Cara’s POV
“Start speaking.”
“You told me not to a few minutes ago.”
“I do not appreciate your newfound humour. Start. Speaking” My glare intensified.
His gaze on me hardened, unmoving and fixated-I knew its aim. In the earlier days of our relationship, it’d have me writhing in discomfort, having no choice but to give up the conservation.
Not anymore. I met it head-on, refusing to back down. Having no choice, he blinked, “You needed to learn.”
“Are you crazy?” My hands flew up in disbelief. “Learn what?”
“The ring. You wouldn’t know how dangerous it is if you didn’t experience this. More brutal things happen, Cara.”
“So you thought letting me get kidnapped would teach me?” A gasp escaped me the disbelief on the borderline of hurt.
Was he listening to himself at all?
“Do you think you’re making sense right now?” A wave of disappointment washed over me, “Who even are you?”
“I would never do this on a normal day,” Adonis paused, his eyes closing as his jaw ticked, showing me he was struggling with whatever he wanted to say. “I always own up to everything I do, good or bad, but-
“Where are you heading?”
“It was your father’s plan!”
What sort of…
“Excuse me?”
“Bel, everyone knows how stubborn you are. That was the only option. Although I didn’t come up with it, I was in full support.”
That does it!
“What is wrong with you guys?” I snapped. “I was kidnapped for crying out loud. A lonely, helpless, pregnant woman was taken because her father and husband wanted to teach her a lesson. Even saying it sounds insane.”
“It wasn’t as bad as you make it out to be.”
“No.” I agreed. “It was worse. You narrowly found me by pure luck.”
“That’s not true.” He defended. “I had my eyes on you all through the night. Your father’s men were in the shadows too.”
A sarcastic, knowing look graced my face. “Really? Then why did I have to give your details for your search?”
Adonis looked away. “While on their trail, they made a diversion to confuse us… it was meant to make us believe we lost you. I knew we would’ve been unable to catch up so I needed to know who they were to find them after the coordinated scheme.”
A string of curses flew out of my lips, “So you let them take me on purpose?”
“We would have found you anyway.” He added quickly, “Simple threats happen all the time in places like this. When an opposing party loses, it results in personal conflicts. It wasn’t serious.”
That word again.
Simple threat.
The last time he used them, we were back in Italy, and I clearly remembered what happened. Was that what he wanted?
His words, which were meant to sound reassuring, made me more furious.
“Is that all I am to you? You made my babies collateral in a lesson you wanted to teach their mother? I could’ve died…” My voice cracked, “Those guys were unskilled, but you didn’t see how they looked at me… You could’ve also died in my place. I was scared, Adonis.”
His expression did not change as did his belief.
“Everything would’ve panned out right, Bel. It worked in my favour. I didn’t want you to be around when I met Adrian.”
“That’s the thing. I’m not meant to be a tool in your plan. It should be ‘our’ plan. You didn’t even tell me Diavolo was there.”
“He was. Far across the hall, amongst the VIPs.”
Inhaling deeply, I pushed back my anger, a hollow feeling that I was now familiar with, taking over me. Being tossed around in this revenge game was becoming exhausting yet I had no choice. There was no use hashing it out.
“Okay. Let’s forget about what you did.” I dismissed, turning to address the newest information.
“How come I didn’t notice? Nothing seemed to be out of place.”
“That’s because we’re the only ones that know him as Diavolo. The normal world sees him as the owner of Axe, nothing more.”
“So… did he walk up to you? Ask you to join him?” Questions were pelted at him, displaying my curiosity. A tiny part of me was grateful that I didn’t get to meet him. If those contestants in the ring, as brutal as they were, were still not categorised as a group of the most dangerous men, I don’t think I’d want to meet a man called Diavolo (the devil).
“He didn’t walk up to me. Our eyes met briefly.”
I hung on to his words, eager to hear the rest, my imagination running wild at various possibilities of their first meeting. “And?”
“And what?”
“What happened after then?”
“Nothing. That’s all.”
My lips pulled down in a frown, “What do you mean nothing? No threats, no warnings, no small talk?”
“No… however,”
“Yes?”
“He brushed past me on his way out,” Adonis said coolly.
Was this the result we went to that godforsaken place for? The result he risked my life for?
“Just like that?”
“It was deliberate.”
“Ugh.” I scoffed. “As pride is a common factor in your world, I was expecting something more dramatic.”
“In a way, it was.” Adonis highlighted, “He knew I was there before he saw me. Adrian knows everything and everyone in his ring. Accepting the challenge was to show him what I could do. To show him that he needed me.”
My face scrunched up, confused.
“Most of the contestants are his men. So when they win, a particular percentage of the money goes back to him.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
Adonis gave me an ‘Are you serious?’ look.
Right. Everything about that place is illegality itself. Shuffling through my head for a better word, I rephrased,
“Isn’t that rigging? Cheating?”
“Who cares? No one knows. Those that do, have not the guts to stand up against him. To the men on the stage, he’s practically their god. They see it as an extra source of income. Who are they to complain?”
