“I-I can’t. We’ve been trying for almost a year. The guys are pissed because I make them wear condoms with her. It feels like everything is going to hell. There’s a lot of tension. Fucking Shadow used one of his overrules on me to end my go at a baby. If she’s not pregnant in a few weeks, we’ll draw a name from a hat on whose turn it is. All the guys want kids, so I guess…” his voice trailed off. “I’ve never failed at anything in my life, Rosalie, but I’m failing at the one fucking thing that should be so easy.” He shook his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“You should be home,” I murmured. “I’m fine here. You only have a few weeks left to try, right?”
He nodded and looked down at his hands.
“Go home, Dante. I promise Ani and the guys are ensuring I’m safe. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s survive.”
He said nothing for a moment before he looked at me. “I’m not leaving you, Rosalie. I’m not. You matter to me. I will just have to let this go. We still get to have a baby. It’ll still be mine.” He visibly swallowed. “I’ll be OK. I love you endlessly, and you are my responsibility, so I will always take care of you. Protect you. Keep the monsters away. I vowed that to you. I don’t break promises. You’re stuck with me.”
“You’re a pain in the ass,” I said, smiling at him. I brushed his hair away from his eyes. “But I love you endlessly, too.”
“Good. Now I need to get back to work, and you should get in a nap.”
“Fine.” I rested my head on his shoulder. A tiny smirk played across his lips at the move.
“Dante?”
“Yes?”
“It’ll be OK. I promise.”
“I know. Now sleep, or I’ll seriously drug your ass.”
“There’s my grouchy, crazy brother,” I mumbled, closing my eyes.
He let out a soft laugh before going silent.
And that was that.
I woketo shouts and a lot of swearing.
“Are you serious? Cherry has a sex tape?” Cas roared loudly.
I blinked rapidly, confused about what was happening.
“What’s going on?” I called out groggily. I’d fallen asleep on Dante, but he was now pacing the bus as we sat idling in a parking lot. “Ani?”
He looked at me, his face a mask of sadness and fear.
“What’s going on?” I stumbled out of my spot and pushed past Ryder, who was blocking the computer screen.
“What the hell?” I choked out, reading the headline.
Pop Princess Bishop Linked to Lorenzo De Luca in a Raunchy Sex Tape
“Rosalie, you know Lorenzo De Luca?” Bane asked.
“We-We were engaged a few years ago,” I mumbled as I zeroed in on the news.
My stomach twisted as I stared at the article, an image of Enzo staring back at me. It was his social media picture. The one where he looked so professional and dangerous. And then a picture of me from a recent shoot. Below that, a very real screenshot of me naked in Enzo’s arms as he kissed me in our bed.
I remembered that day. Cole had taken the video.
This was my nightmare. I’d been fighting this happening for years, and now here it was. The one thing I prayed wouldn’t come back to haunt me was glaring at me as I stood in the middle of a tour bus.
“H-How d-did this happen?” I choked out. “How did…how did they get this?”
“I don’t know,” Anson said softly. Tightly. “Lorenzo may have released it. Or Cole. Or… he wasn’t careful, and someone stole it.”
