Six Months After Their Divorce, the Mafia Boss Found His Ex Pregnant and Froze

The sight of the white blanket dragging across the floor sent a primal, icy spike of terror straight into my heart.

"Vinnie," I breathed, my hand hovering over the panic button. "What are you doing here?"

Vinnie didn't smile. He kicked the bedroom door shut behind him, raising the suppressed pistol and aiming it directly at my chest.

"Step away from the button, Mrs. Moretti," Vinnie ordered, his voice a low, grating rasp. "Unless you want me to put a bullet through that pretty white crib down the hall."

I slowly pulled my hand back, my mind racing. Vinnie was a loyalist. He had fought alongside Dante for years. Why was he here?

"Dante disbanded the syndicate, Vinnie," I said, keeping my voice steady, utilizing every ounce of negotiation tactic I possessed. "The wars are over. Everyone got a generous severance package. You’re a rich man."

"A rich civilian," Vinnie spat, taking a step further into the room. He tossed the white baby blanket onto the foot of the bed. It landed like a soiled flag. "Dante sold us out for you. He gave away the ports, the casinos, the power. We used to rule this city. Now we’re just shareholders in a glorified real estate firm."

"He went legitimate to save his family," I argued.

"He went soft," Vinnie corrected, his eyes burning with a greedy, ambitious fire. "The other capos took the buyout and ran. But I know about the contingency fund, Mia. I know Dante hid fifty million in untraceable diamonds in the main safe downstairs before he signed everything over to the feds."

I stared at him. The diamonds. A final, desperate cache Dante had kept hidden from everyone, even me, just in case the legitimate transition failed. Vinnie had found out about it.

"He’s not working for the Falcones," I realized aloud. "You aren't working for anyone. You’re doing this for yourself."

"I’m taking my severance," Vinnie sneered. "But Dante’s new smart-home security system requires dual biometric authorization for the main vault. I need his fingerprint, and I need yours."

"Dante isn't here," I said, my chin lifting defiantly. "And I’m not helping you steal from him."

"Dante will be here soon," Vinnie smiled, pulling his phone from his pocket. "I sent him a text from Mateo’s phone ten minutes ago saying you were having contractions. He’s probably breaking every speed limit in Chicago right now to get here."

My blood ran cold. He had lured Dante back into a trap.

"When he walks through that door," Vinnie continued, cocking the hammer of the pistol, "I’ll put a gun to your head. He’ll open the vault to save you. And then I’ll shoot you both and walk away a very wealthy man."

He was arrogant. He thought because I was pregnant and on bed rest, I was helpless.

He didn't realize that over the last six months, Dante hadn't just made me the CEO of his legitimate empire. He had given me complete, unrestricted administrative access to the entire estate’s security network.

I slowly shifted my weight on the bed, feigning a wince of pain, subtly reaching my hand under the heavy duvet.

My fingers brushed the sleek surface of the iPad I used for work.

"You’re making a mistake, Vinnie," I said softly, locking eyes with him to keep his attention focused on my face. "Dante will kill you before you even reach the vault."

"Dante is a domesticated dog now," Vinnie mocked. "He doesn't have the stomach for blood anymore."

Under the covers, I blindly tapped the screen of the iPad. I knew the interface by heart. Swipe up. Three taps on the bottom right. The smart-home command center.

I didn't hit the silent alarm for the police. Vinnie would execute me the moment he heard sirens.

I hit the environmental control override.

"You think he’s weak because he chose his family over violence?" I asked, my voice rising in volume to mask the faint hum of electronics waking up in the walls.

"I think he’s weak because he let a woman put him on a leash," Vinnie spat, taking another step closer to the bed.

I found the toggle for the master suite's automated blackout shutters.

"Dante didn't put me on a leash, Vinnie," I said, a cold, terrifying smile breaking across my face. "He gave me the controls."

I tapped the screen.

Instantly, the heavy, motorized steel blackout shutters slammed down over the massive bedroom windows with a deafening, metallic crash, plunging the room into absolute, pitch-black darkness.

Vinnie yelled in surprise, firing a wild shot into the dark. The suppressed bullet thwipped past my head, burying itself in the headboard.

I didn't scream. I rolled aggressively off the opposite side of the bed, hitting the floor hard, ignoring the sharp, tearing pain in my abdomen.

"Bitch!" Vinnie roared in the dark, stumbling into the footboard.

I crawled silently toward the en-suite bathroom. I knew this room perfectly. Vinnie was disoriented.

Suddenly, the bedroom door crashed open.

Light from the hallway spilled into the room.

Dante stood in the doorway, his chest heaving, his weapon drawn. He saw the blackout shutters. He saw Vinnie standing near the bed, aiming his gun into the shadows where I had just been.

Dante didn't hesitate. The domesticated husband vanished, instantly replaced by the lethal, apex predator of the Chicago syndicate.

He fired twice.

Vinnie didn't even have time to turn around. He collapsed backward, dead before he hit the floor, dropping directly onto the white baby blanket he had thrown on the bed.

Dante didn't look at the body. He swept the room with his weapon, his eyes frantic.

"Mia!" Dante roared, sheer terror in his voice.

"I'm here," I gasped, pulling myself up using the doorframe of the bathroom.

Dante dropped his gun, sprinting across the room. He fell to his knees in front of me, his hands frantically checking my face, my arms, my stomach.

"Are you hit?" he demanded, his voice cracking. "Did he touch you?"

"I'm fine," I breathed, wrapping my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest. "I dropped the shutters. He missed."

Dante crushed me against him, letting out a ragged, shuddering breath. "I got a text from Mateo’s phone... I thought you were in labor. When I found Mateo unconscious in the foyer..."

"He wanted the diamonds in the vault," I explained, pulling back to look at him.

Dante glanced at Vinnie’s body, his eyes hardening with absolute, unforgiving ice. "He was a greedy fool."

Before I could agree, a sudden, excruciating cramp ripped through my entire body, doubling me over. It wasn't the dull ache of the premature contractions. It was a sharp, blinding wave of absolute agony.

I screamed, clutching my stomach, feeling a sudden, warm gush of fluid soak through my pants.

The adrenaline of the firefight had triggered it.