Aria Ruso
I had no idea what they would do about the information I’d given them, but I’d been surprised when I hadn’t found a guard escorting me back to my room. I hadn’t anticipated that they’d leave me alone after I’d gravely betrayed them, but they did.
I spent two hours waiting for someone to come and question me. Torture me. Something. I knew that Matteo wouldn’t have hesitated to do that, but nobody came. Another hour went by, and I allowed myself to go to the bathroom, almost certain that in the few minutes I’d spend in there, nobody would decide to come. I peed, leaning forward and still captivated by all the what-ifs of the situation when I glanced to the side and saw the box of tampons sitting there.
I stilled.
I tried to backtrack to the last time I’d needed one. I had been too busy to track my period, but it had been when I’d first arrived. That had been… Nearly two months.
It felt like the world moved in slow motion as I stormed out of the bathroom, then out of the manor, and toward the corner store. I didn’t even think about who would be following me as I went, but nobody stopped me. Nobody said a word as I marched back into the bathroom with a box of two pregnancy tests and peed on one.
Time moved so damn slowly as the rapid test took what felt like seven years to process. I stared at it as the ink swept up the screen, leaving one line. I took a deep breath, relieved to see that there was not a second on the stick, but some innate feeling forced me to continue staring at the test as another wave of ink swept down it.
This time, there wasn’t just one line.
Within a minute, there were two lines-two bold and obvious lines, and I could do nothing but stare and force myself to breathe.
This couldn’t be happening. Not right now. Not when we were all liable to die in this conflict that had been steadily growing for months.
Was I hyperventilating?
I tried to breathe, but I found the air too stiff as I moved. I held the positive test at my side and slid on a pair of sandals as I rushed out the door again, charging for the front of the house. I needed fresh air, and sitting in my room was the last place I’d find it.
When I breached the front door of the house, I walked down the porch steps and came to a stop at the bottom one, staring at the strip in front of me. A baby. I supposed I’d always wanted to be a mother, but now wasn’t the most opportune time. I’d seen the risk to a fetus when an emergency happened, and I couldn’t trust this situation enough to believe I wouldn’t be hurt at some point before all of this ended. Losing a child in the midst of all of this would hurt more than anything, and I had no idea how to process that threat.
The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted this child. I wanted it so damn badly that it hurt.
How would I even tell Cade? He had to hate me after he learned what I’d come here to do. I doubted he’d even believe me with the timing of the confession. He’d think that I was faking it to get out of being executed for betraying him.
Would he execute me?
God, this entire situation couldn’t get messier. It couldn’t be worse, and my chest ached at the thought of all the things that could go wrong. I loved him, and I’d hurt him in a way that I couldn’t even imagine. If he had betrayed me like this, would I have ever forgiven him for it? I couldn’t be sure.
Lost in my own thoughts, I didn’t even notice as a car pulled up beside me. I didn’t notice the people who jumped out of the car until they were a mere foot away, reaching for me with large, intimidating hands. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but one of the men covered my mouth. Another grabbed both of my arms, and a third grabbed my legs, carrying me as if I were nothing more than a sack of potatoes.
No matter how I wiggled, I couldn’t get free of them as they brought me toward a van and slid the door open. If I had just been paying attention, I could have fought them off long enough to get help. If I had just been paying attention, I could have done something. But now, all my limbs were held, and nothing short of a miracle could get me free.
With no regard for my body, the men threw me into the van, and I slid across the hard interior of it before colliding hard with a wall.
I pushed all the pain away. I couldn’t let them win. I moved to rush back out of the van through the same door, but it closed immediately, and a voice filled the space as the men got into a secondary vehicle that followed this one.
“You should have seen this coming.”
I whipped around to where my brother sat in the back row of seats, legs crossed as if this was an entirely leisurely situation.
“You made it clear that you’re done working for me, and my goal is to exploit all of Cade’s weaknesses. Based on the reports I’ve been receiving, you are one of the most substantial ones.” Not anymore, I wanted to say.
“And to make matters more interesting, you’re carrying his child. The cards couldn’t fall more in my favor.”
I gaped, wondering how the hell he’d known. I had only found out a few minutes prior, but as I looked at him, I realized exactly how he knew. He held the test in his hand-the test that I’d been holding when they’d come. I had no idea if I’d held onto it the entire time or if one of his men had tossed it inside with me, but regardless of how it happened, he had it now, and there was nothing I could do to take away that information.
“It’s not mine,” I said.
“You’ve always been a piss poor liar.” He chuckled lightly. “You don’t even realize that you’re still the key to taking him down, do you? I thought working with you would make it easier, but using you as his weakness will make it so much more fun.”
