Page 69 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 5-8

“Because my father didn’t want the line to end, and while he could have made his own heir, it was more about manipulating me. He sensed that his days were numbered. Wars between syndicates have been heating up. It’s been a brutal time. He wants me to take over. He did. He wanted me to be tied in. Because he knew that I would refuse to carry on the legacy otherwise.”

“You would refuse?”

“I am a great many things, Lindsay.” It seems like he’s saying my name simply for the fun of it. Perhaps to torment me with the fact that he knows it. “And I have done a great many bad things. It is the burden to bear of one who is brought up in such a family. But what I am not is a killer of innocents. What I am not is my father. And from the moment I had the power to make decisions for myself, I distanced myself from my family. My father didn’t want that. He wanted me reeled back in. This is his final manipulation. Because he knows that it’s the only way to tempt me back. He wanted me to find myself at the center of a war I couldn’t help but fight. He wanted me drawn back into all of this. Forced to defend my child. He knew this would happen.”

“What do you mean?”

He looks at me, those dark eyes staring into the very depths of hell. So deep and black there’s no seeing the bottom. “You are carrying the heir to the Corretti crime family empire. You are a bargaining chip of inestimable value. Every crime lord in the world is going to be after you. It’s lucky I found you first.”

“I…” I had just walked home on a darkened street. Out there where anything could’ve happened to me. Anyone could’ve taken me. “Well, why the hell did you kidnap me? You could have just told me I was in danger.”

“I didn’t have time to negotiate or argue with you. The reality is, there could have already been men on the way to kill you. I might hold you prisoner, but I won’t harm you.”

He’s claiming that he wouldn’t hurt me, but…

Well. He wouldn’t. He wants the baby. The baby is keeping me safe.

Grief shocks me, stabs me directly in the chest. My child is nothing more than a bargaining chip? And this baby was planned to be brought into a world where they were nothing more than a manipulation tactic, born to a man who hadn’t even wanted a child. And would be in grave danger because of their connection to that man.

I had told myself it was best if I didn’t love the baby. If I didn’t think of it as mine, because I was so sure that it was going to loving parents. That by keeping myself separate I was doing the right thing, because I was giving it to people who wouldn’t perpetuate toxic things my parents had. That I was contributing to life, and not hurting it in any way.

But now I know I’ve been wrong.

I was part of making this life, this life that is part of me, and there are no loving parents.

Only this raging, beautiful devil of a man and killers wanting to snuff out this baby’s life, and mine.

“I can’t believe this,” I say. My hands are shaking, I’m probably in shock, but I don’t have the luxury of being in shock.

“You will be paid handsomely. When all is said and done. Provided I feel that you could be kept safe.”

“What will…what will happen to the child?”

“I’m a wealthy man. I can afford all the security that will be required to keep you and the child safe. I did not choose this, but I will also not abandon a child of mine. Particularly not one who will be a target, and not just targeted by my father’s enemies. Targeted by the family itself.” He looks out the window of the town car for a long moment, tattooed fingers resting against his chin. “It’s why I have to end all of this. Once and for all. It is a ball that I have set in motion. But it’s going to be dangerous and complicated. During that time, you must remain hidden.”

I realize that his willingness to share this with me actually speaks to how dire the situation is. If I’m ever in a situation where this information could be used against him, I’m already dead.

For that matter, he might be too.

“For how long?”

“For some time.”

It’s amazing to me that he’s a scary, dangerous crime guy and he’s still…such a guy.

“It’s finals week in December,” I say.

“Finals.” He looks at me like I’m addled. “I am not concerned with your finals. If you do not hide, you will die. Worse, you could be taken. Held in a dungeon until you give birth, and then you will die.” He pauses for a moment. “Unless you’re sold off as a yacht girl. Then they might let you live.”

I scoff. “I don’t have the temperament to be a yacht girl. I think I might’ve proven that to you back in the apartment.”

He leans in, grips my face, and holds it steady. It doesn’t hurt. His hands are large and hot, rough. Certain. I’m held in thrall by him. He’s his own gravitational pull. His own black hole sun.

I’ve never in my life seen such a beautiful man. I hate that thought. I hate it almost more than I hate being held in the back of his car. I hate it so, so much.

I’m not into bad boys. Or any boys. Not that I don’t like them in theory, but I have things to do with my life. They don’t include surrendering my good sense and free will for a couple of orgasms, thank you.

I definitely don’t need to be thinking about this now, as I’m being literally kidnapped.