Emilia Pov
Linda stared at me.The type of stare that made someone re-check to see if they were wearing a shirt backwards or in my case, spouting foolish words.
"I am keeping the baby, Lyn" I said again like she didn't hear me the first time.
She dropped the gun on the table at a safe but reachable distance then she burst out laughing— her laugh was sharp and jagged, like breaking glass.
"You're joking, right?" She laughed more. "You really are a budding comedian, baby"
Then all hint of amusement left her eyes.
"Please tell me you're joking."
"Why is that funny?" I asked her
"Because you're Emilia fucking Conti!" She stood up, the gun forgotten. "Daughter of the second most vindictive crime boss in little Italy. Engaged to maniac who kills people just for the heck of it. Currently hiding from both in a crack den that smells like raccoon AIDS!" She gestured wildly at the walls. "You think a baby survives that? You think you do?"
I lost it.
"I have survived worst. I survived you, Linara!" The words tore out of me.
Linda flinched. And I knew—we both knew—I crossed a line.
"You promised you wouldn't call me that again" Linda's voice sounded broken. Like I reached into the deepest part of her heart and I inflicted hurt so bad, it made the strongest girl I know tear up instantly.
"Lyn..."
She turned around and walked back to a corner and picked up the gun again.
"Lyn..."
Six years ago was a bad year for me, Linda had it so much worst.
Vittorio was a son of a bitch and a horrible parent but at least, he wasn't so cock-whipped that he stood by while I was continuously assault by my creepy ass stepfather until I snapped one day and sent him to the hospital with a broken tailbone.
Linda's mom was worse than Vittorio Conti.
She protected her Mafia thug husband not her fifteen year old.
She did nothing while they hauled Linda off to jail for assault.
When we met she was an angry little thing who was so pissed off at the entire world that she took out her pain at all and everyone she could find.
We'd met in the holding cells beneath little Italy court. Not the fancy part where they kept the political prisoners. The basement, where they threw the ones nobody would miss. Linda—Linara then—was there.
I was sixteen, fresh from identifying Paolo's body. I'd sabotaged one of Dad's shipments—a cry for help that Vittorio answered by having me picked up and tossed in with the rest of the garbage and I think she saw that.
I guess broken... recognized broken. And Angry recognized angry.
"You're not screaming," Linara had said through the bars. "Spoiled pretty rich girls like you always screams."
"Screaming's what they want. Not in the mood to give them what they want" I said in a little voice. "Not in the mood to give anyone anything anymore"
"Feisty" Linara laughed. "Let me guess, you crashed Daddy's car and he's trying to teach you a lesson. Let me guess, he is standing right outside that door, ready to pull you out at any slightest inconvenience"
"'Daddy' isVittorio Conti"
"Oh." She murmured. "Sorry"
It was all I needed to say. Just his name.
We'd tried escaping together two weeks later—linara whoring herself out to two of the guards in exchange for our freedom. And all they gave her after was a bobby pin.
She lost it. Beat one of the guards to coma with his own baton.
It was a death sentence for her but I was a Conti, people thought twice before attempting murder.
So, I did the only thing I could. I took blame for it. Got a cracked rib, a bruised lung, and a week in solitary for my troubles.
We've been inseparable since.
"You're right." Linda's voice was quiet now. She sat back down, picked up the Glock. "You did survive me and jail. But this?" She nodded at my stomach. "This isn't a jailbreak. It's a death sentence."
I took the gun from her hands, reassembling it with fingers steadier than my heart. "Then I'll need Luca."
"No." She said it flat. Final. "You need an abortion."
"No" I insisted. "If we can make it out of little Italy. If I can find him, he'll—"
"If?" Linda's voice rose. "If? You'd trust the guy who ghosted you after one night? Who said he'd meet us and never showed?"
"He didn't ghost. He stayed behind to draw them off—"
"To die? Yeah, real heroic." She snatched the gun back. "You are getting an abortion. Or I am going to take this gun and I will shoot you in the head with it"
"Linda!" I was horrified.
"It will be mercy, Emilia" She said. "Mercy. It will be mercy compared to what Enzo Marchetti will do to you if he found out you are pregnant with another man's child."
I stared at her in horror.
"Trust me, Emilia, sometimes dying is better than living. So, if you keep that baby, I will put a bullet through your head and mine. You are getting a fucking abortion"
She turned back to the window, her shoulders rigid.
I sat on the mattress and pressed my hand to my stomach.
Outside, the city hummed with the sound of cars and distant sirens. Somewhere out there, Luca was alive—he had to be.
So I sat in the dark with Linda's back to me and the Glock between us, and I waited for the nausea to pass. It did. Eventually.