Chapter 2 - The Mafia Boss Found His Pregnant Maid Tied Inside a Warehouse—But the Woman Behind Her Kidnapping Was Already Wearing His Engagement RingNadia woke to cold concrete.
Her wrists were tied behind chair.
A single bulb swung above her.
She tried moving.
Pain tightened across lower abdomen.
“No.”
She breathed.
Slowly.
The babies moved.
Thank God.
A man stood by door.
Another near window.
Nadia recognized neither.
“Please.”
No response.
“My babies—”
“Quiet.”
“I need a doctor.”
“Then hope Coletti cooperates.”
Her fear sharpened.
This was about Renzo.
Of course.
Everything eventually became about Renzo.
A third man entered.
Expensive overcoat.
Gray hair.
“Miss Hart.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone who needs information.”
“I don't know anything.”
“We know.”
He smiled.
“That is why you were useful.”
“Useful for what?”
“Getting Renzo outside his fortress.”
Nadia's stomach turned.
“You called him?”
“He'll come.”
“Don't hurt him.”
The man laughed.
Even now.
Even after Renzo humiliated her, first instinct was protection.
She hated herself for it.
Then warehouse door opened.
Not Renzo.
Isabella Romano walked inside.
Nadia stopped breathing.
Perfect coat.
Perfect hair.
Perfect engagement ring.
Isabella looked at her.
“You really should have taken money and disappeared.”
Nadia stared.
“You did this?”
“Not personally.”
“Why?”
Isabella stepped closer.
“Because you became inconvenient.”
“The babies?”
“I knew weeks ago.”
“How?”
“You aren't nearly as invisible as you believe.”
Nadia remembered Isabella watching her sickness.
Her stomach.
The masquerade.
“You knew I was woman in library.”
“Not immediately.”
Isabella smiled.
“But I suspected.”
Nadia's fear transformed into anger.
“You pushed Renzo to fire me.”
“I encouraged him to remove liability.”
“You could have killed my babies.”
“No. I needed them alive.”
That answer was worse.
“Why?”
“Because my father wants leverage.”
Romano alliance.
Nadia understood.
Isabella's father didn't simply want marriage.
He wanted control of Coletti empire.
If Nadia's twins were Renzo's heirs, they complicated everything.
“What do you want?”
“You disappear after tonight.”
“And my children?”
“Raised somewhere safe.”
“By whom?”
“Not you.”
Nadia went cold.
“No.”
Isabella crouched.
“You don't understand the world you entered.”
“No. You don't understand me.”
Isabella smiled.
“You're maid.”
“Yes.”
Nadia leaned closer.
“And you're woman who needed armed men to tie pregnant maid to chair.”
The smile vanished.
Good.
Outside, engines approached.
Renzo.
Isabella stood.
“Remember what I said.”
Then left through rear door.
Nadia screamed.
“RENZO!”
Guard slapped her.
Her head snapped sideways.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
The front door exploded inward.
Renzo entered.
No tie.
Black coat.
Gun in hand.
His eyes found Nadia.
Everything else disappeared.
He crossed warehouse.
One captor raised weapon.
Matteo tackled him.
Renzo reached Nadia.
“Nadia.”
She stared.
His hands hovered.
“Can I touch you?”
Question shocked her.
“Yes.”
He cut restraints.
“Babies?”
“Moving.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Cramps.”
His face drained.
“We're going hospital.”
Then Nadia grabbed his coat.
“Isabella.”
“What?”
“She was here.”
Renzo became completely still.
“Isabella kidnapped me.”
Matteo heard.
His expression changed.
Renzo didn't immediately react.
Nadia saw conflict.
Political alliance.
Romano family.
Fiancée.
Her word against theirs.
“You don't believe me.”
“I believe you.”
Immediate.
Absolute.
“Renzo—”
“I believe you.”
He lifted her.
This time she didn't protest.
Hospital confirmed twins healthy.
Braxton Hicks contractions.
Stress.
Dehydration.
No labor.
Renzo sat outside examination room because Nadia asked him to.
That mattered.
When doctor left, he knocked.
“Come in.”
He entered.
No guards.
No coat.
He looked tired.
Nadia had never seen him uncertain.
