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“I figured that only extended to Jason and Nana.”
“It extends to whoever you want it to extend to.” He squeezed my hand. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m just… I’m worried, Saul. I don’t want to get you in trouble. You could’ve gotten hurt.”
“By Barry? Not likely.”
“Your brothers. What if they find out?”
“I already told them. Or at least I told them a version of events. They think I spared Barry because he gave me the hotel where Finnian fucks his girlfriend.”
I rub my face with both hands. “This is such a mess.”
“No, baby, it’s a good thing. We’re going to catch Finn and put an end to all this. Once he’s out of the way, the Lynch Clan will crumble. And then we don’t have to hide anymore.”
“I don’t know,” I say softly, shivering at the idea of his brothers knowing about me. Saul is scary enough, but the thought of Don Renzo Rossi scares the shit out of me.
“I want this,” he says, his voice hard. “I need to introduce you to them. It’s like I have two lives and I can’t keep going on torn in half forever.”
“Won’t they be angry?”
“Definitely, but we’ll survive it together. It’s just—” He tilts his chin up and drains half of his wine glass. “There’s another complication.”
“Seriously? What the hell happened over there?”
“Renzo wants to arrange another marriage for me.”
The words hit like hammers. I scoot my chair back like I’m trying to put distance between us. My hand goes to my belly, which is another surprise—I’ve never reached for the baby before like this—and my urge to run away is nearly overwhelming. Anger and jealousy blow through me, and I have to take a few beats before I’m calm enough to reply without biting his head off.
“That’ll be hard since you’re already married?”
“I told him no. Flat out no. But Renzo doesn’t like that word very much.”
“Saul.” I close my eyes. “What the fuck?”
“I know. It’s a goddamn mess, but I’m handling it.”
“This won’t work.” I get to my feet, feeling shaky. “You’re doing too much, and I’m not even worth it.”
“Molly—”
“No, I’m serious. You took a huge risk saving Barry for me, and now you have to go against your brother’s wishes, again because of me. What the hell am I bringing to the table?”
Tears fill my eyes. I feel foolish and absurd, but I’m more than a little emotional right now. Between the stress of our situation and my raging pregnancy hormones, it’s like anything can set me off.
But this is too much. I can see so plainly how I’m doing nothing but making his life harder. He never asked for me and never wanted this baby, but for some reason his honor or dignity forced him to do the right thing. I tried to stop it, but he’s so persuasive, and I let him fool me into thinking this could work.
I thought it was my own life that was too complicated, but that’s not right. It’s not Jason and Nana. It’s Saul’s family. I’ve been looking at this the wrong way from the start.
He’s not too complicated for me—I’m the problem for him.
“Molly,” he says as I back away and turn to go.
“Just give me some space, okay?” I hurry down the hall and to the stairs. I reach the bedroom before he catches up with me, grabs my wrist, and pulls me back against him.
“Stop it,” he says softly, staring down into my eyes. “Baby, would you just listen to me?”
“I’m the burden,” I blurt out, feeling pathetic and useless. “I tried to tell you from the start. You don’t owe me anything, Saul.”
