Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
Though it is a little harder this time since I’m aware her next comment is true. “We had unprotected sex more than once. That comes with a risk, An”—Zoya recovers quickly from her near fumble of my name—“Kazimir. One you failed to adequately assess before you decided to fuck with me.”
“I didn’t assess the situation adequately because you’re infertile,” I argue back, hating that she’s airing our dirty laundry for the world to see, but too fucking furious she is placing her anger before Zakhar’s life not to snap back. “We met at a fertility clinic.”
“Exactly!”
Zoya fights to get out of one of my father’s goon’s hold before Maksim ends her struggle with a threat. It sees the goon stepping back with his hands in the air, confident he is seconds from death.
I hate that Maksim is defending her, but not as much as the turmoil her following sentence instigates. “I was at a fertility clinic seeking treatment. You can ask anyone who has suffered from endometriosis. The chances of conception increase tenfold after laparoscopic ablation.”
I shake my head, too sickened to even consider the possibility. A month ago, I would have banged my chest. But now… fuck. I’ll be seen as a mockery.
This is not something I will ever live down.
“She’s telling the truth,” fires up her best friend. “I’ve also been pumping her with fertility supplements over the past six months.” Nikita shifts on her feet to face a still and slack-jawed Zoya. “I didn’t mean to snoop. I just wanted to lessen your pain. I was trying to help.”
The crowd loves the tension the sheer honesty in Nikita’s eyes offer.
I fucking hate it.
So much so, I dismiss Zoya with an edge of arrogance I am certain she is growing to loathe. “It doesn’t matter. I love Arabella, and I want her to be my wife.”
I also love my son, and I refuse for my foolish mistakes to end his life.
He isn’t even five yet.
He has barely lived.
Why the fuck am I the only one who cares about that?
“That choice is now out of your hands,” says a voice steeped in history.
The wedding invitees whisper among themselves when my grandfather stands to his feet and turns to face Zoya. Although he projects his voice in her direction, the sneer of his words reveals who his anger is truly directed at.
It isn’t Zoya or me.
It is my father.
“I didn’t work so hard to keep our family name in good graces to have a child born out of wedlock. If her claims are true, they will wed. Today.”
With a flick of his wrist, he sends Kolya out to purchase a pregnancy test and ends the nuptials saving his great-grandson’s life.
65
ZOYA
As she tears open an early-detection pregnancy test, Nikita whispers, “I really hope you know what you’re doing, Z. This family seems a little tense.”
She knew what to say when I commenced my ruse because I grilled her last night on how I could make a pregnancy test appear positive even if you’re not pregnant. She grew so worried that I had taken a test and was freaking about the results that she admitted she knew of my fertility issues and confessed to supplementing my “vitamin water” with medication I couldn’t afford.
It’s why Grampies’s pharmaceutical bill surged so astronomically high six months ago.
Before I can tell her that I have no damn clue what I am doing, a deep male voice from outside the bathroom says, “Step out of the stall. We don’t want the test contaminated.”
“Just a minute,” Nikita murmurs before she shifts her focus back to me.
“Not a minute. Now!”
I slant my head out of the stall before releasing some of my anger onto a person undeserving of my wrath. It isn’t his fault my lie forced him into a female restroom to watch me pee on a stick. He also didn’t try to force my sister into a marriage that would only end one way—with her death. But I’m too frustrated not to release some of the pressure, so he will be hit with some of it.
“Do you know who her husband is?” The brute jerks up his chin. “Then I suggest you shut your mouth before he teaches you some manners. She’s also a doctor. They can’t lie even when you want them to.” My last statement is more for me than Nikita. I need to have some faith in Dr. Hemway, or my entire plan will go to shit.
With the goon more worried about Maksim’s sudden appearance than who is peeing on the stick purchased by political royalty, I tell Nikita to go ahead.
She does so with knowledge I doubt she learned in medical school. “You need to dip this end into your pee midstream.” She emphasizes her last word like it has a heap of importance. “Once you’ve finished, pop the cap back on. A positive result should come up in a minute or two.”