Page 50 of Daddies of the Underworld

Her pragmatic approach was the only thing that kept me sane through the rest of the visit as she walked me through prenatal care.

She didn’t ask about the father, but I couldn’t stop thinking about their possible reactions through the rest of the day.

Every time Matteo passed me, I imagined his face when I told him.

The controlled mask cracking, his hand going still on his glass, his voice going soft.

Dante would go silent. Not the dangerous silence.

A stunned one.

Then he would ask if I had eaten, if I had slept, if the physician had checked everything twice.

Luca would laugh first.

Not because it was funny, but because happiness always seemed to startle him into noise. Then he would drop to his knees and press his face to my stomach as if the baby could hear him making promises already.

By evening, my nerves had turned my secret into something fizzy and unbearable.

I found them in our rooms after dinner, the curtains open to the sea and the lamps turned low.

Luca sat up from where he’d been reading a book in the corner. He took one look at my face and dropped the book, then stood and opened his arms.

This was why I was falling in love with him. He didn’t need answers, he merely saw that I needed comfort, and he offered.

My chin quivered the whole way across the room, and I stepped into his embrace without fear. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.” I started to tell them all right then about the baby. I even took a breath to start the conversation, but Dante stepped up behind me and rested his hands on my shoulders.

Matteo joined us, and there, in the circle of their arms, I found more peace than I’d had in days.

My confession might ruin that. I’d tried not to think about that possibility, but it stole my joy and left me with an emptiness in my gut that caused a churning sensation.

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed Luca. Dante moved behind me, his lips trailing over the sensitive place below my ear.

Matteo slid his fingers along my ribs, then down my spine.

For a while, there were no questions or questioning looks.

For a while, I was able to feel nothing but their hands, the heat of their mouths, and the luxury of being wanted by all three of them.

The world narrowed to silk sheets and rough palms.

And the secret I carried.

They were tender and caring as they took turns with me, each man bringing me to new heights.

Matteo praised me with every controlled thrust, and after I lay in their arms in a state of bliss.

Dante traced lazy circles over my hip, and Matteo’s heart beat against my ear.

I opened my mouth, finally ready to tell them.

Dante’s phone vibrated on the nightstand, and his body tensed. I was starting to hate that sound. It always brought this kind of reaction from him. Did he never receive happy messages?

Dante sat up, the sheet falling to his waist as he grabbed the phone and read the message.

Luca lifted his head from the pillow, all softness draining from his face. Matteo’s arm tightened around me once before he let go.

“What is it?” It hurt to speak around the lump in my throat, everything I’d been about to tell them dying a slow and painful death with the way Dante showed the phone to Matteo and Luca while keeping it from me. “Dante. Show me.”