Page 75 of Under His Protection

“Thanks. That means a lot.”

She must have met her quota for sappy topics and sharing her feelings. Furrowing her brow, she concentrated. “Is your friend stuck in an arranged marriage?”

“No. Not formally. Just caught between persuasive people who just want to use her, I think.”

“Some families only pair up with arranged marriages.”

“That sounds like hell.”

She nodded, flicking her perfectly smooth hair back over her shoulder. “Oh, it is.”

“You haven’t been arranged with anyone?”

Her responding bark of laughter was haughty. “No. My uncle would never make that choice for me.”

“But it does happen?” I wasn’t thinking about Dante or myself. Not even Eva or Romeo. For some reason, I was looking ahead. If I were to have a child with him…would my baby be expected to marry someone chosen for them?

I wasn’t sure if I was getting too far ahead of myself. With every day that my period was late, I grew more excited with the prospect that I could already be pregnant. If I wasn’t, I had to be infertile. Dante and I were having sex at least once, but usually multiple times, daily. We’d never used protection, and it felt like it was bound to happen sooner or later.

If I was late any longer, I’d ask for a test. When I worked my ass off, always waitressing, I seldom got my cycles. The stress. The constant working. Poor sleep. I never worried because I was a virgin. Now that I wasn’t, the absence of my period could mean something. Something permanent.

“Nina.” Eva cleared her throat, breaking the silence of several minutes by saying my name.

“Yeah?” I stuck my phone in my pocket, giving up on it for now. I’d have to ask Dante for one tonight. I didn’t want to be without a means of calling him.

“You do realize that Ricky’s not contacting you might mean…” She winced, raising her brows in a prompt for me to finish her statement.

I sighed. “Yes. I considered that. I don’t want to think about it. If the MC was mad that he didn’t hand me over, they could’ve done anything to him.” Horrible, unfathomable things like torture.

Or murder.

“Maybe Dante can look into it for you,” she offered.

I almost smiled. “He did tell me that I could ask him for anything.”

She snorted a laugh. “Yeah, he’s infatuated with you. He’d give you the world if he could.”

Warmth filled me, and deep inside, I felt at peace. He really did care for me. I knew it from the bottom of my heart.

“You’re prepared to commit to him?” she asked. “For the long haul?”

Considering the way I’m wondering if I have his baby inside me already, yes, in for the long haul. I nodded.

“What do you want with him?” she asked, but not sounding pushy about it.

“I want it all,” I answered.

“Do you love him?”

Very much. I nodded. As I opened my mouth, ready to admit it, I was startled. Franco ran up to us, dashing through the spa. Blood spilled down his shirt.

“Franco?” He was shot!

Another Constella guard sprinted with him, but a gunshot rang out and the man fell forward.

Eva screamed. The staff at the spa yelled and shrieked as well, scattering and running or ducking to hide from the men running in, the gunfire, and the guard dropping to the floor to lie unmoving.

“Go!” Franco ordered me.

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