“But with you coming in, the pay would be affected.” I pointed out.
“Yes. Because I get to take all the win.” He jerked a finger towards the back, “There’s ten million in cash, in the boot.” He shrugged. “We can use that for our upkeep for the next few weeks. I wouldn’t have to worry about withdrawing from my account and causing suspicion. Even as I speak, we’re being watched.”
Unconsciously, my head started to turn to take a look, but Adonis stopped me.
“The plan is to make them think we’re oblivious to it. Adrian’s men would follow us around for a while. Until he concludes that we have no hidden agenda and we can have a mutual agreement of working together.”
“Is the money that important to him? I’m sure he rakes in more from the bet.”
“His percentage tonight was over a hundred million.”
My eyes widened. “The h*ll. What’s ten million to him?”
“Greed,” he replied in a levelled tone. “And running his underground sex ring is expensive. Do you know why human trafficking is done anyway, notwithstanding the ban on it?” He paused, “It’s a very lucrative business.”
“When you put it that way, it makes it sound disgusting.”
“Yet it’s the truth. 95% of the girls they use are bought. To make a good sum of money, he has to invest in the best. Virgins.”
My face turned blue, a nauseating feeling brewing beneath my chest. “Can we drop the topic? I don’t feel so good.”
The image of little girls just taken just as I was tonight, to be exploited-from their parents with no help as they cried in fear filled my eyes.
Adonis was instantly on me, worriedly checking me over. “A symptom?”
I couldn’t stop the retch, “It’s just-stop the car!”
The driver must have been an attentive one as the tyre immediately screeched to a halt. I didn’t wait for the door to be pulled open and dashed out of the car onto the road curb to expel the chips I had eaten minutes ago.
Adonis was instantly by my side, pulling my hair away from my face; he didn’t say a word nor look away. He stood perfectly silent beside me as he patted my back.
“Ugh…” I groaned out when I was done, rising to my feet. “That was one irritating moment I’d love to never remember.” Turning to the driver, “Can I get a bottle of water, please?”
With a muffled thank you, I excused myself to wash off the horrible taste of vomit from my mouth. I was hardly done when a firm grip clasped around my wrist, pulling me back to the car.
“Take us to the nearest hospital.”
Adonis ordered as soon as we were in.
“Yes, sir.”
“No. Take me home. There’s nothing wrong; this is totally normal.”
The driver’s hold on the steering wheel slackened.
“Let a doctor be the judge of that.” He ignored me.
“I’m okay.”
“Being fine one minute and throwing up the next is not okay.”
“Yes, it is and is called being pregnant, Adonis. Moreover, your words triggered it.”
I kept trying my best to convince myself, having had enough events in one day.
“Fine. Then let’s have a checkup to prove it. While we’re at it, you’d run every test possible to be sure nothing is wrong.” He signalled the driver, “Take us.”
“Honestly, Adonis, I just want to go home. It’s three in the morning, and I’m cranky. I’ve done these checkups before. Running another one would be a waste of money.”
“But I wasn’t there. Run them again.”
Frustrated, my voice rose, “I don’t care what you want; it’s my body, and I know what it needs, and right now, it’s a soft bed. Take me home.”
“What if the tests are invalid? What if something else has surfaced-
“No what-ifs!” My self-restraint broke. “Everything is fine, and I know this because their kick was as healthy as every other day.” I patted my stomach.
His facial musculature slackened.
“They move already?”
“Yes, they do so all the time. You would know if you were around and not lying on the bed during the last months,” I seared, the words I’d been holding back finally out in the open.
I’ve always wondered how Adonis would look if he showed his every emotion like others do. Watching the expression of shock on his face now, I knew I wasn’t prepared.
He blinked, “Do you… do you resent me for not being around?”
It was foolish of me to do so. I know. I was the reason for his absence. He took a bullet for me. But going through the past few months on my own was draining, and I’ve had no one to discuss it with.
The situation was overwhelming. It felt like I was shouldering the entire world’s problem.
My eyes reddened, and I looked away to compose myself. “This is not just about tonight…” My voice was barely above a whisper. “Ever since I met you, it’s been one issue or another. Two months of our time was stolen from us yet the month you awaken, we’re thrown into the circle again.” I swallowed, my voice thick with tears. “And it’s not that I’m complaining, but I find that whenever these events occur, I’m always the last to know. I feel alone. Heaven knows I don’t blame you, but honestly-
The shrill sound of his phone ringing cut through the air causing me to stop at the scratched surface, losing the will to continue the conversation. He wasn’t going to understand anyway.
“Go on.” I nodded slowly, giving him a tight smile. “Receive it.”
Adonis hesitated, a look of objection crossing his face, but he couldn’t ignore its consistent ringing.
Sighing deeply, he connected the call.
“Yes?”
A familiar voice subtly filled the background.
“Adonis.”
His eyes flickered to mine for a second, and I knew he was just as surprised as me.
Luca?