Page 39 of Crowned

I keep her tight against my chest, but Lilia gazes at us in confusion. “You’ll help me?”

Elyah gives her a look like she’s crazy. “Solnyshko, of course. We cannot leave bodies lying around. We are professionals.”

Kirill steps closer and slides his hand over her belly and leans close to murmur in her ear. “Be a good girl while we’re gone and tell Kostya everything about this Vavilov shit, so we know how much damage control we have to do.Da?” He pats her. “Good girl.”

Whatever they find in that car, Elyah and Kirill will make it disappear without a trace. No one will be coming after Lilia if we can help it.

I watch the pair of them heading out the door. They’ll be gone for hours, which means for now, I’ve got Lilia all to myself.

I take a step back, and my gaze lands on her swollen belly.

Fuck, she’s pregnant.

Pregnant.

I’m hit hard with the realization every time I look at her. She must have already been expecting when we had her on the plane, and she didn’t say a damn thing. She should have told us. For one thing, I ordered Kirill to get information out of her however he liked. He chose to fuck her rather than torture her, but it could have so easily been the other way. He could have hurt the baby because of me.

For another thing, I have a right to fucking know she’s having my baby.

“You’re glaring at me,” Lilia says.

“That’s because I’m furious with you. Does your father know about this?”

She nods. “He caught me with a pregnancy test in my handbag and he watched as he made me take it. He was taking me back to America for an abortion.”

Hatred burns in my heart. Aran Brazhensky, I should have murdered you when I had the chance. “Is that what you wanted?”

It’s Lilia’s turn to look furious and hurt as well. “You think I fled halfway across Europe, bought baby things, and I’m working my ass off because I don’t want this child?”

I put my hands on her shoulders and just look at her. I’ve seen pregnant women before, but never one who looks as beautiful as Lilia, even covered in blood. After the pageant, I planned to get my new wife pregnant. Have strong sons so I can pass onto them everything I am building. Lilia ruined my ambitions, now here she is and everything’s back on schedule.

If anyone could turn my world upside down and then put it back together again, it’s her.

She has a wary expression in her eyes. “Now you’re smiling. What’s going on in your mind?”

“I was just thinking that you’re more dangerous and unpredictable than the three of us put together.”

The sink isn’t far from the front door in this tiny apartment. I cross to it and run a cloth under the faucet, but when I approach her, she jerks her cheek away from me.

“Leave me alone.”

“Let me help you. You’re still shaking.”

“I was managing fine by myself.”

Over her shoulder is a yellow wooden crib with a mobile of animals dancing over it. They both look second-hand, and this room is tiny, but she placed these objects with so much care. So much love.

Suddenly, vividly, I can picture my child. It has Lilia’s golden hair and her delicate features. A tiny hand with even tinier fingernails that grips my finger as it gazes up at me.

“Konstantin?” Lilia turns her head to see what I’m gazing at. “Oh. I know it’s not much, a second-hand crib in the living room. You’re thinking how much better you could do this than me.”

I shake my head. “I wasn’t thinking that at all.”

Our eyes meet, and her beautiful ones grow troubled. “Stop looking at me like that.”

I cup her jaw and begin to wipe away the blood. The makeup. The mascara stains on her cheeks. “Like what?”

“Like there’s something for you here.”

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