Page 104 of Marked By the Devil

A real team.

A real family.

I witnessed how they came together in the goodness of life, like when they celebrated Isabel being born. And how they came together with the worst of life, with the threat of death, when an intruder meant real peril against one of their own.

When Elena, Carina, and Mila showed up, they freaked out, panicked, took charge, and helped. Respectively. Elena wasn’t ideal in a time of crisis, but I was so relieved that I wasn’t there alone, holding up Paul and yelling helplessly for someone to be around. Hearing that one of the guards had been tased bothered me, but I was thankful Smithson hadn’t tried to kill anyone else.

Only me.

I put my hand on my lower stomach and sighed.

And you?

The longer I sat there and grappled with how close I’d come to danger like that, I sank into this weightless sense of pride and euphoria that I survived. That I had kept my cool and acted fast enough in self-defense. All those trainings really had processed in my brain.

But it wasn’t only for me.

It was for this baby I might be carrying too.

That was why I couldn’t linger down there and sit and listen to them. Reminded of that deep sense of family these Volkovs lived and breathed, I felt like it was that much more prudent that I find out if I was carrying the next part of the family.

Another precious baby to bring into the world.

I came up and hoped that Viktor would assume I needed some space or something like that. And that he’d give it to me. That man was protective as hell, and I liked that, I loved that and didn’t take that side of him for granted. But I could also tell how he was able to not have to freak out because I’d handled the situation too.

He wasn’t here to be overprotective in the manner of hovering over me. He was a security-minded man who could respect that I wasn’t helpless, too.

I ripped the top off the box and checked the instructions. Then with that giddy sense of butterflies taking off in my stomach, that apprehension, I took a deep breath and did the test.

I realized I didn’t have my phone with me, but that didn’t matter. I counted the seconds down and paced. Shielding my face with my hand at my temple, I deliberately avoided looking at it until I was sure that roughly six minutes had passed.

Then I lowered my gaze, holding my breath.

Pregnant.

It was positive.

And I sighed heavily as a smile crossed my face.

It wasn’t as much of a surprise as it might have been in other circumstances. That was how sure of myself and knowing my body that I was.

I assessed my symptoms. I ascertained that I was likely pregnant. And I was acting on the news so far by…

I sucked in a breath and rode out the wave of joy. Shock. And a little worry. Well, a lot of worry.

Placing my hand on my flat stomach, I paced in the bathroom and tried to dissect how much this change would upend my life. I was glad for a child. I was thrilled, but this would be such a humongous thing to adapt to.

Before I could think about any other details of how this would go, I understood with crystal clarity that this would permanently bind my future to Viktor. I would irrevocably be tied to the Volkov Bratva.

Not as an agent for them. Not as someone who’d work for them.

But as a mother of one of their children.

Soft knocks sounded on the door and I flinched at the intrusion.

It couldn’t have been Viktor or anyone else. It was too gentle of a knock.

I opened the door, finding Mila there.