Page 43 of His Unexpected Heir

Antonio turned, immediately pushing Astra behind his back, shielding her. “Maria? What the hell are you doing?”

She cradled her bandaged hand against her belly. “No!” she snapped. She pointed the gun at Astra when she peered around Antonio’s body. “You’re supposed to be dead and I’m supposed to marry Antonio!” She tried to control her temper, but she was too far gone. “And you sure as hell aren’t supposed to be pregnant! I’m supposed to be the next Marquessa!” She stomped a pink stiletto. “I deserve the title and the respect!” She glared at Antonio. “Your father promised me that I would marry you! That he would order you to marry me so that I could live here in this grand castle!” She waved her hand in the air. “But your father is insane! There’s no way in hell I’m going to live here once he’s out of prison. That man gets off on hurting people!”

Antonio backed up, pressing Astra against the wall.

Antonio nodded to Maria, agreeing with her. “I know this. He made my childhood a living hell.”

“Wrong!” she bellowed, the pistol waving in the air as her fury intensified. “You got to live here in this beautiful place! You got to eat all the food you wanted and live in the lap of luxury. The rest of us were treated like peasants! We were humiliated by your father simply because we were poor!”

She started crying and the pistol wavered wildly. “I didn’t want to be poor! I didn’t want to be a peasant!” She sobbed now, her shoulders hunched as those past humiliations haunted her. “I hated growing up in the village! Your father made everyone’s lives miserable!”

“Mine too, Maria,” he said softly.

“Liar!” she yelled, then straightened up. She sniffed, wiping at her tears with her sleeve. “And now he’s going to get out and…” she lifted her bandaged hand. “He did this to me today! He’s going to get out of prison and do this to me over and over again!” She shook her head. “I can’t let him find out that I failed him! I can’t! I’m sick of the pain, Antonio! I can’t take anymore!”

“Maria,” Antonio soothed, “I know you’re scared. But my father isn’t getting out of prison. He’s going to rot there.”

“He won’t!” she screamed hysterically. “He told me he’s getting out! In fact, he’s going to be released any day now and I haven’t killed her yet!” She sniffed. “Eldora was supposed to poison you, but you didn’t drink the tea! Then Manual tried to poison you again but you wouldn’t drink the damn lemonade!” She sniffed. “I went to visit your father today, to tell him that I couldn’t do it and he did this!” she repeated.

“Maria, I don’t know what you’ve done in the past, but right now–”

“Stop it!” she yelled! “I don’t want to hear any more! I can’t! I won’t marry you. I can’t do it! Your father would beat me just for the pleasure of it!” She glared at Astra, who was still peering around Antonio’s arm. “He can’t learn she’s alive!” Her eyes were wide and unseeing as the pistol kept shifting from side to side.

“Maria, we can–”

“Get in!” she hissed, looking behind her to make sure there wouldn’t be any witnesses. “You’re going to get into that damn dungeon and no one will find you!” She glanced at the door behind them. “Go on! That’s it, isn’t it?”

Antonio stiffened, his voice dropping into an authoritative tone. “Maria, you don’t have to do this.”

“Move!” she yelled.

Astra tugged on his shirt. “Let’s go,” she whispered.

“Not in there!” he warned her.

Maria pointed her gun at Astra’s belly. “Move, or I shoot her and kill your baby!”

Antonio shifted so that his body was shielding Astra. With a deep, helpless sigh, he began walking backwards into the cell.

The short space didn’t provide any opportunity for escape and Astra took his hand. “Just go with it,” she whispered to him.

“Stop talking!” Maria yelled, and the words echoed off the damp stone walls.

They backed up into the cell and Maria shoved Astra in. Antonio hurried to catch her so that she didn’t fall, and as soon as he was over the threshold, Maria slammed the cell door shut. The iron keys were hanging on the hook and she locked the cell door.

“When I figure out how to stop your father, then I’ll send someone to let you out,” she promised, still frantic. “I just…I need time,” she told them, sobbing again. “I’m sorry, Antonio. I know that we could have had a beautiful relationship but…” she sniffed and wiped at her tears. “Your father is a psychopath!”

And with that, she turned and ran away.

“Maria!” Antonio called after her furiously. He rattled the bars of the cell, hoping to release the ancient lock. “Maria, come back right now and let us out! I can help you!”

Silence.

Frustrated, Antonio spun around. “I’ll get us out of here somehow!” he vowed, then started pacing.

“We’ll be fine,” Astra assured him calmly, moving to the plastic bin and tugging it out from the shadows. It had been shoved there only minutes before. Was that good timing or what?

But Antonio wasn’t listening. He paced back and forth, running a furious hand through his hair. “Why the hell would she decide to lock me up just because she has some wild idea that my father will be released? What’s the point? There’s no point to locking us up.”

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