Page 28 of Say You're Mine

The call from Louis, panicked and urgent. The confrontation with Amethyst, the pictures - God, the pictures - of fake bellies and IVF clinics. The white-hot rage, the bone-deep terror, the grim satisfaction of finally, finally having proof of Elaine's lies.

And then... chaos. Grasping hands, cruel laughter, the snap of June's head whipping back as a fist connected with his jaw. The screams clawing up my throat as they dragged him away, the world tilting on its axis as pain exploded through my skull.

I must have dozed off, lost in the dark tangle of memory and drugged exhaustion, because the next thing I know, there's a presence at my bedside. A figure, looming over me in the sickly fluorescent light.

Fear lances through me, sharp and cold. I lurch upright, a scream building in my chest, my hands flying instinctively to shield my stomach. But then the figure speaks, and the scream dies on my lips.

"Whoa, easy! It's me. It's Amethyst."

I blink, my muddled brain struggling to make sense of the words. Amethyst? Here, in my hospital room? Surely this is another drug-fueled nightmare, a twisted trick of my battered psyche.

But no. As my vision clears, I take in the details I missed before - the atrocious wig, the oversized sunglasses, the scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face. She looks like a reject from a low-budget spy film, and for a moment, the absurdity of it all overwhelms the fear and confusion.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I rasp, my voice still slightly slurred from sleep and whatever cocktail they've got dripping into my veins.

Amethyst glances furtively over her shoulder, as if expecting Elaine herself to come bursting through the door at any moment. When she turns back to me, I'm shocked to see tears glinting in her eyes behind the ridiculous glasses.

"I had to see you," she whispers, her voice cracking on the last word. "I had to tell you... God, Cara, I'm so sorry. For everything."

I stare at her, uncomprehending. Sorry? Amethyst, Elaine's right-hand sycophant, the mistress of manipulation and deceit, is sorry?

"I don't..." I shake my head, wincing as the movement sends pain lancing through my temples. "I don't understand. What are you apologizing for?"

She takes a shuddering breath, her fingers twisting in the rough hospital blanket. "The pregnancy. The baby. It was all a lie."

My heart stutters, skips, then kicks into overdrive. A lie. I knew it, I knew it with every fiber of my being, but to hear her say it out loud, to have the confirmation I've been so desperate for... it's almost too much to process.

"I lost the baby," Amethyst continues, her voice barely above a whisper. "Just a week after the doctor confirmed it. But I couldn't tell Elaine. I couldn't tell... him."

There's something in the way she says that last word, a tremor of fear that raises the hairs on the back of my neck. "Him?" I echo, a sick knot of dread forming in my stomach. "Him who?"

Amethyst lets out a choked sound, halfway between a laugh and a sob. "My father. The grand puppetmaster himself."

Understanding slams into me like a freight train. Of course.

Was he the man in Elaine's office? But I should know have known; of course, Amethyst's father would be involved in this twisted web, pulling the strings behind the scenes like the spineless slug he is.

"He's the one who pushed for the pregnancy," she says, her voice dull and distant, as if reciting a script she's long since memorized. "Said it was the only way to secure the Deveaux fortune, to keep June under control. And when I lost the baby..."

She breaks off, her throat working as she swallows hard. "He was furious. Said I'd failed him, failed the family. That if I couldn't give him a Deveaux heir, he'd..." She chokes on the words, a shudder wracking her frame. "He'd do it himself."

Bile rises in my throat, hot and acrid. The implication is clear, the unspoken horror hanging heavy in the air between us. "Amethyst," I breathe, my hand reaching out almost unconsciously to grip hers. "I'm so sorry. No one should have to go through that, to fear their own father."

She flinches at my touch, as if unused to even the smallest gesture of comfort. My heart clenches, a wave of sympathy mingling with the ever-present anger and fear.

"I didn't know where else to turn," she says, her voice small and lost. "Elaine's in on it, has been from the beginning. And my father... he's ruthless. Powerful. There's only one person I know who might be able to stand against him."

"Who?" I ask, hardly daring to breathe.

Amethyst leans in, her voice dropping to a barely audible whisper. "Dante Corleone. The don of Accel City."

The name lands like a bomb in the stillness of the room. Dante Corleone. The most infamous crime lord on the eastern seaboard, a man whispered about in dark alleys and backroom deals. A man with the power to make even the most hardened criminals quake in their Italian leather shoes.

"You think he'd help us?" I ask, hating the tremor in my voice. "Why would he get involved in this mess?"

Amethyst shrugs, a jerky, birdlike motion. "He has a code. Twisted as it may be. And a soft spot for women, especially pregnant ones. His wife Natalie has been quietly helping me look for a surrogate, someone to pass off as carrying June's child."

My head spins, the pieces clicking into place with sickening clarity. "And you think I could be that surrogate," I say slowly, testing the shape of the words on my tongue. "That we could use my pregnancy to convince your father and Elaine that their plan is still in motion."

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