“You’re not going to use me. I’m not going to help you anymore.”
His eyes flashed anger, but he only shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if you want to help me or if you want me to catch a stray bullet in all of this. I took you from under his nose, and he will come to get you back. And your being pregnant only ensures that he’ll behave while doing it. He won’t stand for something happening to you and his child.”
“I won’t lure him here,” I told him, shaking my head and pulling myself into a sitting position. I ignored the stiffness in all of my muscles. “I’m not going to do that. You can rot in hell.”
“You will, whether you want to or not.”
I thought about the look he’d given me when I’d told him the truth, and a laugh burst from me. “He won’t come for me, and even if he does, I promise that he won’t be stupid about it.”
Telling him the truth had been the right thing to do. At least now, he wouldn’t come here blindly. He wouldn’t go through hell to get me back when I’d betrayed him so thoroughly. Maybe telling him the truth had saved his life, even if it hadn’t saved mine in return.
I would get myself out of this mess. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but I would.
And Cade wouldn’t get himself killed trying to orchestrate a rescue mission. Not now that he knew everything.
“You didn’t see the way he looked at you. I’ve heard about the way he kills for you. A man like Cade Burns won’t let this go. He’ll come right to my doorstep, and I’ll finally have the chance to end this.”
Arguing and debating with him would do nothing. I wasn’t going to help him take down Cade, no matter what he said or did. No matter how much he baited and tried to get me to agree to his terms.
And when we stopped this vehicle, I was going to run like hell.
What I hadn’t anticipated was the second vehicle to pull in behind us and open the door for me. I stepped out calmly, but somehow it seemed that Matteo had anticipated the fight I’d give. The second I lifted a fist to fight and run, three men grabbed me, and I stood no chance against all of them.
What good was training when I couldn’t use it to get out of a situation like this?
They dragged me back into the place that had once been my home, and they surprised me by taking me straight through the foyer and toward the back of the house. Then, one man slid open the door and brought me toward the back area. The storage facility.
We had makeshift cellars in the basement where my father and Matteo had questioned people in the past, and I assumed that’s where he would take me now. But the back storage facility was massive, and keeping people contained inside would be a challenge. With all the windows and the multiple entrances and exits, it was far from a secure place to keep someone. It didn’t make sense why he’d chosen an area separate from the house.
I stopped struggling against the guards, deciding instead to follow along and escape when I had a better opportunity.
“Make yourselves comfortable,” Matteo said, flinging the door open for the guards.
Yourselves?
I stepped inside and froze in the doorway. I wasn’t going to be alone in here. I thought about the guilt I’d had for weeks about the single piece of information I’d given Matteo-the one thing I should have never told him.
Elizabeth’s name.
Laying in a heap on the ground in the room was Elizabeth, bleeding from various different places on her face and the rest of her body. Her eyes were closed, and I didn’t hesitate before rushing forward.
“Elizabeth,” I shouted, turning her gently onto her back. I heard the raspy breaths coming from her chest, but the sign of life was enough to keep me focused on checking her pulse and examining her limbs for any breaks.
I didn’t hear as Matteo made a call and began speaking to the person on the other end of the line. It didn’t matter as I made sure that all the wounds Elizabeth had were superficial. It looked like they were, all except for the bruise on the side of her head-likely the reason she’d fallen unconscious. She had a few shallow cuts and bruises across her body, and I clenched my teeth together to hold nausea at bay as I saw the two missing fingernails.
But she seemed otherwise okay. As long as she woke up, she’d be fine.
She had to be.
When Matteo put the phone on speaker and I heard the voice on the other end of the line, my breath caught, and I stared over my shoulder at him. “Where the fuck is she? Is she alive?” “More or less,” Matteo said.
If it were just me, I would have told Cade to leave me and take out
Matteo however he could. I would have been strong for both of us, but Elizabeth needed a doctor. She needed scans and X-rays to make sure that nothing had been too badly injured. She didn’t have any complete breaks, but with all the bruises across her body, I imagined she’d have something wrong.
“I need proof of life,” Cade said.
Matteo raised a brow and looked at me to speak, but I couldn’t find my words. “I’m sorry” didn’t feel like the proper way to give proof of life.
I didn’t have a chance to say anything, though. One of the guards came toward me, and though I expected him to drag me forward and toward my brother, he immediately reared back his arm and slapped me hard enough to send me careening over Elizabeth and to the floor.
I must have cried out. I must have made some noise, but I tried my best to keep silent. I didn’t need him making an irrational decision, but through the ringing in my ears, I knew that he’d heard what had happened, and I knew that whatever was coming next would be both bloody and irrational.