{"id":889,"date":"2026-10-22T13:32:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T13:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/?p=889"},"modified":"2026-10-22T13:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T13:32:37","slug":"nine-weeks-after-spending-one-forbidden-night-with-chicagos-most-feared-mafia-boss-i-sat-alone-in-a-clinic-listening-to-our-unborn-babys-heartbeat-praying-he-would-never-find-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/?p=889","title":{"rendered":"Nine weeks after spending one forbidden night with Chicago\u2019s most feared mafia boss, I sat alone in a clinic listening to our unborn baby\u2019s heartbeat, praying he would never find out"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\n

Nine weeks after spending one forbidden night with Chicago\u2019s most feared mafia boss, I sat alone in a clinic listening to our unborn baby\u2019s heartbeat, praying he would never find out<\/h1>\n
\n

Chapter 1<\/h2>\n
\n

Nine weeks after spending one forbidden night with Chicago\u2019s most feared mafia boss, I sat alone in a clinic listening to our unborn baby\u2019s heartbeat, praying he would never find out. But before I could even wipe the ultrasound gel from my stomach, Dominic Bellano had already called my doctor. And when I returned to work, a cup of ginger tea was waiting on my desk.<\/p>\n

My name is Penelope Hart, though everyone calls me Penny. For four years, I\u2019d worked as Dominic\u2019s secretary on the forty-third floor of Bellano Tower, organizing his impossible schedule, correcting legal documents, and pretending my heart didn\u2019t race whenever he walked past.<\/p>\n

Dominic was thirty-eight, handsome in a way that made people nervous, and powerful enough to control shipping contracts, warehouses, hotels, and businesses across the Midwest. Newspapers called him a successful businessman, but everyone in Chicago knew the Bellano family had built its fortune in far darker ways.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d always tried to be invisible around him.<\/p>\n

Oversized cardigans, quiet footsteps, polite smiles.<\/p>\n

Yet somehow, he noticed everything.<\/p>\n

When I stopped drinking coffee, he noticed. When I started keeping peppermint candies in my drawer and turning pale at the smell of roasted garlic, his eyes followed me.<\/p>\n

And when my hand instinctively drifted toward my stomach, I sometimes caught him watching.<\/p>\n

Nine weeks earlier, everything between us had changed.<\/p>\n

After a charity gala at the Lakeshore Grand Hotel, Dominic\u2019s dangerous rival, Victor Raines, confronted him in a hallway. I was caught in the middle, and Dominic rushed me away before Victor\u2019s men could follow.<\/p>\n

He took me to his penthouse because my apartment had no security.<\/p>\n

That night, four years of unspoken feelings finally overwhelmed us.<\/p>\n

By sunrise, I\u2019d slipped away.<\/p>\n

Since then, I\u2019d spoken to him only about contracts, appointments, and freight reports. He never pressed me for an explanation, which somehow made keeping my secret even harder.<\/p>\n

Then the morning sickness began.<\/p>\n

At the clinic, I\u2019d paid eight hundred dollars in cash, terrified someone might recognize my name. I\u2019d taken two trains, walked six freezing blocks, and checked behind me so often I felt ridiculous.<\/p>\n

But when I heard that tiny, rapid heartbeat, everything else disappeared.<\/p>\n

Nine weeks and three days.<\/p>\n

A strong heartbeat.<\/p>\n

My baby.<\/p>\n

Dominic\u2019s baby.<\/p>\n

I cried silently while the doctor handed me a black-and-white ultrasound photograph.<\/p>\n

On the train back, I made my decision.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d resign on Friday, withdraw my savings, sell the gold bracelet my mother gave me after graduation, and leave Chicago. My college roommate owned a bakery in a small Iowa town and had once promised I could stay whenever I needed.<\/p>\n

Raising a child alone would be difficult.<\/p>\n

Raising one inside Dominic Bellano\u2019s dangerous world terrified me more.<\/p>\n

