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“Just tell me why,” I demanded. “Because your father and his father sat together and talked out a good beneficial business arrangement? That's archaic and you would usually be the first to point that out, so what's changed? Why are you so willing to be with a man that you don't love instead of a man that I know you do?” My anger was getting the best of me, and I was starting to let it show.
“Because” Mira paused, taking a deep breath. “I'm pregnant.”
The news was like a sucker punch straight to the gut. All the air was knocked out of my lungs, and it felt like I’d never be able to suck in another breath. I released her immediately and took a step back, completely speechless as I just stared at her, searching for something to say and waiting for my brain to reconnect to my mouth.
“Pregnant?” I didn’t mean for the one word to hold so much disdain, but it dripped from my lips like bitter poison. “You’re pregnant with his baby?”
“Yes.” Mira hissed in an angry whisper. “So, are you done with your questions and useless declarations?”
“Yeah,” I said numbly, sliding my mask back down over my face. “I’m done, alright. Now let’s get you back in that cell.”
Chapter 16
Mira
Luca took me by the arm, gentler than whoever had first dragged me from the back of the car, down the stairs, and into that cage. He led me out of the back room to my cell. Giulietta was yelling at one of the other men, demanding that he release her, but he acted as if she wasn’t even there.
I didn’t struggle against Luca’s grasp as he gently pushed me back into the cell even though I knew I should have. My mind was reeling with too many things to act out the way I would have if I was truly in danger.
I hated telling Luca that I was pregnant, especially just blurting it out like that before I had even had a chance to process the information myself. I hadn’t even told Stefano. But what I hated the most was the change in Luca. He’d been so determined to find a way to be together. But after hearing that I was pregnant...I guess I couldn’t blame him. What man could love a woman who was carrying another man’s child?
I’d known telling him would hurt. It was one of the first things to cross my mind when I found out, after the initial shock settled. But I had no idea that he would react that way. He seemed completely done with me. And while that was my goal in telling him then, I hadn’t anticipated how bad it would hurt me.
Tears blurred my vision as Luca locked the cell door and walked away without a second glance. He went to one of his men and whispered something to him. I sat, leaning against the bars on one side of the cell as a stray tear escaped the corner of my eye. I swiped it away, hoping no one would see but Alessia stretched her arm through the bars to take my hand that rested on the ground near her and gave it a light squeeze.
“Hey, are you okay?” she whispered.
I nodded, but the caring sound of her tone brought more tears flooding down my face.
“What the hell did he do to you?” Her voice hardened but she kept it low.
I shook my head but couldn’t speak. If I tried to force words from my mouth, I was going to break. Luca was done with me. It was all over, and that realization was unbearable.
I fought back tears and the lump in my throat as my heart shattered into a million little, unrepairable pieces and squeezed the hand of one of the girls I’d seen as an enemy, holding on to the only bit of comfort I had left.
Giulietta shifted her yelling from the man I didn’t know to Luca, sounding increasingly like a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum as she went. “You, you’re the one in charge of these men. Let us go, now. I demand that you release us this instant or when my father finds out—”
Luca moved quickly toward Giulietta’s cell, his arm shooting out like a striking snake, as he grabbed a fist full of hair before she could react. He pulled it firmly until her cheek was forced against the bars.
“Listen here, you spoiled little bitch, we are not letting you go. Your father will never find you because before he even realizes that you aren’t on your little vacation, I’m going to move you to another site where you will be properly trained.”
“Trained?” Her voice quivered and I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her, even after everything she’d done.
“This is the beginning of your new life. First, we will break you, then train you, then sell you. But for now, it’s been a long night, and you have an even longer day tomorrow, so I suggest that you shut your mouth, and do as you're told, or you will find this experience to become much more unpleasant.”
“More unpleasant? How could it get more unpleasant than it is now?” She snapped, her anger finding its way through her fear.
“You don’t want to find out. Now, shut up and go to sleep.” He redirected his words from her to address the whole room. “All of you. No more talking, sleep.”
That night I slept in a cage. After all the crazy things that had happened to my family, all the lessons on how to handle diplomacy with other families, I even had hostage training in case something like that happened to me, none of that prepared me for being kidnapped and held by the man that I love—that I love? Shit. I closed my eyes, flinching as the realization struck. I love Luca.
I lay on the cold floor of my cell, no blanket, no pillow, nothing that would offer even the slightest hint of comfort, but it wasn’t the lack of amenities keeping me awake, it was the realization that I loved Luca. I loved him, but I could never be with him. Whatever short-lived thing that we’d had was gone. I watched his feelings drain away the moment I told him that I was pregnant. Stefano was my future. I did care for him, even if it wasn’t the same way that I cared for Luca.
With Luca, it was an all-consuming, wildfire of passion and desire. A love that would burn wild and unruly. But it was a dangerous love. With Stefano, I would be safe, loved, cared for...and so would our baby.
I curled up on my side, absentmindedly resting my hand over my still-flat belly, remembering that no matter how alone I felt in that moment, I wasn’t. I had my little baby with me. By my calculations, I was just over five weeks along. With graduation and moving back home, I’d completely lost track of time. It wasn’t until I was on the plane, on the way to Milan for the trip with Giulietta and the girls, that I realized I’d missed my period.
That never happened, so once we landed, I picked up a pregnancy test at the airport while the other girls waited for their bags and hurried to the bathroom. After seeing the positive test, a million things ran through my mind. I was terrified, excited, then terrified again. I thought about how having a baby would change my life, if I’d make a good mom, how I was going to tell my family...That night at the hotel, while I should have been sleeping, I wound up diving down the rabbit hole that was internet searches, reading up on everything that I could think to look up about early pregnancy. I read all the things I should do and not do. I also read about the baby’s development and was amazed to find out that at five weeks, he or she was already forming a heart, and was about the size of an apple seed.
