Patriot and his Secret Baby (The Rossi Family Mafia Book 1) by Avery Hawkes Page A

move, I was so frightened.
    “What’s your plan?” he asked.  
    “Well, I’ve been thinking about keeping the baby,” I said shyly, glancing up at him. “If you don’t want to be a part of our lives, I completely understand.”
    “No,” he grasped my hand and my heart felt like it was about to burst form my chest. “No, I would love to be a part of both of your lives.”
    “Really? Are you sure?”
    “Of course I am,” he said before he embraced me. I could smell dirt, oil and metal on him and it instantly relaxed me. His musky scent filled my nose as I buried my head into the crook of his neck. His hand ran through my long hair.  
    “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he asked as he stroked my head.
    “I was … really scared. My sister messed this all up. She told you before I had the chance to.”
    “Ha! I thought your sister was just trying to throw lies at you.”
    I wrapped my arms around his middle. He was so warm, like my own personal furnace in the cold night. We stayed like that for a long time, enjoying the touch of each other. I felt so supported and peaceful about the pregnancy. After a long time of feeling stressed, letting the truth out was like a breath of fresh air.  
    “Here. I’ll call us a car,” Lance finally said, detaching himself from me momentarily. I lifted my head and he planted a firm kiss on my lips. It was heaven.
    When the kiss ended, he was able to pull up an app on his phone and get a car headed our way. The night air had gotten much colder than it had been earlier in the evening, and my teeth were chattering.  
    Lance hugged me again, squeezing me around the shoulders to warm me. As we waited something pushed me to start talking once more.
    “I’m so happy you want to be part of this,” I motioned to my stomach. “But my family cannot know about this baby at ALL.”
    Lance grasped my shoulders and leaned back to look at me.
    “What do you mean?”
    “If my family ― if they found out I had a child out of wedlock … they’d kill you.”  
    “I’m sure they wouldn’t ― " The look on my face stopped him mid-sentence. He cleared his throat. “So what?”
    “So what? You do know you have to be alive to be a father to this baby, yes? You said yes. You aren’t getting out that easy.”
    Lance chuckled at that and brought me close. “Then let’s run away together, make a new life for ourselves.”
    A sigh escaped my lips. “That WOULD be nice, wouldn’t it?” Venom filled each syllable. When he tilted his head inquisitively I let my fingers pinch the bridge of my nose.
    “That was my plan before we got pregnant. I was going to use the money from my aunt’s will to go to New York City. Maybe buy a small condo, settle down. But ― "
    “You can’t have a child out of wedlock.” His eyes widened as he realized it.
    “Exactly.”
    “Well, that does make this more complicated, huh?”
    Lights appeared down the road and the sound of gravel against tire broke the night air. A sleek, black car pulled up to us. Before I could say anything, Lance opened the door to let me in the back seat. He kissed the top of my head as I passed him and I blushed. We had never kissed in front of any people ― that I knew of. After the stunt we pulled in the parking lot, I thought it was possible that anyone could have seen us.  
    “I’ll take you back to your house,” Lance said, entering my address into his phone. I nodded, wanting so much to talk more about our future, the baby, what he was thinking ― but I was too uncomfortable talking abut such things in front of our driver. From what I knew about my Father’s business, you never knew who were friends or foe.  
    We watched the city lights stream past. Though I was nervous to talk about my pregnancy while someone else could hear, I allowed myself the luxury of holding Lance’s hand.  
    We twisted through the city and came upon a large park. It was beautiful at night. The trees swayed slightly in the breeze,