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She ignored me. “I won’t hold it against you. Really. You trusted me, and I nailed you down. Betrayed you.”
“Elise… please stop.”
“I just ask that you let me stay until I can find another safe place to live, and—”
I leaned forward and kissed her. Her eyes widened as another tear rolled down. Slowly, I pulled away to look at her.
“I need you to look at me and listen carefully. Can you do that?”
She nodded as I wiped a tear away.
“Never in a million years did I think I would ever meet a woman like you. I’m crazy about you. When I told you you were mine, I meant it. And I never say something I don’t mean. This baby...” His gaze dropped to my belly. “This baby is ours. Mine. Yours. It won’t be easy, but I’ve taken more lives than I can count. The thought of bringing one into this world is as beautiful to me as it is scary. So tell me, do you want to stay with me no matter what?”
She looked at me, then faintly smiled. “I want nothing more.”
“Then stop this nonsense and embrace this gift.”
My mind was racing. We would have a baby, and we would raise it together. Almost like a normal family. The thought of that felt weirdly exciting in my head. But then, in the far corner of my mind, I thought again about Marcello and the CIA and the threat they posed to my family. What would Marcello do to our child if he found out that his infertility secret had been discovered and that his supposed wife was pregnant with another man's child?
I couldn’t let this happen. The baby news changedeverything.
I walked to the kitchen and picked up a pitcher with water. I returned to the living room with two glasses, poured the water into the cups, handed one to her, and kept one to myself. She took a sip.
“We should talk about options,” I said.
She clicked her tongue at me and gave me a serious look.
“Options?”
“Yes.” I stalled, then sighed. “Your husband sent his boys to the cabin where we stayed. They burned the place down.”
She sat up suddenly and stared at me, her mouth falling open just a little. “How did they find it?”
“I don't know. I guess the CIA traced us, and maybe one of their guys used the mob to do their dirty work. You know, they can't arrest me without the local police and all that.”
The worry on her face was stressful to watch. I put a hand on her knee and rubbed my thumb against her skin. “We will be okay. I am going to handle it.”
Elise was quiet for a moment and then she took a sip from her glass. “He is not giving up,” she mumbled after a few seconds, her eyes staring at the floor.
“He’s a mob boss. He won’t give up anything that threatens his business or his empire.His power.When it was only us on the run, it was different. But now... I need to do something.”
“You don’t have to do a thing. We are here in Indonesia now. It’s safe.”
“For now. But you are carrying my child. What will he do if he finds out about that? How will we be on the run with you being pregnant? All the medical appointments. The condition you’ll be in.”
She shook her head and put her glass down on the table. “We’ll be fine.”
“Maybe. But I won’t leave anything to chance. I can’t, Elise. I just can’t. If anything would happen to you or the baby, I would go mad.”
She leaned closer and wrapped her fingers around my arm. “Tell me what you are thinking.”
I nodded. “Marcello. He thinks he is untouchable. But what if I were to pay him a visit?”
“You can’t do that. He has lots of men. They will kill you.”
“They won’t even see me. I'm not called the Eagle for nothing.”
I looked at her face and she stared back at me, her eyes turning soft like she would cry at any moment. I touched her cheek gently, tracing my finger along her jaw.
