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Truth was, I couldn’t. I wasn’t even sure how. But I knew I had to fucking try. For her, for our child.
To emphasize my dedication, and to convince the doctor, who looked almost as disbelieving as my wife, I reached out and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“We’ll do this together, wife,” I said, looking into her eyes. “I fucking promise. No harm’s going to come to you or our baby.”
She tried to smile but wasn’t convinced. I saw it in the way she eyed our intertwined fingers. And in that moment, I just knew, somehow, that I would move heaven and Earth to keep this woman safe.
Chapter 24 – Freya
The car ride was quiet, and it had been that way—ultimate silence—since Doctor Millie cleared me from the hospital.
My husband kept his eyes on the road, occasionally clenching his fingers over the smooth wheel, while he said nothing. I stole subtle glimpses in between. Sometimes, the green in his eyes looked hard and angry, and other times, they just seemed…perplexed. Like an unsolved puzzle or unasked question was hovering in the air between us, something he couldn’t quite figure out.
After sharing the same air and living in the same space with him for months, I quickly learned that Egor Yezhov never liked to be kept in the dark. He believed he could have everything at the tip of his fingers, every bit of information or anything that he considered important within his reach, and if it turned out that he didn’t have the situation under control, it vexed him.Greatly.
“Pochemu ty predpochel rebenka svoyey zhizni?”
Why did you choose the baby over your own life?
Finally, the king had spoken. And it was in the softest, most unimaginable tone I’d ever heard from his mouth. It threw me off guard, rattled the words in my brain, left me speechless for seconds, and when I could finally speak, my answer came out in his language.
“YA ne mogu ubit’ eto,”I answered softly.
I can’t kill it.
His brows made the smallest twitch. He was not expecting that form of response, either. I peeled my gaze away from the spiral rotation of colorful street lights reflecting on his face through the windshield and stared at my palms. It was easier to talk to my hands than to speak to him. After all, I’d been doing itfor weeks already, walking around the empty house and chatting while I made breakfast or singing to myself while chopping up veggies for dinner. Breakfast and dinner that I ate alone, days unending.
The memory of the bone-chilling loneliness I’d endured in those times almost tore a bitter laugh out of me when I remembered what he’d said to Doctor Millie.
We’ll do this together, wife.
Could have fooled me if I wasn’t the one living the nightmare.
“It’s life.” Burning emotion welled up at the back of my eyes like heated tears, but I cleared my throat and swallowed it down. “I meant what I said when I told Dr. Millie I’d come too far to give up now. It’s a part of me now. I want this baby….”
A stubborn tear dropped on my wrist when I blinked, and I sniffled the rest up before I began to cry myself a river.
The rest of my sentence floated between us in a quiet whisper. “I mean, it’s not like I have a choice, either.”
His feet went down on the brakes, and the car skidded to an abrupt halt, nearly catapulting me from my seat if I didn’t hang on for dear life.
Thank God for seatbelts.
My head snapped to his, eyes wide, breathing ragged, with my mouth agape, like someone who might have lost her life if she’d been flung out of the windshield.
“Jesus Christ,”I muttered.“Have you gone mad?”
A sharp, crisp click-chunk filled the air as the seatbelt released its hold, followed by a soft whoosh of fabric as Egor’s body lifted out of the seat.
“Out. Now,” he grumbled without sparing me a glance and marched out of the car, his heavy footsteps echoing through the faintly lit pavement, punctuated by the loud thud of the car door slamming shut behind him.
I followed after him, with my heart thumping in my chest, not knowing what to expect. Where Egor was concerned, the next moment was unpredictable.
Tiny stones crunched under the soles of his polished leather shoes as he paced the cemented ground with a hand on his hip, the other raking through his hair. Behind us was a deserted playground, with a few young lovebirds scattered in the darker places of the area, and my gaze lingered on him—his sleek, formal suit and tie jarringly out of place amidst the warm, relaxed atmosphere of the evening.
He stormed up to me, swallowing up the distance and pressing close enough for me to catch the light stubble growing on his chin and the scent of musk and man oozing off him. Instinctively, my hand flew to my stomach, not entirely sure what I was shielding myself from.
His jaw clenched, and he surprised me by slipping a finger under my chin and tilting my head up to meet his blazing eyes.
