The Rock Star and The Mafia

Chapter 48

Cheri couldn't believe that four weeks ago this very day, they picked up and moved from The Mansion to yet another safe house.  Only this one was in New York.  Alessio's family had received permission, from the New York family head, years ago to purchase a safe house and it was to be used only if the situation warranted it.  They believed in this case it did.

Cheri hadn't been feeling well for about a week but this morning her stomach was not cooperating and she ended up bolting from bed and burying her face in the toilet.  She heaved and vomited up everything until nothing was left.

Putting the lid down and flushing, Cheri laid her head on the cool material the toilet seat was made from, her body still heaving from the previous activity.  When she had the strength to get up, she saw Alessio standing in the door way, leaning against the frame, his arms crossed at his chest, his feet at the ankles.

"I'm fine" Cheri sniffed as she ran water, washed her face and brushed her teeth.  He walked towards her and lifted her chin.  Moving her hair across her forehead and out of her eyes, he brought his lips to kiss where the hair had been laying.

"You're pale, fiore" he said.  Cheri leaned into him and gratefully accepted the arms he put around her.  "I'm just going to lay back down for a few minutes" she mumbled.  Alessio walked with her to their bed and helped get her settled in.

"I'll be back in a bit, Cheri" Alessio said, heading to the door.  "What time is it?" Cheri asked before he left.  "Ten a.m." was his reply.  "Thanks" she said rolling over and pulling the sheet up.  It didn't take long for her eyes to close.

Her phone ringing woke her out of a much needed sleep.  "Damn it" she cursed, grabbing at her phone on the bed side table.  "Hello?" she mumbled out.  "Cheri?  It's Dr. Tovar" the caller identified themselves.  

Sitting up now, Cheri said "Dr. Tovar what's wrong?"  Why would her OB be calling her?  "Cheri, we just received a recall notice on a batch of birth control shots.  It was part of the batch that we gave you.  They were expired and were set to be destroyed when someone accidentally put them back out and they were distributed."

She let his words sink in.  "Dr. Tovar, do you know what this means?" she was starting to panic.  "Cheri, I know and I'm so sorry" he explained.  She knew it wasn't his fault but still.  "Rudy, I've been throwing up in the mornings for the past week" Cheri told him.  "Get a test right away" he encouraged.

Hanging up, she threw herself back into bed and sighed.  Just what she needed, a baby.  She loved babies and she could definitely see herself married to Alessio and having his children but not now, not with her evil 'father' running around trying to kill his offspring.

Picking up her phone, Cheri hit redial.  "Cass?  It's Cheri.  I need your help."  Cheri explained what happened.  "Tommaso has invited me over today" Cassidy told her friend.  "I'll bring a test.  I'll be with you Cheri, not matter what, okay?"  Her friend's words were reassuring.

Cheri tried to be her normal happy self but was finding it very difficult to pull it off, especially around Alessio.  He'd become an expert on her moods, emotions and facial expressions.  Hopefully he would think it was just her not feeling well.

Plus she had to be his date for the Annual Policemen's Charity and Fundraiser.  She already had her dress, it was red, off-the-shoulder and fitted in all the right places.  She had splurged, sometime back, on a pair of red Louboutin's that would go fantastic with her dress.

It seemed like it took forever for Cassidy to get there but when she finally arrived, she told Tommaso she needed to see her friend for a minute and then she would join him.  They bolted into a guest bathroom that hardly anyone used.

"Cheri what happened?" Cassidy asked, as Cheri was preparing to take the test.  "My OB called me this morning and said that a batch of shots had been recalled for being expired.  Somehow they made it to his office anyway.  I had my three month shot four weeks ago" Cheri stopped there and from the look on Cass's face, she picked up on what was going down.

"Oh shoot, Cheri" she said sympathetically.  "I take it Alessio doesn't know yet?" she asked.  Cheri shook her head.  "I don't know how he's going to react either.  We've never talked about kids, other than at my doctor's appointment."

Cassidy's phone dinged.  It was time.  Oh Holy Mary!  The test said POSITIVE.  Shit!  Cheri sank to the floor of the bathroom, just staring at the test.  Taking her hand, Cassidy asked if she needed some time by herself.  Nodding, Cassidy stepped from the room and closed the door quietly.

All Cheri could do was cry.  What if she lost Alessio over this?  It most certainly was not her fault, he was there in the room when she got the shot.  How was she to know the batch was bad?

Sighing she picked up all the remnants from the test's box, put the test in her back pocket and hid the packaging way in the back of the bottom cabinet.  She had to tell him.  They never kept anything from each other and she wasn't going to start now.

Her feet moved her slowly as she walked back to their room and once she'd entered, she heard Alessio in the shower.  Sitting on his side of the bed, that faced the bathroom's door way, she waited, her stomach rolling and lurching with each agonizing minute.

Finally the water stopped and Cheri heard the shower door shut.  A few seconds later, a very wet and very sexy Alessio stepped from the room, clad only in a white towel around his waist.  Any other time Cheri would have been all over him.

Her look didn't get past him though.  He knew something was wrong, her face said it all.  "Cheri?  What's going on?  You look like you've lost a friend" Alessio said.  Cheri looked up at him, the tears already starting and said "I probably have."  Her answer was cryptic at best.

She held out the test in her shaking hand and watched the bevy of emotions cross his face, none of which she could read at the moment.  "You're pregnant?" his voice weird sounding now.  She nodded.  "How did this happen?" now he sounds angry.

"Well, we had sex..." she started out, sounding like a smart ass.  "I don't appreciate your smart mouth right now, Ms. Lantana" he barked, making her jump.  "Rudy, Dr. Tovar, called me this morning.  Right after you left the room.  He said that the batch of shots, one that I was given, was expired and should have been destroyed but somehow it ended back up in his office" Cheri's explanation did no good.

"Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?" he shouted.  "What is your fucking problem, Castellano?" she shouted back.  "You were there when I got the shot, for Christ's sake.  You think I'm making this up?"  Oh she was pissed and hurt by his reactions and tones.

Picking up her phone, she put it on speaker, and prayed her doctor would pick up.  "Cheri?" his voice rang out.  "Rudy, would you please say what you called me about his morning?  I just need you to repeat it, word for word, please" Cheri begged him.

Alessio knew he'd fucked up right away, even before she called her doctor.  It's just with all this shit going on with her father right now, the last thing he needed to worry about was her carrying his child.

"Thank you" she said quietly and hanging up.  She brushed past Alessio, missing his grab by inches, took off downstairs and flew out the back door.  There was a small little maze that had been fashioned out of the hedges by the previous owners.  Cheri liked to lose herself in there.

Sinking to the soft ground, she leaned up against a hedge and just let the angst, anger and hurt flow out of her in the form of her tears.  She knew he was cold, but he'd never been that way to her, ever.  

Laying down on the grass, she had a lot to think about and decisions that had to be made now.  She felt lost and alone, not a good combination but one she had dealt with before.  Sighing, she got up, brushed herself off and headed back inside.  Sleep was what she needed.