Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I watch the two pink lines show up.
I stare, disbelieving.
Pregnant.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Lev
Those were not my finest moments.
She’s gonna fucking kill me.
But cheating? Where the fuck did that come from?
Isabella stands in front of me, her fists clenched by her sides, but she looks as if she’s going through a whirlwind of emotions. “Pregnant!” she screams before she cups her belly. “Is the baby alright?” she whispers. “How could you do this to me?” she rages before she shakes her head and swallows hard. “I need to check on the baby. Oh my God. I swear to God, if I find out you did cheat on me, I’m going to murder you, bury you, bring you back to life and kill you again, and then I’m going to take all your fucking money for good measure because you fucking owe me, you fucking son of a bitch!”
Okay, alright. Clearly, she’s not in her right mind at the moment.
“Listen. Kill me later. I’ll fucking bare my neck for you. But first, we need to figure out what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Who were you with last night?” She snaps. “Hmm?”
I anchor my hands on my hips and glare at her. “You first. Who did you talk to, and what the hell are you thinking?”
“You first!”
“Fine! I was with Dmitri. He had a lot of shit to tell me about what you've been up to.”
“Me?” She shakes her head in disbelief. “And I talked to someone who told me you cheated on me,” she says, a warning glint in her eyes telling me she’s about to do something drastic. I could restrain her but she’s a master of getting out of restraints.
“Who told you that? It’s a lie.”
“Of course, you’d say that,” she scoffs. “This coming from a man who fucked with my birth control.”
“Ah, very nice. That’s ripe coming from someone who’s in contact with Carlos Cabrera.”
She stares. “What?”
“You heard me.”
Isabella gets to her feet and paces. Stewing. “We are going to forget about the baby for a moment because I know my brother, and he’s going to come soon.” She stabs a finger in my direction. “Though you are still fucking toast. You asshole.”
I growl at her. “Go on.”
“This is what he does. This is exactly what my family does. They pit everyone against each other. Javier lacks the ability to really take down the Romanovs, with all your alliances and strength. What he’ll do is pit us against each other.”
I frown. It makes sense, but it’s probably exactly what she’d say if she were guilty. Still, I need her to clarify. “Alright. Go on.”
“So, someone told you I was in touch with Carlos. For what purpose? Where’s the proof? For God’s sake, do you think Carlos lets Renata have a phone under her own name? Of course my contact with her will look like contact with him.” She frowns at me. “Have you seen Carlos? Skinny, ugly motherfucker. I wouldn’t let him breathe the same air I do, much less let him touch me.” She shivers as if she had a brush with another jellyfish. “Gross.”
Fuck. Good point. Still… “I read a transcript. They said you were sent here by your brother.”
She laughs mirthlessly. “Leave it to Javier to save face. Of course he made you believe that.” She rolls her eyes. “Do you think if Javier sent me here, he would have me hide in your warehouse dressed like a man and then marry you?”
She’s right. Of course he wouldn’t.
“Lev,” she says gently. “Don’t you see what they are doing? Your man told you I was disloyal. My contact told me you were. How can either one of those things be true? This is exactly what they want us to think.” She frowns. “Wait. Is the pregnancy thing true?”
I cringe. God, I’m an asshole, and I want to believe her. “Yeah.”
She draws a breath in through her nose. “I’m getting another test, and I will fucking kill you, later. But first we will work through this. Want to know how we make them show their faces? Come out of hiding?”
“How?”
She leans in. “We give them what they want. We break up publicly. Let them think they won.” I nod. It makes sense. “Let’s pretend they won. Even if it were true—you cheated on me, and I...” Her voice cracks. She swallows. “And I betrayed you. Even if this were true, you and I would still break up.”
We’re fucking playacting, and it still feels like someone’s driving a knife in my rib cage. “Yeah,” I whisper. “Right.”
I want to hold her to me. I want to kiss her. I want to prove that Dmitri’s evidence is wrong, that we were set up.
I want to show her that having my baby won’t destroy her, destroy us.
I want her to know that I didn’t do it just because my brother wanted me to but because I want a baby with her.