Page 47 of Ruthless Son

But the future was undecided, and I hated living in a gray area without at least knowing the possible outcome.

“I plan on keeping her, Prez,” I told him. “I need you to have my back on this one.” His face grew serious, concern in his dark eyes.

“What are you planning, Rex?”

“It’s already done.” I threw the empty water bottle in the trash can, hitting a two-pointer and stood up to leave, I had shit to do to keep my plan on track.

“Rex…” I paused, and looked over my shoulder. Cal rested his chin on his closed fist. “Don’t do anything dumb, ya hear? I don’t want this good thing you have going on ruined before it even started.”

I thought about the lockbox under my bed that now contained Mia’s passport. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” I held her only means of escape, which meant that now, she couldn’t leave me. She was mine, and I’d make it clear that this was where she was supposed to be.

“For fuck’s sake, Son. What did you do? We have enough drama right now without a crazy ass Brit going ballistic.”

“Cal, please just trust me.” The big man nodded, resigned to sit back and watch it play out. I gripped the handle, knowing I had his blessing to keep Mia here was a relief, because I knew she would be mad the minute she realized it was missing. But I had time for that and I could definitely keep her occupied for a short time. But I was a tenacious motherfucker and when I wanted something, I went hard.

Princess didn’t know what was coming, but I knew what was best for her… for us. I’d make her happy here and one day in the future, she’ll thank me for giving her this life, this family that she was slowly working her way into the hearts of. They idolized her after what she did for Sly and what she was still doing.

Closing myself in my empty room, I sat on the edge of the bed. The nightstand held a box of condoms that I’d had to keep restocking since Mia got here. They didn’t last long, but they were something that she insisted on, refusing to let me fuck her unless I wrapped up, so I kept the drawer full of rubbers. Pulling out the box, I unpacked it, pulling out the long strip of condoms and laying them next to me.

Digging around in the back of the drawer, I felt along the underside for the pin I’d stuck there last time I had done this. With each condom I stripped off, I stabbed the needle through the center, before throwing it back in.

The key to keeping the woman I was quickly falling for… knock her up. The minute princess was barefoot and pregnant, I’d sleep far easier knowing she had someone here she couldn’t ever leave. Each stab of the pin was one step closer to making Mia Harwood officially mine, she just didn’t know it yet.

Mia

“Ugh,” I wiped my mouth with a wet cloth and flushed the toilet, the evidence of my sickness swirling down the bowl. Sweat beaded my brow. I shuffled back to the bedroom and flopped on the bed, my stomach roiling. I closed my eyes to gain some equilibrium, I needed to brush my teeth too, but I didn’t have the energy to stand and do it. I just wanted to sleep.

Exhaustion had been weighing me down over the past few weeks. I found myself sleeping in longer than I normally did, and the minute I rose, I retched.

I wasn’t a fucking idiot. I just chose to plead ignorance a little longer, hoping for gastroenteritis along the way.

“How are you feeling?” Millie sat on the edge of the bed, resting her hand along my cheek. “You don’t have a temperature, Mia, but I think you should see a doctor anyway. You keep vomiting.”

Her concern was sweet. I offered what passed for a smile, but felt more like a grimace. “I probably just ate something that didn’t agree with me, it’ll pass soon.” It always did. It wasn’t called ‘morning sickness’ for nothing. Like clockwork, as soon as lunchtime hit, my nausea disappeared. It was uncanny, which is why I suspected it in the first place. No way would a bug be so convenient. “Don’t tell Rex, he’ll just worry and he has enough to be bothered about right now.” The lie fell from my dry lips, but my sister accepted it without argument, before leaving me to my misery.

We’d been so careful. No contraception was fool proof, I knew it, but we’d fucked like rabbits, not a night went past where he wasn’t inside me at least once.

He’d even started carrying condoms in his pocket just in case he came and found me during the day.

My mouth tasted like crap and I grabbed the glass of water on the nightstand to try and rinse the rank vomit flavor away. I hated being sick. I was the worst patient, and despised being laid up, needing to do things myself.

Oh God, what the hell was I going to tell Rex? He’d think I did it on purpose. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Pushing my face into the pillow, I screamed, the muffled sound barely recognizable.

This entire trip was turning into one big clusterfuck. Tears pricked behind closed lids, spilling out to wet the pillow beneath me. I didn’t want this. We hadn’t talked about what would happen once this mess had been sorted out, he never raised the subject of me staying here since I told him last time that we were just a fling. I didn’t expect him to either, he was a prideful man, I’d come to know that much about him at least.

I needed to get a pregnancy test first, and decide what I was going to do after. My belly rolled, nerves this time making me feel ill. Sitting down with Rex and telling him that I was accidentally pregnant with his baby had the nausea rising and I gritted my teeth against the sickness.

I wanted to go home and see my dad, feel his comforting arms around me and let me know that everything would be ok, the way he used to do when I was a kid. He would be so disappointed in me. I was supposed to be the good kid, the one that did everything by the book, made smart choices… now look at me.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I saw shadows by the door. Low voices outside were muffled by the space between us, but I recognized Rex’s deep tone. Scrubbing across my eyes with my sleeve, I tried to remove the tracks of tears, wiping away the evidence of my sadness before he came in and asked questions.

Pulling the cover above my head, I did the only thing I could to keep the secret I was harboring a secret for just a little bit longer—I hid. The blanket smothered all evidence of my symptoms, and like the grown up I am, I didn’t care about burying my problems beneath a fluffy camouflage.

His footsteps were dampened by the carpet, but I knew the minute he stopped beside the bed, his presence a living entity in the bedroom. “What are you doing, princess?” His heavy weight pressed down on me, pinning me beneath him and the blanket.

“Mmfffffmm.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re saying, woman.” He laughed above me, dragging the blanket down until he slowly revealed me underneath. His laughter froze when he saw me, his concern in his lowering brows. “What’s wrong? Have you been crying?” Rex sat up quickly, pulling me up, cradling my upper body in his arms. The quick movement had me wanting to retch. Quickly, I buried my head in his chest to hide my pale face and dry-heaving, breathing in his clean smell of leather and citrus.

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