23. Tatiana

23

TATIANA

TWO WEEKS LATER

I didn't have to look at the results to know what my fate was.

I'd known from the moment I missed my period that my future was sealed. But I waited two weeks to sneak off—as in go anywhere without informing someone first—to the store and get a test, terrified of seeing two pink lines staring back at me.

I procrastinated, telling myself my brothers would find out where I was going when their guard dogs followed me. Which they did. But I bought tampons, too, slipping the test into my purse after paying for both in cash. And I sure as hell made sure I dropped the plastic bag on the sidewalk as soon as I stepped out of the store, said tampons falling out, so I had to pick up the box for everyone to see.

The guard dogs were always hidden, more or less, but I knew they fucking saw, and that's all I needed to ensure my brothers had a satisfactory answer when they asked what I bought.

For long seconds, I just stood in front of my bathroom mirror, my eyes closed, my mind a whirl of uncertainty.

I'd always been a pawn, a chess piece for everyone else to play. My life had never really been mine. Not really.

Not until my brothers took over the Desolation Bratva had I seen what it felt like to actually have any semblance of freedom for the first time in my life.

And then I met him, and I'd gone against the rules and done whatever the hell I wanted to.

I felt a rush when I was with Gio. He made me feel alive and wanted and like there was no one else on the planet that mattered more to him than me.

Maybe it was my wishful thinking. Maybe I read way too much into it all. But I held on to that like I was in the middle of the ocean and it was my life preserver, or I'd drown.

"Stop being a coward. You already know the results," I whispered as I forced myself to gaze at my reflection .

I grabbed the pregnancy test sitting on the counter and flipped it so that the screen was face down, and I took a slow, deep breath in.

I lowered my head and, with shaky fingers, flipped it over and stared at the results. The two lines that showed were bright pink.

Like bright fucking pink.

No denying it at all.

I was good and knocked up by Gio.

No shock filled me. There wasn't even any nervousness.

I felt… nothing for long seconds as I just stared at those twin lines.

And that feeling of nothingness terrified me more than anything else.

More than the baby growing inside me whose father was not only family by marriage but Head of the West Coast Italian Mafia.

God… Gio.

A fighter, a brutal and savage beast of a man who rivaled my brothers' aggression and power, had gotten me pregnant.

I set the test back down and braced my hands on the edge of the vanity. My head automatically hung forward as if I didn't have the strength to keep it up .

At that moment, all I could think of was the ramifications that would happen over this.

My worry and fear grew at the thought of what my brothers would do to Gio once they found out. And they would. No matter how long I kept his identity hidden, the truth would come out eventually.

I looked at my flat stomach and placed a hand over it, gripping my shirt and pulling it up. The pale expanse of my abdomen showed no sign that life was growing within it. I wondered what I'd look like big and swollen.

I felt myself choke up. The fear I felt for the unknown terrified me.

I loved him. And because of those feelings and my actions, there would be drastic repercussions.

I was in love with him.

God , I thought to myself. I royally fucked up this time.

There were always options, but that very thought twisted my stomach painfully.

That wasn't an option for me.

Gio and I had never talked about anything serious. He said things in the heat of the moment, but I didn't let myself cling to them. I didn't want to hope there was more than there was.

Our encounters had been wild, animalistic, and sexually deviant. I was his little Russian doll.

The way he spoke to me, touched my body… fucked me, all confirmed how physical our relationship was.

And maybe that's all there was between us.

Right?

Not anymore.

Could he want this baby? Would he be upset or maybe leave?

How badly would this tear up the family and drive a wedge between us?

How long can I hide this?

The sound of my cell phone vibrating with an incoming text drew me from my thoughts, and I picked it up, staring at the screen.

Unknown Number

Be ready for when I return, cara. You'll be gagging on my cock before I fill you up.

My insides clenched painfully—pleasurably—at his text. It was so crude, so obscene, and all I could do was accept it all because there was no other option for me.

Gio was it, and there was no going back.