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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?
