Blackmailed to the Altar (Caputo Crime Family #2)

25. Chapter Twenty-Five

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

D r. Mya

Weeks passed since his father’s passing, and I still couldn’t believe that I was married. I thought it would sink in at the wedding, but I was still shocked every day that somebody’s son was calling me wifey. Fuck. It still didn’t feel real. I was married, and everything was different, yet still the same. I had my sessions with Eden, and Sebastian had been too busy with business to bother with getting help.

I hadn’t seen Riccardo at all.

I was lonely, if I was being honest. It wasn’t like I didn’t have freedom here. But I missed my friend, Nina. I missed my old life. Hell, I missed walking around on campus, waving to the students, as they settled into the new chapter of their lives.

I needed a connection to the world, my world, and I was prepared to play dirty for it. The soft hum of Eden’s voice drifted around the room, a dull noise that I could barely focus on. She was talking, but her words seemed to float past me, as though I were underwater, hearing the world from somewhere far, far away. I tried to nod at the right moments, to give her the semblance of a therapist who was fully present, but all I could think about was the roiling nausea in my stomach.

I’d been feeling off since the funeral, a queasiness that wouldn’t quit. At first, I’d chalked it up to grief; Sebastian’s father had been a distant presence; an intimidating one, but a presence nonetheless, and without it, Sebastian struggled. He was used to seeing his father rule with an iron fist, his shadow looming large even in death.

I thought maybe the stress of dealing with it all had gotten to me, mixed with the endless plates of food, shoved at me by relatives who spoke to me as if I’d always been part of the famiglia, even though I just got married. It was easy to blame it on that. But this was different.

“Are you listening to me?” Eden whispered sharply. She shifted on the couch, her large belly making even the smallest movements a struggle. She was almost due, her face flushed from both exhaustion and annoyance, as she vented about Silas, and the constant baby-proofing of their home. She was fanning herself, complaining about the heat, about Silas’ overprotectiveness, about how she couldn’t sleep at night because the baby kept kicking her ribs. It was the same routine every session, but today, I could barely hear her over the pounding in my head, and the acid rising in my throat.

I focused back on our session. “Yes, you were saying that Silas has been distant lately?” Probably had something to do with the punishment Sebastian had given him. The one where he’d disappeared for a long period of time.

She nodded. “I know it’s not his fault. It’s his brother’s. Anytime there’s a fleeting moment for us to spend together, Sebastian has some errand he needs Silas to run for him. Like, why can’t he do it himself?” She rubbed her stomach.

Eden was pregnant, and not having a good time with it. Silas was hardly around, and she spent most of our sessions in the last few weeks complaining about Sebastian.

I forced a smile, nodding automatically, but my vision blurred as I focused on a spot on the wall, trying desperately to keep my breakfast down. I clutched the armrest of my chair, breathing shallowly, willing my body to cooperate until this session was over. Eden didn’t need to know that her therapist was one wrong breath away from hurling into the trash can between us.

“Let’s focus on something positive. Have you started getting ready for the baby?”

Eden shook her head. “Not yet. We are waiting for everything to die down after the late Don’s passing. It didn’t seem right to throw a baby shower now.”

Was she throwing shade? It wasn’t my fault I was forced into marriage, and I said as much.

Eden scoffed. “You’re like the most straightlaced woman I know. How could you be blackmailed into marriage?”

I couldn’t tell her, because her uncle was a part of my prison reform program. If she knew, she may not want me to be her psychiatrist anymore. Then what would I fill my time with during my captivity?

The sickness that wouldn’t go away, the bloating, the fatigue; it all clicked into place, like a puzzle I hadn’t wanted to solve. My heart sank as the realization hit me.

I was late. Very late.

I gulped back the vomit creeping into my mouth. “It’s a long story.” I looked at the clock. “One I don’t have time to share. Before we wrap up, give me one positive from this week.”

Eden sighed. “I felt the baby kick.”

I smiled for real for the first time in this session. “That’s cause for celebration.”

Her expression dimmed. “If Silas was here, it would be.”

I wasn’t touching her husband being punished by my new husband with a ten foot pole. “That’s all the time we have for today, Eden. Why don’t we think about some of the activities we spoke about earlier in the session, and next week I want you to tell me one thing you did without Silas.” I stood up too quickly, and dizziness assaulted me.

“Dr. Mya? Are you alright, Dr. Mya?” Eden’s voice snapped me back to reality.

“Sorry,” I said quickly, forcing myself to stand up straighter. “I just—let’s wrap up for today. I’m not feeling great.”

Eden nodded, thankfully not questioning me further, and I hastily concluded the session. As she waddled out the door, I bolted to the connected bathroom, barely making it before I was bent over the toilet, emptying the contents of my stomach. My head spun, and I clung to the porcelain, trembling. When it was finally over, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, breathing heavily.

I glanced at the small cabinet beneath the sink where Sebastian kept a stash of supplies, but I shook my head. I was stressed. I’d been kidnapped, forced to have sex until my body decided I liked it in my sleep, forced to marry a swindler who liked games, and stuck in this farce of a life.

I liked the life, but there were things I couldn’t understand, and I didn’t want to. Maybe I was the pot calling the kettle black. Like Eden, my poor client, suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. She was so twisted up inside, that she didn’t even know that being away from Silas was best for her.

