Page 56 of Twisted Obsession

I drag in an uneven breath, remembering how I felt when I thought I’d lose my virginity in an act of violence. “I was a virgin,” I whisper, and even without looking, I hear a yell, another grunt and a smash as my bedroom wall bears the brunt of Callum’s anger once again. I risk a glance to find Ciaran doing his best to calm his twin and decide I need to just pull the band aid off and finish this. “I begged Dominic,” I tell them, my voice surprisingly strong. “I wanted my first experience to be consensual and not the violence I knew I’d receive at the Viper’s hands.”

“He never should have…”

“And he said no!” I shout over Callum’s rage. “I offered myself to the man on a plate, and he denied me, because he said I wasn’t thinking straight and it should be something special.”

My chest is heaving and I can’t seem to stop the tears, but a moment of shock seems to have overcome Callum, bringing a welcome moment of calm to the room.

“So what changed?” Ciaran asks gently, sitting on the side of the bed and taking my hand.

“The Viper had been warned to stay away from me by Mika. He’d assigned Dominic as my protection, but Vito was angry at Mika’s intervention. There was a whole other thing going on there, a clear divide within the ranks, and Vito took no notice. When he got to me the second time… I fought him off, but if it hadn’t been for Dominic hiding me in the staff quarters, the Viper would have continued until he got what he wanted.”

“He really would have,” Maricela whispers brokenly.

I suck in an unsteady breath, hating that I’m having to relive this, yet again, and probably, so is she. Telling my brothers what happened is not at all cathartic.

“Even then his men almost found me. I hid under the bed while they ransacked the room. It was only Dominic’s intervention that stopped them from finding me.” I swipe at my cheeks with the palm of my hand and Emylyah hands me a tissue, which I gratefully accept. “It was only then, and after something he overheard, that he gave me what I’d been constantly begging him for. The right to choose!”

I blow my nose and try to compose myself, clearing my throat before I finish my story. “I think he only conceded because he truly thought the Viper might find me and take something fromme I would never be able to give freely ever again. I just wanted one beautiful moment…” My voice breaks and more tears follow. “One time when I could know the pleasure of being a woman before the Viper ruined me forever.”

My brothers, Nikolai, even the doctor, all look incredibly uncomfortable. I might too, if I wasn’t so hell bent on defending Dominic, but if what I say spares him from a fate totally undeserved, so be it. I’d announce it publicly for the world to hear, if I thought it would help him.

“Could have feckin’ used a condom,” Callum growls, though it lacks the heat of his earlier rage.

I shake my head. “He did… I don’t know…” Since it’s something I can’t explain, I just shrug.

“Jaysus, only you could manage to get pregnant after one time.”

I stare at my hands, hoping my red-head blush isn’t giving me away. No way I’m touching that comment, or admitting the relationship Dominic and I fell into. I may have laid myself bare, but there are limits.

“So tell me, honestly, Roisin, had you been with Romano yesterday before we took him down?” Ciaran asks. “One of the men thought they saw you get out of his car and since you weren’t in the spa…”

I nod, since there’s no point in continuing the deception. “I had an ultrasound scan and Dominic took me…”

“He took you to your appointment?” Callum asks, his face a depiction of utter shock.

I scowl at him. “Of course he did. He takes me to all my appointments, and he’s completely prepared to be a father to his child,” I tell him haughtily.

“I don’t understand. How did he even know?” Ciaran asks. “He admitted he was assigned to follow you, but…”

“He gave me his number the day I was released,” I tell him, to cover my surprise that Dominic really was there all those times I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. “But I didn’t use it until I found out for certain I was pregnant. I thought he had a right to know he was going to be a father.”

Understanding dawns on their faces, followed quickly by anger.

“So you've been sneaking around with him since then?" Callum's voice is dangerously low. "Christ, Roisin, do you have any idea how reckless that was? He's the enemy!"

The disgust in his voice when he talks about Dominic makes me see red.

"He's not the enemy!" I snap, my own temper flaring. “Don’t you dare get all holier-than-thou with me, when the situation is no different from what Ciaran did to Maricela. Or are you saying it’s one rule for others and it doesn't apply to you?”

A deathly silence blankets the room, and I regret my words the moment I see the color drain from Ciaran’s face, as he spares an uncomfortable glance at the woman who is pregnant with his child. I hurry to cover it. “Plus…” I suck in a breath and swallow. “… I didn’t know what to do. He helped me. We were just trying to work out how to tell you.”

There’s a pause as pregnant as I am when I finish. Then finally, Ciaran squeezes my hand and shares one of those non-verbalcommunication looks with Callum. “Well, it looks like we have a lot of things to consider.”

I purse my lips and look from one to the other. “I would very much appreciate it if you didn’t kill the father of my baby.”

They don’t answer and I have no idea whether anything I’ve just said has made the slightest bit of difference.

Chapter

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