Pregnant For the Mafia Boss

Chapter 16

VIKTOR'S POV

TWO HOURS LATER

The café was easy to surveil. It is a small, family-owned cafe, situated on a quiet street in the old town. Through the window, I could see Bella moving between tables, taking orders, while clearly forcing her smiles for customers.

She looked exhausted. Albeit beautiful, but still exhausted.

And pregnant with my baby.

"Boss, we have a problem." One of my men...Dmitri...appeared beside me, his expression grim. "We just sighted Sokolov's people. There are four men, that are heavily armed, approaching from the east."

My blood ran cold. "How far?"

"Two blocks. Maybe three minutes out."

Fuck. We were out of time.

"Change of plans," I snapped into my comm. "We move now. Alexei, cover the back exit. Dmitri, you're with me. Everyone else, create a perimeter and be ready to engage if Sokolov's men get too close."

I was already moving toward the café, my hand on the weapon concealed beneath my jacket. We couldn't let Sokolov's men get to her, or even let them anywhere near Bella or our child.

I reached for the café door just as everything went to hell.

Bella looked up through the window, and the color drained from her face.

She had seen the Sokolov's men approaching her.

She immedaitely took off.

I immediately ran after her and burst through the door, but she was already disappearing through the kitchen. "BELLA!" I yelled.

Behind the counter, an older woman blocked my path. "You leave her alone!" she shouted in heavily accented Russian. "She doesn't want you!"

"I'm not here to hurt her..."

"Move!" Dmitri shoved past me, heading after Bella.

"Stand down!" I barked at him. "Don't you f*****g touch her!"

But it was too late. I heard the storage room window screech open and Bella's panicked breathing as she squeezed through.

By the time I reached the storage room upstairs, she was gone. Just an open window and the sound of running footsteps through the roof.

"Boss, Sokolov's men have entered the café, and are after Bella. The more we wait here the more waste time." Alexei's voice crackled through my comm.

"Handle them. Don't kill unless necessary." I was already climbing through the window, ignoring the way my shoulder protested. "I'm going after Bella."

I dropped into the alley, looked up and saw her disappearing around the corner. Even while pregnant and injured...I could see her favoring one ankle...she was still runing fast.

But I was faster.

In the spilt second I can see her in deadlock with Sokolov's men while standing dangerously close to falling, Where is Dimitri when you need him to carry out his job...If anything happen to Bella and our child I will have his head. Immediately I hear the sound of shot rang out causing an immediate chaos in the alley.

I screamed her name, she looks down and saw me, maybe out of shock she step into the air and almost fell out. Luckily someone held her back and she immediately disapeared from my view.

I sprinted along the alley hoping to find a step as climb a roof and save her...my longer legs eating up the distance. Only for her to burst out onto a main street, nearly colliding with pedestrians. I followed, gaining on her with every stride.

"Bella, stop!" I shouted. "I'm not going to hurt you!"

She didn't even slow down. Just kept running, one hand pressed protectively over her stomach.

Our baby. She was running while pregnant with our baby, and the terror of what could happen if she fell, if she got hurt...

She turned sharply into the market square. I followed, cursing as I lost sight of her in the crowd. There are too many people and much chaos.

"Boss, we've got a problem," Alexei's voice in my ear. "There are more Sokolov's men pursuing her on foot."

Which meant the threat has not been eliminated.

I pushed through the crowd, scanning desperately for any sign of her. There...a flash of dark hair near a tour bus. But by the time I fought my way through the crowd, the bus was pulling away.

And Bella was inside it, pressed against the window, her eyes wide with fear as she stared back at me.

Our eyes met for just a moment.

Then the bus turned a corner and she was gone.

"f**k!" I slammed my fist against a vendor's stall, making the elderly woman behind it shriek.

"Boss?" Alexei appeared beside me, breathing hard. "We lost her."

"I can see that." I was already pulling out my phone, calling my tech specialist. "I need traffic cameras. Every bus route leaving the market square. Find out where that bus was going."

"On it."

I stood in the market square, my heart pounding, and tried to process what had just happened.

I'd been so close. Close enough to see the fear in her eyes, to see the protective way she held her stomach and see that she was terrified of me.

"She ran from you," Alexei said quietly. "Not just from Sokolov's men. But from you too."

"I know." The words tasted like ash.

"What now?"

I looked at the spot where the bus had disappeared, carrying Bella and my unborn child away from me.

"Now we find her again. And this time, I don't let her run." I turned to Alexei, let him see the determination in my eyes. "Deploy everyone. I want every camera, every contact, every resource we have focused on finding her. And I want it done quietly...if Sokolov's men are tracking the same leads we are, we need to get to her first."

"Especially after shooting one his men he will surely retaliate. I wouldn't want Bella to be cuaght in cross fire"

"And when we find her?"

"Like I said befor when we find her, I'm bringing her home. Even if I have to throw her over my shoulder and carry her onto the jet myself." I started walking back toward our safe house, already planning the next move. "She's pregnant with my baby, Alexei. She doesn't get to run anymore. She doesn't get to do this alone."

"She might not see it that way."

"Then I'll make her see it." I climbed into our waiting SUV. "I failed her once when I pushed her away. I'm not failing her again. Not when she's carrying my child, with Sokolov's men hunting for her."

The drive back to the safe house was silent. But my mind was racing.

Bella was pregnant. With my baby. The child we'd created that one perfect, terrible night.

And she'd been dealing with this alone for eight weeks. Working at a café while being hunted by my enemies.

All because I'd called her a mistake.

All because I'd been too afraid to...

Well, f**k fear.

My father had taught me that fear was the enemy of power. That the Pakhan showed no weakness, made no apologies, took what he wanted and crushed anyone who stood in his way.

But my father had died alone with hate.

I didn't want that. I don't want to end up like him...powerful but empty, and surrounded by people who feared me but no one who loved me.

Bella had loved me once. Had given herself to me completely, and held nothing back.

I might have lost it but maybe...maybe...I could earn it back.