Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
I stared at my husband, horror and betrayal washing over me in waves. “You... you what?”
“I swapped your pills,” he repeated, his voice steady despite the storm in his eyes. “You’ve been taking placebos. Sugar pills. Nothing that would prevent a pregnancy.”
Rage erupted within me, white-hot and all-consuming.
I lunged forward, my hands reaching for his face, his throat, anything I could claw and tear.
He had deceived me. Manipulated me. Taken away my choice, my control, my future.
“How dare you?” I screamed, my nails scraping against his skin. “How dare you? How dare you deceive me like this?”
Adrian caught my wrists, pinning my arms between our bodies. His grip was firm but not painful, containing my fury without hurting me.
“How could you?” I spat.
“You’re mine,” he growled, pulling me closer, his lips feathering over me. So close, but not touching. “Every part of you. Your body, your soul, your future—it all belongs to me. And you’re carrying my child.”
I struggled against his hold, tears of rage streaming down my face. “Let me go! I hate you. I fucking hate you!”
“Push me away all you want,” Adrian said, his voice low and intense. “Scream at me, fight me, hate me but it won’t change our truth.”
I was going to be sick.
I pushed away from him with all my strength, breaking free of his grasp. “Stay the fuck away from me,” I hissed, nausea building in my throat. “I don’t want to see you. Get out of my sight.”
Adrian’s expression darkened and then he nodded. “I’m leaving now but I will be back later when you’re calmer.”
He left.
And I collapsed to the ground.
Calm?
I would never be calm again.
I was pregnant.
I was carrying Adrian Salvatore’s child.
A child conceived in deception, born of obsession and revenge.
Every facade, every lie, everything I had carefully planned, it all crumbled. Shattering, burning into ashes.
My husband had been one step ahead.
And I had once again allowed myself to be his pawn.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Adrian
Two weeks.
Fourteen days.
Three hundred and thirty-six hours.
Twenty thousand, one hundred and sixty minutes.
I had counted every minute since Serafina exiled me from her life.
The silence between us stretched longer than the hallway that separated our bedrooms, a chasm I couldn’t cross no matter how many times I tried.
I stood in the darkness of my room, my reflection in the window showing a man I barely recognized. The hollow-eyed stranger staring back at me had done things I couldn’t take back. Things that had broken the one person I was supposed to protect.
The void inside me had expanded, threatening to consume me entirely. I pressed my palm against the cold glass, watching as the night pressed back, indifferent to my suffering.
I had done many unforgivable things in my life. Blood stains my hands, my soul, a darkness I had long since embraced as part of who I am. I had killed men without hesitation. I had watched them beg for mercy I had no intention of giving.
I had destroyed lives, families, and dreams.
Never once did I feel guilt. Never once did shame consume me.
Until now.
This time was different.
She wasn’t a stranger, wasn’t some faceless enemy to be eliminated.
She was Serafina. My Serafina.
The woman who had looked at me with fire in her eyes, who had challenged me at every turn, who had given herself to me despite everything.
And I had taken her innocence and crushed it all.
I had betrayed my wife in ways that she may never forgive me.
Two weeks have passed since she discovered the truth of my betrayal. Two weeks of silence, of cold stares, of meals taken alone in her room. Two weeks of watching her walk past me as if I were nothing more than a ghost haunting her home.
I couldn’t stay away any longer.
I pushed away from the window, my bare feet silent on the hardwood floor as I made my decision.
I had tried to be patient, I had tried to give her space…
But I couldn’t fucking stay away.
Not when she was down the hall, sleeping so peacefully. Not when I was alone in my room, in his darkness, the void expanding.
I wanted to be near them.
I needed to be near her.
I moved through the hallway like a ghost, my body drawn to hers by a force I couldn’t resist. Her door was unlocked, a small mercy, a tiny crack in the fortress she had built around herself.
I slipped inside, my eyes adjusting to the darkness. After the fire, it took a week to handle the damage and fix everything. I had a group of people working fast. And now her room was back to how it was. Except now, newly painted, new curtains and new furniture.
How the fire started…
That was still a mystery.
But I would find out eventually. I knew where to look when I needed answers and my suspicions had never been wrong when it came to him.