Raise Your Heart

Chapter 13

Dante watched Trinity's retreating form until he couldn't see her anymore, his jaw twitching all the while. Trinity was pregnant. And what timing. Had he not bumped into her, literally, would she have told him? And if she spoke true, what obligation would she really have to tell him? According to her, he might not even be the father.

A familiar heat coiled in his belly and spread upward throughout his chest and into his face. Anger. It was how he always felt it. It couldn't be helped. The only saving grace to his anger was that he was seemingly able to control it. Sort of. Actually, it definitely depended on with whom he was angry.

Without further thought, he pulled his phone out from the inside pocket of his jacket and dialed. He had to move aside as people passed him by, some agitated while others clearly stepped wide around him. His foot tapped. How long did it take one person to answer their cell phone?

"Hi Ren Ren!"

"Petra," Dante snapped.

"Oh boy. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong. What's wrong is you keeping information from me. Vital information. We're family, and family is not supposed to keep secrets from one another. So you can imagine my...my distress when I find out through my own devices...,"

"What the hell are you rambling on about?"

"I'm getting to it," he ground out.

"Well, hurry up, I have a hot date with a pizza in a few minutes."

"Trinity is pregnant."

"I knew it!"

"You knew it. You knew this and didn't tell me?"

"No, no. I mean I guessed it. I've been telling her and telling her to do a test. Ha. I can't wait to rub it in her face!"

"Petra? Do you hear yourself right now? You fucking knew it, but didn't let me in on it? And what makes matters worse is the fact that she enlightened me to the fact that I might not be the father."

The line was silent a moment before Petra blew Dante's ear out with a loud sputter followed by hysterical laughter. Dante pulled the phone away from his ear annoyed. Looking around himself, he decided to press on back to the car waiting for him.

"You most definitely are the father. I mean, I'm pretty sure you are."

"Pretty sure." he said deadpan.

"Mhm. Honestly, it's none of our business if you really look at it."

"Pray tell."

"It's none of your business who she's slept with since her husband died, I mean was murdered by you, and since she's dated you. For all we know, she could have a secret life. I'm not with her every second of the day. And I'm not going to be with her tonight either. So there's that. Hey, how did you find out anyway?"

"I ran into her leaving a clinic. She dropped her test results, and I picked them up. Along with an abortion pamphlet," Dante's teeth clenched. "You do realize I cannot allow her to terminate my heir's life."

"You do realize I cannot allow her to terminate my heir's life," Petra mocked. "Do you hear yourself right now? You sound like a maniac. Oh, yeah, you are. Dante, you have no goddamn say what Trinity does and doesn't do with her body. If you even try, you're no better than the piece of shit she married. You get that, right?"

Of course he understood what Petra was saying. He thought it himself. That was always the question. How was he so much better than David Fallon? Aside from never having the desire to lay a finger of harm to the woman, he really wasn't much better. He was a mob boss for one. She would never be able to go anywhere without there being a certain degree of danger. And his temper was horrible. Although, she never really witnessed it. To put the nail in the coffin, he was a murderer. Could he ever bring himself to tell her how many people he killed over the years? Never.