Page 95 of Marked By the Devil

Oh, God.

Oh, my God.

For several minutes, I had to struggle to get ahold of myself. Only when my stomach muscles ached from heaving and there was nothing else to empty into the toilet as I kneeled on the floor and caught my breath did I give in completely

“There’s no doubt.”

There couldn’t be any doubt that I was pregnant.

Getting cleaned up took me a while, but I tried to keep moving. I was glad that Viktor wasn’t here to see me like this, and I was grateful that Elena wasn’t waiting on me to show up to work with her on our ongoing financial investigation. We’d mutually agreed to take the day “off” and see what kind of reactions were coming from that exposure at the press conference.

With that firmly in my mind, I went downstairs to see what I could find out.

It took me that long to realize that I’d left my phone at the mansion.

“Whoops.”

With a cup of coffee just to see if I could handle it, I headed out to the gardens where Paul overlapped his assistant and butler and guard duties with his interest in being an amateur horticulturist.

I didn’t feel like driving to the mansion just to get my phone, but I bet that someone would be heading from it that they could drop it off. With how my dreams had bothered me and how uneasy my stomach was, I wanted to hang out at home. No plans sounded nice. But having my phone would matter, though, in case of an emergency or if Viktor wanted to get ahold of me.

“Morning, Paul.”

“Morning?” He glanced at his watch. Sweat beaded on his brow as he raked a patch of dirt and thatch.

I smiled. “Hey, um, I think I left my phone at the mansion.”

He nodded. “You did. Elena realized that when she tried texting you and heard it ring there. She’s bringing it by in about an hour when she and the others are going shopping for a birthday gift for Alexei.” He glanced up at me again. “I suspect that she will hope you’ll go too.”

I winced. Spending time with them sounded great, but it didn’t match my staying-in mood.

“I can let them know you’re unavailable,” he offered, ever helpful.

“No.” I smiled and rolled my eyes. “I can tell them I’m just not feeling up to it.”

He nodded again and I left him to do his gardening.

Back inside, I wondered how long I’d need to wait before they arrived. I gave up on drinking my coffee and rinsed out my mug to reuse it.

Why, though?

I furrowed my brow at the mug on the counter when I realized that if I couldn’t stomach a cup of coffee now, I probably wouldn’t be able to later, either.

Elena called out for me, letting herself in. “Hello? Wren?”

“Hey. I’m in here.” I turned from the counter and came to greet them as they entered the house.

“Did you just get up?” Carina asked. She tilted her head to the side, curious.

I laughed once. “Is it that obvious?” I asked.

“Kind of,” she replied, blunt as ever.

I smirked. “Thanks.”

“Well, we stopped by earlier before we were going to go shopping to drop off your phone and say hi, but Paul said you were still in bed. I mean, that was early, but still…” Carina narrowed her eyes at me. “We already went to half the stores we wanted to check out before going to more, but it seems like you’re not dressed to go out.”

I looked down at my shorts and comfy tee. I wasn’t dressed for anything but being a slug on the couch. “I’m kind of hoping to be lazy and stay in today.”