I don’t say anything to that.

She laughs at my silence. “I’ll give you twenty-four hours to give me a better story, Bones, or I’m going to plaster Luca’s all over the internet.”

My hand grips the cell.

“She’s pretty.” She goes on. “Exactly what I’d expect a Mafia princess to look like.”

I don’t like the way she talks about Mia, as if she’s threatening her. “Marsha-”

“And I’m guessing there’s a reason no one knows she exists. Once I tell the world of her existence and that Luca is in a coma, she’ll have a big target on her head. Wouldn’t that be a shame if anything happened to her.” Click.”Goddammit.” I throw my phone just as the door opens. Titan enters, jumping back to avoid being hit by it flying across the room.

He bends down to pick it up off the rug. “You have a visitor,” he announces.

“I’m busy,” I growl.

“Bones?” Haven says softly, entering behind him.

I shake my head. “I don’t have time …”

“I’m coming to apologize.”

“I don’t need it.” I point at the door. “Leave.”

“Bones, please?” Tears fill her eyes.

Running my hands through my hair, I sigh. “I don’t …”

“Jasmine came by the hospital earlier this morning. She filled me in on everything regarding Mia. Why didn’t you …?”

“She didn’t want you to know. Thought you would blame her.”

“I …”

“Which you did. So you just proved her right,” I point out.

Her bottom lip starts to quiver. I don’t have time for this shit today.

“I need you to kill John Bianchi.”

Titan snorts.

“Don’t you think I’d do that if it was an option?” I growl.

“It has to be.” She goes on. “It’s our only option.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“No, it’s not,” I snap. “We’ve been in bed with the Mafia all of our lives, Haven. If we kill him, then it puts a target on our heads. All of our allies will turn on us.” I shake my head.

“Please?”

“No, I won’t put the rest of the Kings in danger.” And I find it odd that John hasn’t shown up. I mean, his eldest son is in the ICU because he was shot, and his father is nowhere to be seen? Something just isn’t right about this. John Bianchi is a sadistic prick, but Luca runs everything here in Vegas for his father. I know that Nite has taken over the operation for the time being, but still, John should have made himself known here by now.

“Luca would do anything to save Mia.”

“He fucking left her!” I shout. “I’ve known him my entire life. I’ve seen him on pretty much a day-to-day basis for the past ten years, and he’s never once mentioned her.” He even had the chance to come clean when I saw her, and he chose to keep her a secret.

“He was the one who sent her away.” She sniffs.

I snort. “That makes even less sense.”

“To save her,” Haven adds.

“What good that did for her,” I argue.

“They won’t stop until Luca is dead. They know he’s the only one who cares about her.”

I do, but I keep that to myself. Too much already going on to add fuel to this fire. If Haven knew how I felt, then she’d use it against me. Make me feel guilty even more than I already do.

“I’m pregnant.” She starts crying.

I slam my elbows on my desk and run my hands through my hair. Well, this is going to be another shit day.

“Fuck,” Titan whispers, turning to face the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Strip.

Silence fills the room as she sits down on the couch over by Titan and the window. My door quietly opens, and I look over to see Mia enter the room. She comes to a stop when she notices Haven sitting with her eyes looking down at her hands in her lap.

Taking in a deep breath, Haven speaks softly, “We’ve been trying to get pregnant, and I was late. I just felt it. I knew I was. I couldn’t wait until he got home, so I ran and got a test. I went up to Glass. I used the restroom first because I wanted to have the test to show him. When I came up the stairs, he was lying in the hallway. The back door hadn’t even been latched yet.” Her watery amber eyes meet mine. “I need you to find Luca’s brothers and John. I need you guys to kill them.”

“We can’t do that. I’m sorry, but this changes nothing.” Titan is the one who speaks.

“It changes everything!” she screams, jumping to her feet and turning to face him. “I need you to kill them to save my family. To save Mia, Luca, and our baby.” She cups her mouth to silence a sob, and Mia walks up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Haven spins around and immediately opens her arms while Mia embraces her. They both cry.

I stand from my seat and walk over to Titan.

“What do you want to do?” he asks me.

“Call a meeting in fifteen. Get everyone there. Including Haven, but give me a minute with Mia.”

He nods and walks over to the girls. He pulls them apart. “Come on, let’s go get you a water.”

Mia wipes her eyes, then rubs her hands on her jeans.

I pick up my phone off the desk where Titan had set it and call back the last number.

“Yes?” she draws out the word.

“I have a better story. But I need you to give me until Friday.”

She takes a few seconds to respond before saying, “It better be good.” Then she hangs up.

“What are you doing?” Mia asks me.

“What needs to be done.” Then I grab her hand and pull her from my office.