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“He’s playing with us, Nicoli,” I say sternly. “That psychopath is playing with us, and if we do this, if we pretend I’m pregnant, we will take control of this game. Think of it like chess.”
“Chess?”
“What determines black’s move?”
He widens his eyes in question.
“White’s move. White moves first. Thus, white determines the move black will make next. If we make the first move, control the game, we’ll be able to determine his next move before he’s even made it. Right now, we’re all just sitting ducks. We’re waiting for him to make a move, yet we have no idea what it could be, which means we don’t have a chance to anticipate or prepare. This way we’ll be proactively acting instead of waiting to react.”
Nicoli stares at me for a long moment, like he’s analyzing my words, before he finally leans back. “Let’s say, for argument’s sake, I agree—which I’m fucking not—how can you be so sure that you being pregnant will make him come to us?”
“I know him, Nicoli,” I say softly as if I’m ashamed of the fact. “I know Nunzio in ways you don’t.”
Nicoli’s expression grows pained, and I go to take a seat next to him, staring down at the carpet beneath my bare feet, memories slowly trickling in. “I know every line on that man’s face. I can recognize every emotion just by looking at him. Anger. Disgust. Pride.” I swallow. “Lust.”
“Fuck,” Nicoli curses under his breath, and he reaches out, placing his hand on mine.
“I know the way his lips curl at the edges when he smirks, how the one side lifts slightly more than the other. How fine lines appear at the corners of his eyes only when he laughs. God, his laugh, it’s the most vile thing I’ve ever heard. And he does this—” I touch my ear “—this thing with his ear where it, I dunno, moves when he’s deep in thought.” I inhale deeply, pushing the memories back before they get the chance to fester. “Anyway. My point is, he’s an arrogant bastard, and his mind is this twisted, fucked-up place. And he hates you.” I turn to face Nicoli. “He hates the Dark Sovereign more than anything, and he will never stop trying to destroy you.”
“Yeah, that part we’re very much aware of.”
“Then what better way to destroy us than forcing his blood, the man we hate more than anything in the world, to flow and mix with the Dark Sovereign's legacy?”
Nicoli rubs his chin in thought, looking lost in contemplation.
“It’s the perfect way to destroy us from the inside,” I say. “Create a crack in the middle, then sit back and watch the Dark Sovereign shatter and break—”
“Until there’s nothing left,” he mutters, looking my way. I can see in his eyes that he gets it. He bites his bottom lip, hissing before he asks, “So, what’s the plan? We send him a postcard to share the news? Put a goddamn announcement in the newspaper?”
“I can make phone calls from my phone, doctor’s appointments. I can have supplies delivered to the house. Prenatal vitamins or something. If he found out about the pregnancy test, he’ll find out about that, too.”
Nicoli scoffs. “You really thought this through.”
“I have.”
“And what? The entire household pretends you’re pregnant and—”
“No. Just us.”
He raises a brow in question.
“Only us. We’re the only two people who can know the truth, Nicoli. We can’t tell the others. The more people who know, the more chances of the truth coming out and everything blowing up in our faces.”
“You’re telling me you want to lie to Alexius? Maximo?”
“Everyone. Yes.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I.”
“It’s a twisted plan.”
“I don’t disagree.”
“There are so many things that could go wrong, Mira.”
“I know. But we have to try. I want to move on with my life, Nicoli. I want to live again without Nunzio’s shadow hanging over us.” I push myself up, pulling my robe tighter around me. “I want to be free of him. I know everyone thinks I’m strong, that I’ve managed to survive him without breaking, but I don’t know how much longer I can do that. I’m scared I’m going to wake up one morning and not have the strength to get up, to fight.” A tear slips free, and I swipe at it with my palm. “I’m afraid if this war doesn’t come to an end, you and I are going to wake up one morning and realize we’ve lost each other to our need for revenge. That we lost sight of what’s really important.” The thought alone invokes an array of emotions in me. “The fear of one day losing you, losing us because of him, it’s paralyzing me, Nicoli. It’s too much. And I don’t want to live with that fear constantly clawing at my throat.”