“I owe you apology.”
She almost laughed.
“One?”
“Several.”
“Start with throwing money at pregnant woman.”
His jaw tightened.
“I didn't know.”
“You knew I was sick.”
“Yes.”
“You could have asked why.”
“Yes.”
“You called me liability.”
“Yes.”
“You fired me because I broke decanter.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked down.
“Because I was angry.”
“At me?”
“At myself.”
She waited.
“Since masquerade, I couldn't stop thinking about woman in mask.”
Nadia's heartbeat changed.
“I hated that I couldn't identify her.”
“So you punished maid?”
“No. Not consciously.”
“That's convenient.”
“I know.”
He looked at her.
“I noticed you more after that night without understanding why.”
Nadia remembered glances.
Moments.
His eyes lingering.
She had thought imagination.
“I thought attraction made me careless.”
“So you became cruel.”
“Yes.”
No excuses.
Interesting.
Then Renzo asked:
“Are they mine?”
Nadia placed hand over stomach.
She could lie.
But kidnapping changed calculation.
Enemies knew.
Secret no longer protected them.
“Yes.”
Renzo closed eyes.
For several seconds he said nothing.
When opened, emotion was raw.
“Both?”
She almost smiled.
“That's generally how twins work.”
He breathed laugh.
Then tears appeared.
Renzo Coletti.
Mafia Boss.
Crying.
Nadia looked away because moment felt private.
“Can I…”
He stopped.
“What?”
“Touch?”
Her stomach.
Nadia hesitated.
Then nodded.
Renzo approached.
Placed palm gently over coat.
Nothing.
He waited.
A kick.
His face transformed.
Another.
His eyes widened.
“Which one?”
“Probably boy.”
“Boy?”
“One boy. One girl.”
Renzo looked at her.
“You know?”
“Yes.”
“Names?”
“I haven't decided.”
He nodded.
Didn't claim naming rights.
Another surprise.
“Nadia.”
“Yes?”
“I broke engagement.”
Her head lifted.
“What?”
“Isabella isn't my fiancée anymore.”
“You believed me without proof?”
“I had proof before hospital.”
Matteo had recovered warehouse camera.
Isabella appeared clearly.
Renzo had called Romano father personally.
“What happened?”
“He denied involvement.”
“Do you believe him?”
“No.”
“What will you do?”
Old Renzo would say something frightening.
Instead:
“Collect evidence.”
“And then?”
“Federal prosecution if possible.”
She stared.
He noticed.
“What?”
“You're going to police?”
“Yes.”
“You are Mafia Boss.”
“Thank you for reminder.”
She almost smiled.
Then Renzo became serious.
“I need to change more than engagement.”
Nadia looked toward window.
“That's not my responsibility.”
“I know.”
“I'm not coming back because babies are yours.”
“I know.”
“You don't own them.”
“I know.”
“You don't own me.”
“I know.”
She turned.
“And if I decide I don't want them raised inside your world?”
This answer took longer.
Renzo looked like man swallowing glass.
“Then I will have to decide whether I love my children more than I love my world.”
Nadia's eyes filled.
“And?”
“I've known them for approximately twelve minutes.”
A tiny smile.
“They're winning.”
For first time since snow, she laughed.
But danger wasn't over.
Isabella disappeared.
Romano family mobilized.
And that evening Matteo entered room carrying file.
“Boss.”
Renzo looked.
“What?”
“We searched Isabella's Chicago residence.”
He handed photograph.
Nadia recognized her silver bird locket.
Photo taken years earlier.
She was fourteen.
Beside her stood father.
On back was handwritten name:
MICHAEL HART — COLETTI INFORMANT 1998–2019
Nadia's blood went cold.
Renzo stared.
“Your father worked for mine.”
She shook head.
“No.”
Matteo continued.
“There's more.”
He placed second photograph.
Renzo's murdered father.
Michael Hart.
And Isabella's father, Vittorio Romano.
All three standing together.
Date: six years earlier.
Three days before Renzo's father was assassinated.
Nadia looked at Renzo.
“My father knew who killed yours.”
May you like
Renzo's expression changed.
“And that may be why Isabella wanted your babies.”
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