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Panic grips me as I contemplate the implications. Damian, Nat, and Edo have been vigilantly watching over me, not allowing me to leave their sight. How am I going to get the test I need to confirm my fears?
Swallowing hard, I make my way to the door, peering out cautiously. One of Damian’s guards is stationed nearby. Steeling my nerves, I approach him.
“Excuse me, I need to go to the store. It’s… an emergency,” I say, my cheeks flushing.
The guard eyes me skeptically. “I can’t let you leave the mansion. Boss’s orders.”
“Please, I really need to go,” I plead. “I need to get… feminine products.”
The guard’s expression immediately shifts, a look of discomfort washing over his face. “O–oh, I see. Well, in that case, let me escort you to the nearest convenience store.”
I breathe a sigh of relief, grateful that the guard hadn’t questioned me further or asked why I don’t borrow items from Nat.
As we make our way out of the mansion, I silently pray that the test will confirm my suspicions are wrong.
The security guard waits in the car as I rush inside the convenience store, snatching a pregnancy test and making a beeline for the bathroom.
I’m just not feeling well, I tell myself as I set the test on the counter, setting a timer on my phone for three minutes. I’m probably getting sick.
This is going to be the longest three minutes of my life.
I pace back and forth in the cramped bathroom, my heart racing. This can’t be happening, it just can’t. There’s no way I can be pregnant, not after everything I had endured.
I try to rationalize it in my mind—the stress of finding out the Carters and Mark wanted to sell me to The Brotherhood, the upheaval of being brought into Damian’s world, the trauma of killing Mark. Surely, that’s enough to throw my menstrual cycle off track, to make my period skip a month or two.
It happens to women all the time, right?
Clasping my hands together, I close my eyes and take a shaky breath. I have to stay calm, stay positive. When I look at the test, it’ll be negative.
It has to be. I can’t handle the alternative, the terrifying implications of a positive test.
Slowly, I turn my attention to the test stick sitting on the edge of the sink. The wait is agonizing, each second feeling like an eternity.
My phone’s timer suddenly goes off, indicating the three minutes are up.
Feeling like I’m going to my doom, I peer at the test, my heart pounding in my ears.
“No, no, no…” I whisper, staring at the test in disbelief. This can’t be happening. Not now. Not after everything I have been through.
Two pink lines.
I’m pregnant.
24
DAMIAN
The pulsing beat of the music reverberates through The Underground, the rhythmic vibrations matching the frenetic pace of my thoughts.
As I survey the crowded dance floor from the VIP lounge, brandy glass in hand, where bodies writhe and twist in a display of unbridled hedonism, my mind keeps returning to the one person I’m deliberately keeping away from this world—Alexis.
An ache settles deep within my chest as I think of her, safe and sound at home, removed from the dangers that lurk within the shadows. The Brotherhood is a constant threat, and I would sooner die than allow them to harm the woman who has managed to breach the fortress around my heart.
My jaw tightens as I consider the impossible dilemma I face. I want nothing more than to lose myself in Alexis, find solace in her company and forget—even if for a moment—the burdens I bear. But the fate of my parents and sister loom large, a painful reminder of the price paid by those I dared to hold dear.
If Alexis were to become truly mine, she too would be marked, a target for those who seek to eliminate me. My fingers clench into fists as I contemplate the endless ways in which my enemies could use her against me.
The mere thought of her being harmed sends a surge of protective rage through my veins. No one will harm her. No one.
