Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

Lev

Those were not my finest moments.

She's gonna fucking kill me.

But cheating? Where the fuck did that come from?

Isabella stands in front of me, her fists clenched by her sides, but she looks as if she's going through a whirlwind of emotions. "Pregnant!" she screams before she cups her belly. "Is the baby alright?" she whispers. "How could you do this to me?" she rages before she shakes her head and swallows hard. "I need to check on the baby. Oh my God. I swear to God, if I find out you did cheat on me, I'm going to murder you, bury you, bring you back to life and kill you again, and then I'm going to take all your fucking money for good measure because you fucking owe me, you fucking son of a bitch!"

Okay, alright. Clearly, she's not in her right mind at the moment.

"Listen. Kill me later. I'll fucking bare my neck for you. But first, we need to figure out what the hell you're talking about."

"Who were you with last night?" She snaps. "Hmm?"

I anchor my hands on my hips and glare at her. "You first. Who did you talk to, and what the hell are you thinking?"

" You first!"

"Fine! I was with Dmitri. He had a lot of shit to tell me about what you've been up to."

"Me?" She shakes her head in disbelief. "And I talked to someone who told me you cheated on me," she says, a warning glint in her eyes telling me she's about to do something drastic. I could restrain her but she's a master of getting out of restraints.

"Who told you that? It's a lie."

"Of course, you'd say that," she scoffs."This coming from a man who fucked with my birth control. "

"Ah, very nice. That's ripe coming from someone who's in contact with Carlos Cabrera."

She stares. " What ?"

"You heard me."

Isabella gets to her feet and paces. Stewing. "We are going to forget about the baby for a moment because I know my brother, and he's going to come soon." She stabs a finger in my direction. "Though you are still fucking toast. You asshole."

I growl at her. "Go on."

"This is what he does. This is exactly what my family does. They pit everyone against each other. Javier lacks the ability to really take down the Romanovs, with all your alliances and strength. What he'll do is pit us against each other."

I frown. It makes sense, but it's probably exactly what she'd say if she were guilty. Still, I need her to clarify. "Alright. Go on."

"So, someone told you I was in touch with Carlos. For what purpose? Where's the proof? For God's sake, do you think Carlos lets Renata have a phone under her own name? Of course my contact with her will look like contact with him." She frowns at me. "Have you seen Carlos? Skinny, ugly motherfucker. I wouldn't let him breathe the same air I do, much less let him touch me." She shivers as if she had a brush with another jellyfish. " Gross. "

Fuck. Good point. Still… "I read a transcript. They said you were sent here by your brother."

She laughs mirthlessly. "Leave it to Javier to save face. Of course he made you believe that." She rolls her eyes. "Do you think if Javier sent me here, he would have me hide in your warehouse dressed like a man and then marry you?"

She's right. Of course he wouldn't.

"Lev," she says gently. "Don't you see what they are doing? Your man told you I was disloyal. My contact told me you were. How can either one of those things be true? This is exactly what they want us to think." She frowns. "Wait. Is the pregnancy thing true?"

I cringe. God, I'm an asshole, and I want to believe her. "Yeah."

She draws a breath in through her nose. "I'm getting another test, and I will fucking kill you, later. But first we will work through this. Want to know how we make them show their faces? Come out of hiding?"

"How?"

She leans in. "We give them what they want. We break up publicly. Let them think they won." I nod. It makes sense. "Let's pretend they won. Even if it were true—you cheated on me, and I..." Her voice cracks. She swallows. "And I betrayed you. Even if this were true, you and I would still break up."

We're fucking playacting, and it still feels like someone's driving a knife in my rib cage. "Yeah," I whisper. "Right."

I want to hold her to me. I want to kiss her. I want to prove that Dmitri's evidence is wrong, that we were set up.

I want to show her that having my baby won't destroy her, destroy us.

I want her to know that I didn't do it just because my brother wanted me to but because I want a baby with her.

I want to make it all up to her, too, because, goddamn, I'm a fucking asshole.

The only way forward, then… is apart.

"I love you," I mouth as I take a step away from her. She blinks, and a fat tear rolls down her cheek.

Maybe not all is lost.

She whispers. "And I love you even though I will never forgive you for knocking me up, like fucking ever. "

"I'll make it up to you," I promise. "Now. It's go time."

Isabella draws in a breath. Her nostrils flare, and she clenches her hands into fists by her side. "You liar!" she screams. "How could you? I thought I loved you. I thought I could trust you, you fucking piece of shit!"

Her voice catches at the end. Either she's a really good actress, or she's putting more of her real feelings into this than I anticipated.

Fuck .

This sucks.

She's good.

"You aren't leaving," I tell her. "You're having my baby now."

That isn't far from the truth. Jesus fucking Christ, I feel like a douchebag now.

The thought of her walking away from me forever is like a knife through my heart. I know we made this decision together, that I deserve for her to leave. I never should've messed with her birth control.

I should've told my brother no. It doesn't matter that he's my older brother and pakhan ; it doesn't fucking matter.

My feelings for her have grown well beyond duty and protection, and something tells me that she feels the same way.

I have a job to do, and I'm gonna fucking do it right.

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" I say, and I don't need to act. I am begging her not to walk away, even though I know that's exactly what we both must do.

She storms past me and gives me the middle finger. I'm not so sure that's part of her act.

Nikko stands in the doorway, his lips thinned. "What happened?" he asks after Isabella storms past him. He shuts the door with a click.

I blow out a breath and shake my head. "I fucked with her birth control. She's pregnant. She didn't want to be."

His brows rise, but he doesn't judge. "Oh. Wow. Yeah, that'll do it."

Still, he knows who we are. "I hope you have a nice couch you don't mind sleeping on."

"Yeah, well, it isn't just me who fucked up. I can't trust her either." I turn around, making sure everyone hears me and sees me. I sigh. "I'm going home."

Nikko shakes his head. "Brother, you need to have that head looked at."

I need my head looked at, all right, but not for the reasons he thinks. "I'll take care of it. It's just superficial. Keep an eye on her. I know she's safe here."

I know she's not fucking safe here, and if anybody thinks I'm really leaving, they're out of their fucking minds. That's what they need to believe, though.

I walk to where my car is parked, lean in, and talk to my guard. "You're gonna take my T-shirt. Put it on. Wear this ball cap. Peel out of this driveway and head home. Pretend that you're me. Do anything that I would do. Got it?"

He nods. We quickly exchange clothes. His are too tight on me, but it'll do. "You want me to be a decoy. You're staying back?"

"Exactly."

I stand in the shadow of an overgrown hedge and watch him drive away, then slink down behind the one area of the house that has no cameras trained on it. Even Aria's drones won't see me.

I go down the back door to my mother's basement, where I'll hide out until Javier strikes. And I know it's gonna be soon.

I can't text her. I can't talk to her. I can't reach out to her. I can't even see her on any of the surveillance cameras. Fuck it, I hate this. I need to know she's alright.

I need to know that my new baby is alright.

My phone buzzes with a text from Mikhail.

Where are you?

Driving back to my place. Is everything alright?

They're coming.