Sold To Mr. Milano - Daniella Wright Page 0,56

for sure.

The kids had already returned to the community center by the time Ava came back. She brought several of her friends with her to stay behind and help Deanna while she and I snuck out. As promised, she delivered me to the back door of the doctor’s office. They were waiting for me and went through the exam quickly. It all happened so fast. I was hardly prepared when the nurse told me what I was dreading to be true.

“You are pregnant.”

I felt like I was sinking into a hole as the words resounded through my head over and over. She told me I had “options” if I wanted to come back later and talk to her. The thought made me sick. I didn’t feel like I had options. Maybe before I ever laid down with Alberto, but not now.

Thankfully, Ava was waiting for me outside. She walked me home and helped me to bed, promising that she’d make up some excuse to tell Deanna for why I vanished. I was grateful for her, but barely had the strength to express it. All I could do was lay in my bed and stare at the wall. I felt numb and in shock. But that was better than the panic that set in a few hours later.

My heart soared with hopes about glimmers of something good I thought I had seen in Alberto. He cared about family and honor. Maybe this would mean something to him. Maybe he could win over my father. Maybe this would all be okay. I grasped for anything and everything I could cling to, to convince me it was a possibility.

But I couldn’t keep a grip on any of that. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Alberto. Whatever spell he had me under hadn’t been broken. In fact, the longer I was away from him, my feelings only seemed to grow more each day. But the truth was...how I felt or what I thought I wanted didn’t matter. Alberto was a criminal...a gangster. And to make matters worse, my father was his known rival - the Great Detective who had made it his life’s mission to bring Alberto Milano down. Whatever restraint he had shown since my return would fly out the window the minute he found out about this.

Alberto was not fit to be the father of any child. Especially not my child. I couldn’t let myself forget that, but it also seemed...I couldn’t really let myself believe it either.

My father had always told me that you had to trust your gut. That would lead you to proof and evidence to back up what you already thought you knew. My gut told me that no matter what I thought I knew or what I had been told my whole life, Alberto Milano had it in him to be a good man.

These feelings of mine didn’t come from nowhere. I had never been one to pine over someone who didn’t care for me in return. No, I was convinced if I was feeling this way...Alberto had real feelings for me in return. Why else would he have saved me more than once then delivered me home safely?

Alberto may never have wanted to settle down in some modest little countryside cottage with goats and chickens. He wanted his big house and his nice things. But with a little convincing, could he learn to do some good with all of his wealth? And maybe I didn’t want to die off in domesticity either. Maybe I wanted something different. We could be the rebel lovers like the ones who hid out in that cave - stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

I knew it was all just a ridiculous fantasy, but I didn’t know what else to cling to in my panic. I locked my bedroom door and hid under my covers. I didn’t know what to do, but for now all I wanted to do was hide.

19

Alberto

I had several important meetings lined up for the day to negotiate some property sales, and I was eager to throw myself back into business and feel some sense of normalcy again. Nothing had felt right since I delivered Alicia home, and Felix’s own personal problems weren’t helping. I was showered, dressed, and ready to get down to it.

But when I walked into the dining room, no one arrived to serve me my breakfast. The usual flow of staff coming in and out was absent. Not knowing