At 2:14 p.m., I stepped onto the executive floor.<\/p>\n

Something was wrong.<\/p>\n

The reception desk was empty, the analysts were gone, and the usual ringing phones had fallen silent. I tightened my grip on my purse, where the ultrasound picture was hidden beneath a packet of tissues.<\/p>\n

Then I saw it.<\/p>\n

A white ceramic cup sat beside my keyboard.<\/p>\n

Fresh ginger tea.<\/p>\n

My stomach twisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome in, Penelope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dominic\u2019s voice carried through his open office doors.<\/p>\n

I picked up the cup with trembling fingers and walked inside.<\/p>\n

He stood before the windows overlooking Lake Michigan, his suit jacket discarded and his sleeves rolled to his elbows.<\/p>\n

\u201cClose the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

I obeyed.<\/p>\n

When he turned, his dark eyes moved from my face to the purse pressed against my stomach.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow was your appointment?\u201d<\/p>\n

My heart nearly stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an appointment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dominic slowly approached, his expression unreadable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich bank?\u201d<\/p>\n

I opened my mouth, but no answer came.<\/p>\n

Then his desk phone rang.<\/p>\n

He glanced at the screen, and something in his face hardened.<\/p>\n

\u201cPenelope,\u201d he said quietly, \u201cbefore you answer me, there\u2019s something you need to know about the doctor you saw today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Dominic picked up the phone without looking away from me.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony.\u201d<\/p>\n

A pause. I could hear a man\u2019s low voice on the other end, but not the words.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood,\u201d Dominic said. \u201cKeep the car at the north entrance. Nobody leaves the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hung up and set the receiver down with the slow care of a man holding back something much louder.<\/p>\n

\u201cSit, Penelope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d rather stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen stand.\u201d He leaned against the edge of his desk. \u201cThe doctor you saw today is named Harlan Voss. He runs a private clinic on Division Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause you took two trains and walked six blocks in the cold, checking behind you the whole way.\u201d His voice was quiet. \u201cYou were right to check.\u201d<\/p>\n

The room tilted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had me followed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had you protected. There\u2019s a difference, though I understand why it doesn\u2019t feel like one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou called my doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI called your doctor\u2019s office at 11:40,\u201d Dominic said. \u201cNot to threaten anyone. To ask a receptionist who else had requested your appointment time.\u201d<\/p>\n

My mouth went dry. \u201cNobody knew about my appointment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone did. Dr. Voss has been on Victor Raines\u2019s payroll for three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t treat patients,\u201d Dominic continued. \u201cHe collects them. Anyone who walks through his door with a Bellano connection gets reported. Your records were copied before you finished dressing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut why would\u2026\u201d I pressed my hand to my stomach before I could stop myself.<\/p>\n

Dominic\u2019s eyes followed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Raines now knows,\u201d he said, \u201cthat the secretary of Dominic Bellano is carrying Dominic Bellano\u2019s child.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a second, neither of us moved.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou knew,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n

He almost smiled, though it looked painful. \u201cYou stopped drinking coffee. You started carrying peppermints. You went pale when Rosa\u2019s cook roasted garlic in the lobby kitchen. And you\u2019ve touched your stomach every time you thought no one was watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were. And I watched you be careful anyway.\u201d His voice dropped. \u201cI wanted you to tell me yourself. I didn\u2019t want to take that from you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hot tears blurred my eyes. \u201cYou let me carry this alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you\u2019d leave if I pushed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to leave anyway!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know.\u201d His jaw tightened. \u201cThat\u2019s why the tea.\u201d<\/p>\n

I looked down at the white cup still trembling in my hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know how else to say I wasn\u2019t angry,\u201d he said. \u201cThat I\u2019d be here. That I was already trying to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to fall into his chest. Both urges frightened me equally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to go,\u201d I said, turning toward the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cPenelope, wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI resigned in my head on the train. I\u2019ll type it up tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPenelope.\u201d<\/p>\n

I stopped at the sound of my full name in that voice.<\/p>\n

Dominic held out his hand, palm up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ultrasound,\u201d he said. \u201cGive it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause ten minutes ago, someone sent this to my private phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

