Page 109 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 5-8

I reach down and grab hold of her arm, draw her up against me, because I know if nothing else that I can use this thing between us. She’s shocked by it, bowled over. She’s never experienced anything like it. She was a virgin. And I know that I can use it now to get what I want.

“Be mine,” I say.

She reaches up and touches me on the face, something regretful in her eyes. “I can’t give my life to you, gangster.”

I run my thumb along her face, down below her lip. “You already have.”

There’s a spark of fear in her eyes. She knows what I’m saying is true. She’s already mine. We both know it. And I will care for her. Look after her.

“You will never want for anything. You will belong to me. I have more money than you could possibly imagine. I have connections. I will take care of you, and I will take care of the child.”

“But we don’t know…anything.”

“No. We don’t. But up until recently neither of us had been to the beach recreationally either and now we have been.”

I say this to her, expecting her to understand that it makes perfect sense. Because we can change.

“Ciro,” she says. “I…”

“What if we learn to make a family?” I say. “Be my wife, Lindsay.”

She goes very, very still. “Your wife?”

“Yes. We’re having a child. The two of us know what it means when parents do not care for their children. You know what it’s like to live a life of neglect, and I know what it’s like to live one of violence and loss. We will never visit those things upon our child. Not ever. And we will take great care with them. We can give our child the family we didn’t have. Our child can have the family you wanted them to. I don’t have a wife. But I can have one. You. Our child’s mother, and what better wife for me to take?”

“What if I refuse?”

Something dark winds its way through me, and I slide my thumb over her lower lip. “No one refuses me.”

I need her to say yes. I know this is not right. I know I’m not giving her a choice.

But I need her to say yes.

She nods slowly. “I suppose I don’t have to give you an answer. Because the answer is already decided.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lindsay

THIS IS THE second time that I’ve been bundled up onto Ciro’s private plane. But this time, it’s as his forced, pregnant bride.

I don’t know what happened to him caring about me having my freedom back.

It’s the sex. I should never have introduced it. I should never…

It’s not like it’s all him. Not like he’s the only one who’s lost the plot. I’ve been deep in fantasies that are impossible, and it is because we started sleeping together. And talking to each other. Sharing hopes, and dreams and regrets.

But you can be a family. Your baby will have a family.

There’s something about that thought that makes my stomach go tight. What if I could keep the baby? What if I could stay with him?

What if we can have sledding and cider and Christmas, and brand-new bikes that he teaches our child to ride?

It’s such a tantalizing thought. And yet it doesn’t seem right.

It’s one thing to talk about those things like they’re wild dreams.

Another entirely to actually buy into the idea we could do it.