98

Allison
There they are, the pregnancy tests, lined up on the kitchen island like sandbags stacked against a storm. Except this time, the hurricane is Gregory, and I’m the poor beach about to get battered.
He paces across the living room, hands behind his back. He won’t look at me, and I’m terrified of what he’s thinking. I didn’t ask for this pregnancy-if I could go back, I’d make him put on a stupid condom. Better yet, I’d never sleep with him to begin with.
I can’t change what happened. I’m carrying his baby, and even if this was never a part of our agreement, I’m keeping this child.
Gregory isn’t the father type. He’s made that obvious.
Anything that restricts his freedom has to be annihilated.
He’s the sort of man that would rather run away than risk getting tethered in one place, even if it means turning his back on his family.
Only he’s caught in this war and there’s no way he could escape now.
Which means he’s going to force me to make the most horrible decision imaginable.
And when I refuse? I’m terrified of what he’s going to do.
He continues to pace. I can’t handle this silence anymore. I feel like I’m going to explode, like I’m going to crack into a thousand pieces.
“Say something.”
He still doesn’t look over. “When were you going to tell me?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “Will you just stop it and talk to me?”
“Like you talked to your father behind my back?”
“Yes, Gregory, I talked to my father. Mostly I grilled him about Freya, and I found out that he owes Paul money. That’s why my sister married that asshole to being with.”
Gregory pauses. “Interesting,” he says, looking thoughtful for half a second, then restarts his pacing. “But that doesn’t change anything.”
“What do you think was going on in that I?”
“I don’t know, but your father is the enemy now. I assumed you understood that.”
“I’m desperate, okay?” I throw up my hands. “You acting like a caged freaking animal isn’t helping anything.”
He lets out an annoyed breath, but at least he stops moving. “What would you prefer?”
“I don’t know, maybe a civil conversation? You are a human being in there, aren’t you?”
“Mostly.”
“Then act like one. Talk to me.” I’m pleading with him. I hate it, but I need him to tell me what he’s thinking.
“You’re pregnant.” He finally meets my gaze. His gray-blue eyes are striking, how cool they are, how frozen. “When did you find out?”
“This morning.”
“Why did you reach out to your father?”
“I was panicking. I got the positive pregnancy tests and I needed to talk to someone. Papa’s the only person already involved in this mess, so I figured I couldn’t make things worse for him by telling him.”
“Does he know?” Gregory steps forward. His sudden intensity scares me, and I move back.
“No,” I say quickly. “I didn’t end up saying anything. We got into talking about my sister and I just-I didn’t want to tell him anymore.”
He deflates slightly. “Good. That’s good.”
“I didn’t want this,” I say as if he could possibly understand how I’m feeling. “You and me? I didn’t want any of it. And this baby-” I stop, choking the words back.
His head shakes slowly. “It doesn’t matter what you wanted. All that matters is the truth.”
“Okay, you want the truth? I’m pregnant. It’s your baby. And I’m scared. How’s that? I’m scared of my fucking husband because he’s acting like a freak instead of a sympathetic person.”
Gregory’s jaw twitches. “If you wanted sympathetic, you never should have married me.”
“God, you’re unbelievable. I’m outright telling you that I need some basic human decency from you and instead you’re just telling me to fuck off?”
“I am what I am,” he says, his voice a low growl. “I am not going to change.”
“Then what do I do? This baby is happening. I can’t stop it any more than you can.”
He doesn’t speak for a moment. I want to start crying, but I refuse to give him that satisfaction. I keep my chin up, meeting his stare with my own hard gaze, summoning every bit of strength I have at my reserve. I’m strong, or at least I’m stubborn as hell, and I will fight him tooth and nail before I let him bully me into getting rid of my child.
“Who said I wanted to stop it?”
I open my mouth to tell him off-but stop. “Excuse me, what?”
“I never said I wanted to stop this baby from coming.” His heads cocks like a predatory bird. “Did you think I was going to ask you to have an abortion?”
“I don’t-I figured you might-” I shake my head, at a loss. “You mean, you’re not?”
