My jaw clenches. I’m starting to feel nauseous again. “The wedding is in a few weeks, Kian,” I say. “I’m going to try and get him to release you before then.”
“You know he’ll never do it, Renata,” Kian scoffs. “He’s playing you. The moment you’ve married him, the fucker’s going to kill me.”
“I’m not an idiot,” I retort. “I figured that much out. I just wanted to buy you time.”
“And who’s going to buy you time, eh?” he presses. “You agreed to marry him. What’s stopping that?”
“I had to give him something he wanted.”
“You shouldn’t have given him anything,” he hisses. “I will get out of here.”
“How?”
He raises his eyebrows. “You think my men are just sitting idly by? You think my brother isn’t on his way here? The Clan is coming, Renata,” he tells me. “I would have been out of here regardless. You should have stayed calm, kept your cool, and pretended as though I meant nothing to you.”
“Maybe pretending is easy for you,” I say. “But it’s not for me. You were being beaten to within an inch of your life. I couldn’t just watch it continue.”
“I was fine.”
“That’s your pride talking.”
“No, it’s your naivete talking. He laid a trap for you, and you walked right into it.”
I bite down on my tongue, trying to keep calm, but he keeps goading me. Keeps pushing me away. “Forgive me for not playing the game,” I growl. “I’m not like you. Or him. And I happen to think that’s a good thing.”
“Except that you’re in our world,” Kian points out. “And the only way to survive it is think like us.”
“Are you like him then, Kian?” I ask bitterly.
“You tell me, Renata.”
I meet his gaze, even though I don’t want to. Maybe he’s not pushing me at all. Maybe he’s just trying to teach me.
“Ms. Renata,” one of the guards calls out, taking a step forward. “Your time is up.”
Kian raises his eyebrows. “He agreed to let you see me?”
“I can be persuasive.”
He smiles. “You’re learning.”
I put my fingers back against the partition. “They are treating you better, aren’t they?”
He nods. “Yes.”
“Ms. Renata!”
“Jesus, I’m coming!” I snap. I glance over my shoulder and then back at Kian. “I’ll try and find a way to get you out of here.”
“Don’t you dare,” he says immediately. “I’m being guarded twenty-four-seven. It’s not safe, Renata. You will get caught. Stay out of trouble. My men are coming.”
“How can you be sure?”
“It’s what I would do for any of them.”
Somehow, I can’t imagine Rokiades would say the same for his men.
“I have to go,” I say sadly.
His fingertips brush mine through the grille. The touch makes my heart shiver against my ribcage. I feel my stomach twitch, too. It’s probably a mental trigger and nothing more, but it feels so real to me. The life we’ve created stands between us. It gives the strength I never knew I needed. Maybe he needs it, too.
I want to tell him. Your child is right here, Kian.
But I don’t. I can’t. Not yet.
“Be safe,” Kian says gently.
I wish he’d listen if I tell him to do the same.