Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 144979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“Go where?” she asks.
“Angelo has an entire army on the island,” I tell her. “He’s with Ares right now, trying to renegotiate the treaty.”
“Oh fuck.” Her eyes widen. “We really have to go.”
When we arrive at the Stavros compound, I’m expecting an argument from the guards. But as soon as Mariella demands to be let in, they grant her request. I give her a sidelong glance, but she shakes her head. Now isn’t the time to get into her history with Ares.
The head guard leads us straight to Ares’s den, and when he opens the door, both he and Angelo swing their gazes to us. An air of tension fills the room, and in the interest of preventing a war, I just go ahead and blurt it right out.
“I’m pregnant.”
Ares smirks and plucks a signed piece of paper from his desk. “Well, that’s unfortunate timing.”
“Angelo.” Mariella glances between the two of them. “What did you do?”
He doesn’t hear her, because he’s looking at me. After the initial shock wears off, he rises to his feet and pulls me against him.
“You’re pregnant?” he repeats.
I nod through my tears, and he searches my eyes, holding back his own emotion.
“It’s okay.” I force the words from my raw throat. “We’re having a baby. We can be excited.”
He kisses me right there in front of his enemy, as if nothing else exists beyond this moment. That is, until Ares opens his big mouth again.
“As happy as I am for the two of you, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that our deal still stands.”
“What did you do?” Mariella pins Ares with a glare.
“I agreed to amend the treaty,” Ares says, as if it were a philanthropic gesture.
“And what did you offer in return?” Mariella turns to Angelo.
“We’ll keep that between us,” Ares supplies.
“You’re an asshole,” she bites out.
He shrugs, letting the insult bounce right off him. “You had the opportunity to tell your brother before he came here. You chose not to. I’m an opportunist, Mariella. You should know that by now.”
“Mariella?” Angelo glances at her in question.
“He had the chart notes from the doctors Matteo paid off,” Mariella tells us. “He knew all along.”
“I like to keep myself apprised of the goings-on around this island,” Ares says. “Don’t act like you aren’t keeping tabs on my family as well.”
“How did you find out?” I scowl at him.
“I had Matteo followed, and I paid off the same dirty doctors he did. Simple.”
“Vaffanculo,” Angelo mutters.
“You can escort my guests out now,” Ares tells his guards. “Thank you for the visit. It’s been a pleasure as always.”
Angelo shoves the guard who tries to touch him and presses a hand to my lower back as he guides me from the room.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he says. “Before I murder this prick.”
55
ANGELO
Abella’s hand on my cock stirs me from sleep.
For a minute, I just lie there, letting her kiss my neck as she strokes me. She’s been mauling me every morning for weeks, and I’m not complaining.
Last night, I watched her ride me, that little bump in her belly on full display. The memory of it branded itself into me. Every time I see it, I’m reminded that she’s carrying a piece of me. It fucks with my head in ways I didn’t expect.
When I’m not inside her, I’m thinking about it obsessively. The way her body is changing, softening—it gets me irrationally hard. I’m violent with the need to protect her. That includes guarding her from her darkest thoughts.
It’s taken her some time to accept that this is real. Every day, a new fear grips her by the throat—whispering that her happiness is an illusion. She worries about losing the baby or that fate might conspire against us somehow.
I would die before I let that happen.
When those demons arise, we slay them together. Mariella checks on her often, reassuring her that everything is progressing as it should. And now that we’ve passed the three-month mark, Abella finally seems to be letting some of her guard down.
She’s back at work and spending time with her friends. Last night, she also confessed that she was missing some of our games—like the ones where I rail her while I’m terrifying the shit out of her. It will be a while before we can do that again, but there is a compromise.
Today, I’ve had her assistant block out an hour on her schedule when she returns from lunch—where I’ll be waiting in her favorite mask.
In the meantime, I’ll tend to her more urgent needs.
She sucks in a breath when I wrap a rough hand around her wrist, and when I open my eyes to meet hers, she shivers in anticipation.
“Someone greedy this morning, cara?”
“Yes,” she breathes. “I was waiting for you to wake up.”
“What filthy thought were you entertaining while I was asleep?” I brush my thumb over her nightgown, skimming her nipple beneath the material.