As much as I don’t want to remind him of what I confessed earlier, I still need to explain. “I thought you’d want revenge… that maybe you’d earned the right. But if you killed our baby and me, I feared you wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself when you found out.” I splay my fingers over my belly and try to beg with my eyes. “I found out I was pregnant only a few minutes before I spotted that picture of your mother. I went into your office that day to tell you and saw it… but it doesn’t matter now. If you don’t mind, I only have one request?”
He exhales slowly, but I hear it loud in the silent room. “What?”
“Wait to kill me until after the baby is born. I can’t have him punished for my sins. Please,” I add, just in case he’s in a generous mood.
Again, I hold my breath, waiting for a response from him. Any sign of what he’s feeling or thinking right now.
After a few seconds, which feel like hours, he shifts over onto his knees so he can press closer between my thighs. “Valentina… is there anything else you’re hiding from me? Anything you need to tell me now, so we don’t have to keep going through this. Secrets are toxic, as are lies, and I won’t tolerate either.”
I consider what Andrea told me in the kitchen earlier. Part of me wants to tell him, if only to ensure she gets the revenge she deserves, but I also want to hold the information back if I need more to buy my child’s safety.
So, I make the choice and shake my head. “No. I don’t have any secrets about my past or our relationship.” It’s not a lie… but the omission still churns my belly into a burning pit.
He scans my face, up and down, no doubt hunting for the truth. While he’s so close, his heat wrapping around me, comforting me, I let myself relax, just for a moment. The scent of him is strong, spicy, and delicious. If I leaned forward only a few inches, I could taste him so easily.
I lick my lips, and he tracks that, too.
As if he can read my mind, he shifts backward and stands. When he turns away, it’s like my heart stops in my chest. Is this it? He’s going to kill me. Or worse, throw me out? I thought I’d resigned myself to a life without him when I ran away, but the reality was so much worse than I’d imagined. I can’t go through it again.
“How did you even get a pregnancy test in here? You said you took it the day you left, so…who brought it to you?” He rounds and pins me with his sharp gaze.
Shit. I’m not going to risk lying to him. Not when my baby’s and my life could still be on the line. At the same time, I don’t want to put Kai on his bad list any more than he already is. But still, I resolve, Kai is a grown man who can defend himself… “Kai brought it to me. I ordered him to on the conditions of me saving his life, and you giving it to me. He didn’t seem like he wanted to if that matters.”
He waves at the test on the bed. So innocuous. A few inches of white plastic, yet…it’s changed both of our lives completely. “Did he know?”
I shake my head frantically, hands up in surrender. “No, of course not. I didn’t want to tell him before I told you. He didn’t know, and he didn’t help me escape either.”
His eyes narrow, and he steps toward me. A hound on a scent. “Who did?”
I’ve got no problem throwing that old bitch under the bus…not after what she did to me. What I had to do to protect myself. “The cook. She gave me supplies, brought me a phone. It turns out she was a spy for my father…but I don’t know for how long.”
He drops his gaze, no doubt calculating. “The cook…that explains why she quit suddenly. I tasked Kai to look into her, but she is just one name on a very long list of suspects.”
This conversation is not turning out like I’d played it over and over in my head. Though, as I’m not dead yet, well, I suppose it’s going well enough.
He shifts closer to me, his dress shoes scuffing the newly cleaned floor. “You knew this whole time?” he says, almost in a whisper, so quiet he might be talking to himself.
I gulp and watch him as if he’ll give me a hint to his feelings. I’ve never been able to read him the way he can read me.
When he drops to his knees where he stands, I jolt. His head bows into his hands, and all I can think about is comforting him. I slide off the bed and crawl toward him. The wood makes my joints ache, but I don’t care.