Page 146 of Hidden

Positioned around him, spaced out just enough that he wouldn’t immediately notice. Watching. Waiting. Ready to strike when the command was given.

“No…” The word slipped out before I could stop it, my body instinctively shifting forward.

A hand clamped around my arm, holding me in place.

“Oh, this is precious!” My father laughed. “He doesn’t know, does he? The poor bastard thinks all of this is real.”

My chest tightened, panic rising so fast it made me dizzy.

“It’s not real, is it, Princess?” he continued, almost conversationally, like he was discussing something as trivial as the weather. And yet, we all knew the menace and threat lurking behind those words. “You never willingly took up with a Devil.Did you? You never shared his bed, his hopes, and his dreams? You never betrayed your club, your family, me? None of that is true, is it, baby?” he said, walking closer and closer to me with every word.

My blood turned to ice.

The room fell silent, the weight of his words pressing in on me from all sides.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.

Natalie’s voice echoed in my head.

We’ve been working them.

My gaze snapped back to her. Her eyes were wide, pleading, filled with something that looked a lot like fear.

Say it.

I had to trust her. She was in this room before me. She knew more than me. And it didn’t take a genius to fill in the gaps.

If I admitted my involvement with Luke, my father’s men would kill him right there and then.

A short, hollow laugh left me before I could stop it.

“Seriously?” I scoffed, dragging my attention back to my father as I forced my shoulders to relax. “This is what this is about?”

I leaned into it, because I had no other choice.

“She’s right,” I said, the words tasting like acid in my mouth. “It was never real. I got close to him to get information. After what happened with his mother, he was the easiest target,” I said with a shrug. “He’s the stray, Dad. Nothing more. He just so happens to also be the stray that’s clinging to the son of the president. Getting information was easy when the target was someone so desperate,” I forced a chuckle, my words stabbing into my heart.

But they were just words, I told myself. Just words, and they meant nothing.

My father didn’t move. Didn’t react. He just watched me, weighing my words.

“Is that so?” he asked mildly.

I met his gaze and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Then prove it,” he said, his eyes drifting to my abdomen.

My stomach twisted violently, my hand instinctively pressing against it before I could stop myself.

No.

Not that.

There was no way he could know.

“I said prove it, girl!” my dad barked, making me and Natalie jump. “Come on! After all these years, you must have fucking something for me!”

I hesitated, just for a moment, and in that moment I felt everything I was about to destroy. Every line I was about to cross.