He takes a long, visibly rage-filled breath, and slowly lets it out. His eyes pinch shut, and he rubs the spot between his eyes for a few seconds before gathering himself.
“You must have the lowest opinion possible of me.”
“I just-you don’t want this baby. I mean, we’re not really together, and you do realize what a child’s going to mean? It’s late-night feedings, it’s spit-ups, changing diapers, all that stuff. It’s a lifelong responsibility. You don’t strike me as the kind of man that wants anything resembling a traditional family.”
“Nobody said anything about traditional. I’m a Callahan, princess. We’ll have a fleet of nannies, night nurses, pediatricians, and whatever else we need.”
I let out a confused laugh, unable to help it. “We will? What are you even talking about? This relationship has an expiration date. We’re not actually married. Remember?”
He takes me in for several long, tense moments. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but I’m totally thrown off. This isn’t anywhere near how I assumed this conversation would go.
I figured he’d be yelling at me by now. Maybe even his thugs would be dragging me off to the nearest clinic to have this little problem taken care of. Instead, he looks annoyed that I’d even suggest such a thing.
The man’s a killer. He’s a mobster with a violent, bloody past-why would I ever think he’d want a baby in his life?
“I understand the nature of our relationship,” he replies, his tone sounding strained. “But things have changed. There’s a new complication.”
I laugh again, sharply. “Complication? No kidding.”
“The Callahan family is a lot of things, my princess. We are violent. We are ruthless. We are power hungry and we will do anything to further our interests.”
“Great, you’re really selling me on family life.”
“I’m not finished.” He steps closer, staring into my eyes with a sudden, heart-stopping intensity. “But above all, we’re dedicated to each other. My brothers, their wives, their children. No matter what, we take care of our own, and for better or worse, you’re one of us now.”
I blink, shaking my head. “No, no, that’s not right. I mean, we’re fake married, but-”
“It’s the marriage. It’s you in my wedding bed. But most of all, it’s my baby in your belly.”
“Gregory, this is nuts.” I stride away, trying to come to grips with what he’s saying. “Do you actually want me to keep this baby?”
“We take care of our own,” he says again, watching me. “I never imagined I’d be a father. I still find the idea hard to swallow. But now that it’s happening, I will not stop it.”
“Great, wonderful, so my husband and the father of my baby won’t stop it, that’s what every girl wants to hear.” I know I’m being irrational. Ten minutes ago, I was convinced Gregory was about to dangle me out a window. Now I’m annoyed he’s not sufficiently effusive about my pregnancy.
It’s just I’m having a lot of trouble keeping up with this conversation. I’m updating my assumptions on the fly, but it’s like everything I thought I understood about Gregory is suddenly worthless.
And thinking back, I can understand why.
He’s cold, yes, but there’s also a fire inside of him that only comes out when he’s at his most vulnerable. Alone with me, in my arms, in between my legs, it’s like he’s a different man. I catch a glimpse of the Gregory lurking beneath his frozen, heartless exterior, and while I won’t pretend like he’s some cuddly teddy bear, at least there’s a sense that he feels, that he needs, that he yearns for something more than himself, that he wants human companionship.
Now I’m trying assimilate that Gregory with the man standing before me, and I’m beginning to understand that they’re one and the same.
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t like what I’m saying.” He crosses his arms as if he just came to a decision. “From here on out, our contract is null and void.”
I throw my hands up. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“All the promises, all the legally binding stipulations, it’s all finished. Forget about the contract. Forget about what you thought this relationship was going to be.”
“Gregory,” I say through my teeth. “We had a deal.”
“Fuck the deal. My wife’s pregnant. That’s all I care about now.”
I back away until I bump into the wall, but he remains across the room. “You can’t do this.”
“I can. I’m a Callahan, remember? You are my wife, you’re carrying my child, and I am not letting you go when this war is over. You are mine now, just like that baby is mine.”
I flex my jaw, trying to find words, and coming up short. All I can think is a blindingly white-hot anger as it burns into my core. How dare this guy act like he can own me now? How dare he ignore me for weeks, disappear all day long, barely speak to me, then act as though I’m his property?
“That is not how this is going to work.”
“From now on, forevermore, you are all mine, whether you like it or not.”