Page 36 of Crowned

“Look,” Elyah insists, pointing. His face is blank with shock.

Konstantin’s gaze follows Elyah’s, and so does Kirill’s. Everyone’s eyes fasten on the fabric pulled tight over my stomach.

My swollen, pregnant stomach. I stare at it myself, shocked that it’s given me away. Suddenly, I look a lot more pregnant than I did this morning.

I look huge.

A shocked whisper falls from Konstantin’s lips. “Blyat.”

He lets me go, one finger at a time releasing my dress. I smooth it down and step away from them, my heart racing frantically.

“Get out. All of you.”

No one moves. All three men are staring at me like I’ve suddenly sprouted tentacles. I can see them making the calculations in their minds, counting back the days and weeks.

“Lilia,” Elyah breathes, and reaches for me with both hands, but I pull away from him.

“I said get out.”

“How many weeks? Whose is it?” Elyah demands.

“Bugs Bunny’s. Whose do you think it is? What was happening to me twenty-two weeks ago?”

His pale blue eyes are stormy as he stares at my belly. “Look at you. I have imagined you this way ever since you first told me you were pregnant. You are beautiful.”

Beautiful? I’m covered in blood.

My stomach lurches as I see the wonder and adoration in his eyes. It’s just how I imagined the man I love would look when I told him I’m pregnant. A look that apparently I’ve been secretly longing for because it goes straight to my heart.

“You are even more beautiful because the child is mine,” Elyah breathes.

Konstantin looks at him sharply.

I try to step back but I’ve run out of apartment and my back hits the wall. Elyah puts his hands on me, cupping my swollen belly, gazing at me in adoration as he strokes across the firm, curved planes of my stomach. This is exactly what I daydreamed about when I was married to Ivan, Elyah bestowing looks of love on me while touching me like my belly is a miracle.

“Please, don’t,” I whisper helplessly, unable to tear my eyes away from his face.

Another hand reaches out to touch me, this one hesitant at first, but then it’s placed firmly on my belly. I look up and see naked shock on Konstantin’s face. His silver rings are glinting on my belly as he touches me with devastating tenderness.

“Get your hands off me.” But my words are a whimper, not a demand. Konstantin lifts his eyes to mine and shakes his head.

He won’t.

He utterly refuses.

A third set of hands joins the others on my belly. Strong fingers, tattooed like Elyah’s but not as calloused. Sweat has broken out on Kirill’s brow, and his face is blank with astonishment.

Elyah swats Kirill’s hands away, but Kirill puts them back. I meet the tall, dark-haired man’s gaze and discover that he’s just as rocked to the core by this sudden revelation as the other two.

Except there’s no chance it’s Kirill’s.

“What are you doing? It’s not yours.”

“It could be,” he retorts.

“I was pregnant for weeks before we had sex on the plane.”

He glares at me, something dark flickering behind his eyes. “I was there at the pageant. It could just as easily have been me.”

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