During our sessions, she had many complaints about how she was living her life. Which wasn’t a ton of action. She hated homework. The steps to healing were sometimes too much for her to bear. Every time I had her work on something new, she complained. But at least she was trying. Therapy looked different for everyone, and after what Eden had been through, she deserved someone to help her through the dark.

I just wished she wasn’t so brainwashed.

I didn’t have the full love story, but I knew Silas did some shady shit to get them to where they were right now. Not much different from Riccardo and Sebastian. If anything, I thought Silas was the sane one of the bunch.

I kicked off my heels and sank back into the chair. I didn’t know why I dressed for my sessions with Eden. It wasn’t like we were in my real office. I could wear pajamas and I was certain she wouldn’t care. I wasn’t going to think about being late. It was best to think about how I could help Eden instead. I’d deal with my own problems later.

But I guess that was the professional in me.

I glanced up at the sound of the office door opening. Sebastian stumbled inside, holding his head.

“It’s too fucking loud,” he grumbled.

“Sebastian?” I rose halfway up from the seat.

“I’m fine, just stay there.” He grimaced.

“You look like you’re in pain. Are you sure you’re fine?” I sat back down as he’d commanded.

“Yes, I just need something to kill the voice in my head. What medicine can I take, doc?”

I didn’t like how he’d started calling me that. I much preferred Riccardo’s firecracker. It felt like Sebastian was making fun of me everytime he said it. “Yeah.” Fed up, I grabbed a pen and a notepad.

I wrote down a random cocktail blend that I knew would knock Sebastian on his ass. I ripped out the sheet of paper and held it between us. Sebastian looked at it, but made no move to take it.

“Well?” I waved the paper in front of his face. “You can take all of this, and you’ll be fine.”

“Fuck, yes.” He snatched it out of my hands and left the office, slamming the door in his wake.

“You’re welcome,” I said in the silence. “Don’t come crying to me when they knock you on your ass.”

I headed back into the room I’d been given. While Eden spoke to me, I’d looked through the desk and found my phone just sitting there. What were the odds? No matter what, though, I couldn’t stop fixating on my body changing. Was I really pregnant? I should’ve taken the test. I beat myself in the head with the phone lightly.

“Idiot,” I mumbled. My heart hurt, and for once I wished my best friend Nina was here with me. She would know what to do. What to say. This was the moment that I needed her to give me a plan, and hopefully it would be solid. Maybe an escape plan?

I was going to call Nina. Hovering over her number with my finger, I agonized over what to say. Not only to talk about this possible baby on the way. Not only to talk about the fact that I’m forcibly living in Italy, or even that Eden, the girl who was kidnapped from campus, lives here as well. No, I wanted to hear her voice and let her know that I was okay.

She had to be worried sick. I promised to meet up with her a week after her last session, and then disappeared. I knew Sebastian or Riccardo, one of those fuckers, had sent a mass email out to my school, letting them know I needed a vacation, and would be off the grid.

He’d texted all my close friends and relatives the same. Still, I knew Nina wouldn’t give up. She would know that was unlike me. I was a workhorse. I wouldn’t take vacation at all if I could help it.

A number I didn’t recognize suddenly called my phone, which Sebastian had clearly been keeping charged up too. Normally, I would ignore a spam call, however, I was curious who would call me. Maybe they could help me get out of Italy, or maybe they’d had news of my disappearance. Either way, I was going to go for broke.

“M-mya?” Nina whispered.

“Little?” I choked on a sob.

“B-big?” Nina gasped. “I was able to steal a phone. Where the hell have you been?”

Confused, I asked. “Wait, steal a phone?” I let out a watery chuckle. “It’s a long fucking story, gir–”

A loud voice in the background said, “SOLD.” There was a distinctive murmur and then some muffled shuffling.

“N-Nina? What the hell is going on? Where are you?” I hissed into the receiver.

“Well, you see… what happened was–”

“Hey, you!” A man shouted. “What the hell are you doing back here?”

“I-I–” Nina was sputtering.

“Get back in fucking line.” The phone cut off, and I pulled it away from my face, but the screen said connection lost.

I tried calling Nina back, but it went straight to voicemail. “Fuck!” I threw my phone across the room, and it crashed against the wall. I dropped my head in my hands.

My panic over the pregnancy was suddenly overshadowed by a more immediate fear: Nina was in trouble, and I had no idea what kind. My mind was already spinning out of control.

Pregnant. In danger. The words blurred together, my own crisis forgotten as my thoughts zeroed in on my best friend. Whatever was happening to her had to be bad, and it was enough to push my own problems, the possibility of a tiny plus sign on a stick, and the nauseating realization that my life was no longer just mine, to the back of my mind.

I sank to the floor, feeling the weight of a thousand impossible choices crushing me. I couldn’t lose Nina. Not now. And as the reality of everything hit me, I realized with a sickening clarity that the nightmare was just beginning. I heard a sound from the doorway of the bedroom and turned my head in surprise. He stood there in the frame glaring at me.

“And why would you be breaking a phone I never gave you back, wife?” Riccardo stood in the doorway, with his scarred flesh on full display, and anger flashing in his eyes.

“Double fuck.” Where the hell did he come from? I looked at the clock, not realizing how long it had been. Shit.