Castello cupped my cheek in his palm. “I am going to give you the revenge you need to heal, Tatum. I am going to give you my brother.”
I had no words. My heart hammered as if it would break through my chest at any moment. My stomach churned, my spine nothing but ice. Yet there was something else. There was a flicker, a spark that crackled with a threat to erupt should it take flame.
It scared me. This was not how I was supposed to feel about killing another human being. It wasn’t normal. Yet, it felt…good.
Castello’s full lips pulled up at the sides. He saw it, too. In fact, I think he had seen it all along, and that was why he had pushed me, punished me, forcing me to think of the man I hated the most in this world.
With my chin pressing into the mattress, I moved my arm out from beside me and placed my palm over his. “You would do that for me?”
His eyes bore into mine. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, little mouse.”
Softly, he pressed his lips against mine. No tongue, no movement. Just a single, simple, yet powerful kiss.
He pulled back. “I told you before, I see you. I know what you need, even if you don’t.”
“Thank you.” It was all I could say. He was turning me into the kind of person I needed to be in order to survive the past and be ready for the future. Castello was making me strong, to protect myself…and the life growing inside me.
He needed to know.
Castelloneededto know.
Tears stung the corners of my eyes as I stared at him. After everything, this was the moment I felt a fear that had the power to crush me. Fear of losing him. But deep down inside the core of my soul, I knew…I knew I needed to do right by him. Earlier he said that I had been surrounded by lies for too long, but it was the same for him. His family didn’t just lie to me. His twin brother with whom he shared the same womb, lied to him. The mother who gave birth to him, who raised him, also lied to him.
I wouldn’t.
I wouldn’t be the same as them. I would never be the same as them.
I pressed my lips in his palm and closed my eyes, allowing my tears to escape.
“There were two lines,” I whispered against his palm. “There were two little pink lines.”
I looked up at him; his eyebrows slanted inward with confusion. “What are you talking about?”
More tears stained my cheeks, my heart no longer beating inside my chest, but pounding up my throat. I tried to keep my secret, but it wasn’t mine to keep. It was ours.
He wiped the tears away with his thumbs. “What is it, Tatum?”
Please God.
I sniffed then took a deep breath before I allowed my secret to escape.
“I’m pregnant.”
Chapter 20
CASTELLO
I’d liked to think I was a strong man. That I was prepared for everything life wanted to throw at me. Feelings and emotions never controlled me, while power and authority had been the force behind every decision I made, behind every action I had taken. But since Tatum had been brought—yes, brought—into my life, she managed to change everything without even trying.
Now, while I stared into her crystal eyes, her words resounding inside my head, I felt powerless. I felt confused. And I felt like I no longer had any control.
“Excuse me?” My voice was barely a whisper, and my lack of confidence pissed me off.
“I’m pregnant, Castello.”
I reared back, my hand no longer on her cheek. “How?”Stupid question. “When?”Even stupider. “What do you mean, pregnant?”Dumb-fuck.
Tatum tried to loosen the clasp around the ring of her collar, but she was shaking too much.