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She was right; they would. That was not the way it should be. I was not even sure if I could tell him this. And even if I would decide to tell him, I had to be the one to do it. I could not let someone else warn him. I had to make a plan to save my baby first.
I pulled back from Priscilla and brushed away my tears as best as I could and then took a deep breath, again as best as I could. “I can stay alone. Just please go get me a test.”
“Okay, okay.” She nodded absently. Then she looked at me again and kissed my forehead, holding my head steady and looking into my eyes. “Everything is going to be okay.”
I nodded and wanted to believe her more than anything.
Chapter 16
Kira
I was sitting on the stairs chewing my fingernails when I heard the elevator opening to the apartment. I jumped to my feet. “Thank God, Priscilla…” I trailed off because who I found was not Priscilla.
Gabriele didn’t have his easy smile he usually flashed for me. His face was stiff and emotionless. Though his brows came together when he saw me. “Kira, something wrong?”
Shit. Did I look that bad?
I shook off my expression and forced a smile. I could not let him understand something was wrong. I stepped closer to him and brushed my lips to his. “No, I was just waiting for Priscilla.”
Despite his concerned, hard expression, his hand came to my waist and squeezed softly. “Where is she?”
“At the grocery store. She is going to get those apple chips I love so much. I have a horrible craving for them.” I stilled with my terrible word choice. Even though there was no way Gabriele could understand anything from that, I couldn’t help but tense. “I mean, I really wanted to eat them.”
He squeezed my waist again. “Kira, are you okay?”
I was not okay. The memories flowing inside my head were worse than anything. They were the ones I buried so deep. Yet, I felt better than I did a few minutes ago. I was fucking scared how Gabriele was going to react, but still, his presence gave me peace.
Gabriele was my sanctuary.
So, I nodded and smiled a small but genuine smile. “I am good.” but when I regarded his face, that smile disappeared. “Areyouokay?”
His throat moved up and down, and I knew the answer was “no.” Yet, he didn’t say that. “I just think we should talk.”
My heart went crazy inside my chest. Everything was like a dream. I always knew it was too good to be true, but I was not expecting to get two bad news back to back. I felt like I was dying, and even though I was okay with that just this morning, now it was the thing I feared the most. “Is it something bad?” I asked. My throat was closing, and I could feel that my eyes were wet.
Gabriele’s hard expression turned into a worried one in seconds, and his free hand came up to cup the back of my head. “Breathe, darling,” he said as he pressed kisses to my temple and forehead. “It is not bad like you think.”
I nodded into his neck. His touch, his kisses, his voice all made me feel better. His presence was like magic to me. It was one of the reasons I knew I could never live without him.
I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, then let’s talk.” I knew even if it was something bad, Gabriele would keep the pain away from me. I trusted him.
“Let’s go up to our room. I don’t want to be interrupted,” he said and pulled me upstairs. Him calling it “our room” eased my pain. My temporary happy reality was always good for running away from the real reality. But I could tell when we sat on the bed, he was going to ruin my happiness, and there was nothing I could do to stop him.
He took a deep breath and put his hands on his muscular thighs. “I got a call today. Fedor got executed. He was the rat.”
My eyes widened. I didn’t understand how this could be bad news. Another one of my rapists was dead, and one was in jail. “Really?” I asked because I couldn’t believe it could be this good. I was genuinely expecting bad news.
Gabriele looked at me and nodded. “Aleksei had almost no power left. Nikolayev family is controlling him. He is ruined.”
I smiled brightly. “Isn’t this good news then? I mean, you did it, Gabriele. You avenged me.”
For some reason, the look on his face was sad. “I did. I ended them.” He paused for a second. “And now we came to the last part of our agreement.”
All the light and happiness left my body in a heartbeat. I was drained from any good thing that I had in me. It was time for him to kill me. That was the agreement. I tried to swallow the hard lump in my throat. I failed. “I guess we did.”
His eyes filled with so much rage as he stood up from the bed. I have never seen his anger aimed at me. He looked fucking terrifying, but I still couldn’t find it in me to get scared of him. His presence still kept me serene.
“Are you not going to say anything about this?” he asked.
