“It appears so.”
“But I thought—”
“I thought so, too,” I say with a nod. “Dr. Lenore is the one who broke the news to me. She told me that the lacerations in my womb have healed enough to… to let it happen.”
“Fuck.”
I stare at him, still trying to discern his reaction. “I didn’t think I wanted kids,” I say, desperate to fill in the torturous silence. “But it turns out, I want this one. And I don’t care if I’m the only one that does.”
His eyes snap to my face. “You’re not the only one, Renata,” he whispers. He smiles. It’s only a quarter of his full smile, but I take it.
Because, God help me… I believe him.
Infuriatingly, I feel tears spring to my eyes, but I try my best to force them back down. Emotion would only take up more time. And I’m pretty sure I’ve already used up half of my allotted ten minutes.
“Kian, that’s not all.”
His expression goes hard. “Tell me.”
“Rokiades gave me an ultimatum. I have to choose: you or the baby.”
He puts his hand against the partition, and I join my fingers with his instinctively. “It’s an easy choice, Renata,” he whispers urgently. “Pick the baby.” He says it as though it’s the simplest decision in the world.
“He’ll kill you, Kian,” I point out in horror. “It’s not just a threat.”
“He was going to kill me regardless. This just gave him the excuse he needed.”
I shake my head. “I can’t…”
“Think of our child, Renata,” he says.
Our child. The words are strange, but I want to get used to them.I desperately want that.
“What’s to stop him from killing the baby after it’s born?” I ask.
“Three things,” Kian says confidently. “One, it’s going to bode well for him to have everyone think he impregnated you so quickly. Second, he needs an heir and he’s not guaranteed a second baby. Third, raising the child as his own and keeping the child close to him will guarantee that you are tied to him. He’s going to want to use the baby to keep you in line.”
He takes one look at the expression on my face and his fingers tighten around mine. “It’s not going to happen, Renata,” Kian assures me. “I promise you. That’s his plan. Mine is different.”
“You’re in a cell right now, Kian,” I say. “Any plans you might have aren’t likely to be of much use.”
He smiles. “I still have a clan out there. And brothers. And friends. Just because nothing has happened yet, doesn’t mean nothing is going to. There’s not going to be a wedding, Renata. You’re not going to be a slave to that fucker for much longer. I will free you.”
“Can you free yourself first?” I ask in a small voice.
He smiles. “I’m working on it.”
“Renata!” Rokiades’s scream echoes across the warehouse space. I flinch instinctively.
“Don’t let the old man fool you into thinking he’s powerful,” Kian tells me. “It’s all an illusion.”
I reach up and graze my fingers against the scabs of old wounds his face. “Those don’t look like an illusion to me.”
“These?” he scoffs. “These are nothing. I’ve had much worse for much less.”
“Renata! Don’t make me drag you out of here!”
I see the blatant fury in Kian’s eyes. “Go,” he says to me.