He turned the screen toward me.<\/p>\n

It was a photograph of a black-and-white ultrasound image, the exact one in my purse, sitting on a stranger\u2019s table beside a gold-rimmed glass.<\/p>\n

Under it, one line.<\/p>\n

Congratulations, Dominic. Does she know yet what your family costs?<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t leave the building that afternoon.<\/p>\n

Tony Marchetti, Dominic\u2019s head of security, a broad, silent man with gray at his temples, simply stood in the elevator doorway and said, \u201cMiss Hart, I\u2019d prefer you didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the politest threat I had ever received.<\/p>\n

By evening, I was in Dominic\u2019s penthouse.<\/p>\n

The same marble floors. The same wall of windows over Lake Michigan. The same couch where four years of silence had given way. I made myself look at everything except the couch.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll stay three days,\u201d Dominic said, setting down my overnight bag. \u201cRaines won\u2019t touch this building. After that, we talk about whatever you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want my life back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know.\u201d He met my eyes. \u201cI can\u2019t give you that tonight. I can give you a locked door and a quiet room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if I walk out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Tony will follow you at a polite distance, and I\u2019ll hate every minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

I almost laughed. It surprised both of us.<\/p>\n

He showed me to a guest bedroom with a window seat and a stack of blankets. On the nightstand sat a small bowl of peppermint candies.<\/p>\n

I stared at it. \u201cYou bought these.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRosa did. She guessed before I told her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRosa?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

The doorbell rang before I could answer.<\/p>\n

Rosa Bellano turned out to be sixty-seven, five feet tall, and armed with a knitting bag and a pot of soup.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you\u2019re the girl who took four years to make my son smile,\u201d she said, examining me from head to toe. \u201cSkinny. Sit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMrs. Bellano, I\u2019m not\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRosa. Eat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The soup was chicken and rice. There was no garlic in it.<\/p>\n

Dominic watched me take the first spoonful with something like relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cooked it,\u201d Rosa whispered conspiratorially as she settled beside me on the sofa. \u201cHe burned the first pot. Don\u2019t tell him I told you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard that,\u201d Dominic said from the kitchen.<\/p>\n

For the first time all day, I smiled.<\/p>\n

Later, while Rosa knitted a pale yellow blanket in her chair, Dominic noticed my wrist.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour bracelet,\u201d he said. \u201cThe clasp is loose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother gave it to me. It\u2019s all I have of hers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMay I?\u201d<\/p>\n

I hesitated, then let him unfasten it. He turned the gold chain over in his big hands with surprising gentleness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a jeweler,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll have it back by morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next morning, the bracelet was on my nightstand, the clasp perfect, a small note beside it in his handwriting.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t come off again.<\/p>\n

I slid it onto my wrist and felt something warm and dangerous settle in my chest.<\/p>\n

I spent two days pretending I didn\u2019t see him watching me. I spent two nights awake, plotting my route to Iowa.<\/p>\n

On the third night, I couldn\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n

I wandered into the hallway for water and heard Dominic\u2019s voice from his study, low and rough.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody touches her. If it means giving Raines the Wacker warehouse, I\u2019ll do it. If it means more, I\u2019ll do that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

I should have turned around.<\/p>\n

Instead, when he left the study ten minutes later, I slipped inside.<\/p>\n

His desk drawer was slightly open.<\/p>\n

I told myself I wouldn\u2019t look.<\/p>\n

I looked.<\/p>\n

A thick manila folder lay inside, the label written in his handwriting.<\/p>\n

PENELOPE HART.<\/p>\n

I opened it with shaking fingers.<\/p>\n

The first photograph was dated four years ago.<\/p>\n

It was me on my first day at Bellano Tower, standing in the lobby in a borrowed blazer, laughing at something off-camera.<\/p>\n

Underneath it, in Dominic\u2019s handwriting, one sentence.<\/p>\n

Raines has noticed her. Keep her invisible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nine weeks after spending one forbidden night with Chicago\u2019s most feared mafia boss, I sat alone in a clinic listening to our unborn baby\u2019s heartbeat, praying he would never find… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}