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I came back to my windowless prison, a tear sliding down my cheek. I stared down at my stomach once again. If I was pregnant, were they ever going to know our baby?
Was I going to last that long?
I’d spent so much time trying to come up with the past, but right now what was most terrifying...was the fact that I could envision the future so clearly.
I could see long weekends in that dream house I’d told Sebastian about, my head in his lap as he stroked my baby bump.
I could see us in the hospital room, all of them gathered around me, the cries of our baby as he or she entered the world. Their faces when they saw her for the first time.
I could see them all gathered around me while I nursed her. Walking in, seeing one of them humming a lullaby as they rocked her in the middle of the night. Long walks in the spring sunshine as we pushed the baby carriage.
I could see the baby’s first steps towards the guys, their big grins and shouts of encouragement. Greyson completely melting for our baby, wiping their tears and holding them close.
I could see us all gathered on the ice as they taught our child to skate.
I could see it all.
And the loss of that future I realized...was far scarier than anything I’d lost in the past.
I just needed to have hope.
That’s what had gotten me this far in the first place, right?
The door opened, and I scrambled out of my chair, realizing that at the very least, I could push the office chair at someone if the situation called for it.
Sunny appeared in the doorway, that same blankness in his gaze that was more terrifying than any other emotion would have been. He came in and closed the door behind him.
He studied me for a second and I worked on holding his gaze, not wanting to show how scared I was.
“What are you going to do to me?” I finally whispered, when it appeared that he was just going to stare at me all night—or all day—I wasn’t sure how much time had passed at this point.
The air was heavy with tension, the silence broken by the sound of my embarrassingly ragged breaths.
“I suppose that depends on Greyson, doesn’t it? We’ll find out exactly how much he cares about you when he finally figures out where you are,” Sunny answered with a shrug. I guess the TVshows with the villains were right about something—the villain did always seem to be remarkably blasé about what they were doing.
Sunny was certainly playing that part well.
“Aren’t you scared at all of what he’ll do when he gets here?”
“I’ve been planning this for a long, long time. I would like to hope that I’ve finally got it right.” He rubbed his chin, his eyes still piercing into me.
“Why?” I asked. “He trusted you.”
The blankness finally disappeared at that question, replaced by a dark bitterness.
“I wasn’t supposed to be anyone’s second. Did you know that? I paid my dues for years under Matteo, and then Greyson’s father. And promises were made.” He shook his head angrily. “We may be criminals, but there’s always been a code of honor, when you made a promise, you kept it. And those men promised me!” He banged his hand against the wall behind him, his voice rising.
Sunny took a deep breath, smoothing back his hair as he calmed himself down. “I was going to be the next Jackal. All of my work. All of the years I spent being the guy they could count on, who sacrificed everything...it was all going to be repaid. Greyson’s father wasn’t in good health. And he made enemies left and right. He would have been gone soon enough. I was so close.”
Sunny bared his teeth. “Greyson swooped in and stole it all from me. Stole the crown off his father’s head, and out of my grasp. He betrayed his father’s trust, seized control of everything, and made sure that I would be nothing forever.”
“So, you decided to, what...betray him? So much for ‘honor among thieves,’” I said sarcastically.
Sunny scoffed, shaking his head at me like I was an errant child, who just didn’t understand.
“You have no idea how much power Greyson has. He’s hidden so much from you. There isn’t anything that happens on this side of the country that he doesn’t have his hand in. Politicians and kings bow before him. He has unlimited resources. Unlimited wealth. Unlimited...power. That was all supposed to be mine. Any man would kill to have that.”
“You’ve been his most loyal guy for all these years.”
