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“I said no.” She’d walked out on Viking once, she wasn’t doing it again. She pulled up her knees and held them tightly. Once again her world had turned into a dark and scary place, but this time she wasn’t running away from it without getting some answers first.
Ricky sighed. “Fine. But at least ask him, okay? Call me when you need me.”
When, not if. He seemed so sure of himself, and she hated him a little for that. Unfair as it was, she hated him for being the bearer of bad news and for possibly opening her eyes.
She watched her brother leave through a curtain of tears. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed rooted to that spot on the couch, not moving an inch.
***
Viking came home close to dinnertime. By then, a million thoughts had jumbled through Elena’s mind. It felt like an epic battle inside her head, where darkness fought against the light, and hope tried to trump despair. When Viking walked into the living room, put his gun on the mantle, and went into the kitchen to grab one of his energy drinks, Elena still didn’t know what to say.
The man that sat on the recliner across from her wasn’t the same shell of a man from the night before. His ripped jeans hugged his muscular body and he looked more collected.
There was an odd softness in his eyes. “Lena…”
“I’m pregnant,” she blurted at the same time.
He blinked. Then a huge smile spread across his face. It was everything she ever wished would happen and simultaneously everything she dreaded. She felt conflicted. Was he happy he was having a baby with her or was he happy he was having a baby, period? Was there any truth to what Giorgia had said? Did he intend to steal her baby as an ultimate act of revenge?
He dropped to his knees before her and placed a hand on her belly. “I’m glad,” he said in a throaty voice.
The softness in his gaze didn’t deter her from the suspicion that had crept into her mind and was spreading like cancer.
“You are?”
He frowned. “Of course I am. I’ve always wanted kids with you. You know that.”
Except that wasn’t really true, was it? He had wanted kids with the old her. The Elena who hadn’t betrayed him. The Elena who hadn’t stolen his first child from him. The girl he would have bled, lied and killed for. That wasn’t her anymore. Not in his mind.
“You’ve said a lot of things,” she reminded him. “I remember you locking me up, telling me I wouldn’t see the light of day again. You said you’d make me pay…”
“Lena.”
No, she wouldn’t be moved by her calling her by that name. Even if the loving way he said it made her bleed a little from the inside. It was almost the same way as he’d said it before. Back when he loved her. When the world had been beautiful, and simple, and all they lived for had been each other. But nothing had changed between them. Not really.
“I know you, Viking. You may think I don’t anymore, but I know you better than anyone.” She took his hand and pressed it to her heart. “I can feel you better than anyone. Right here, where it matters. So, I need to know. In your quest for revenge, did you ever think about knocking me up and keeping my baby away from me?”
A shadow crossed his eyes and she read the truth on his face. Tears pricked the edges of her eyes. Fear coiled up inside her stomach, like a snake, hissing, and spreading venom inside her veins, shooting straight to her heart. This could not be happening. Not again.
“Tell me it isn’t true. Tell me you never thought about getting me pregnant and taking this baby from me as payback?”
He stilled for a moment, but she could see it in his eyes. The ugly truth that he hadn’t told her. He was going to steal her baby. A crushing weight settled on her shoulders. A boulder so big she didn’t think she could ever get out from under it. She grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on: a vase. She threw it at his head.
He ducked, and glass shattered against the wall behind him.
“I hate you,” she whispered.
“Calm down.”
Oh no, he didn’t. “Calm down? You want me to calm down?” She grabbed another glass and threw it. “How is this for calm!”
Viking put up his hands in a placating gesture and stepped back. “Calm down.”
His soothing voice felt like oil on the fire burning in her heart. History was repeating itself and there was nothing she could do about it. Once again, she was becoming collateral damage in a man’s pursuit of vengeance and personal gain. But this time, somehow, it was different. This time, with darkness shrouding her vision, came clarity. It was her mother’s words that pierced the murky thoughts in her mind like sunlight.
Lovers are blind, my child. Love fears a woman, for she will do anything for it. But if a woman both loves and hates a man, woo to him twice.
She wasn’t going to allow another man to steal her baby.
