Page 58 of Blackmailed to the Altar

“I-I–” Nina was sputtering.

“Get back in fucking line.” The phone cut off, and I pulled it away from my face, but the screen said connection lost.

I tried calling Nina back, but it went straight to voicemail. “Fuck!” I threw my phone across the room, and it crashed against the wall. I dropped my head in my hands.

My panic over the pregnancy was suddenly overshadowed by a more immediate fear: Nina was in trouble, and I had no idea what kind. My mind was already spinning out of control.

Pregnant. In danger. The words blurred together, my own crisis forgotten as my thoughts zeroed in on my best friend. Whatever was happening to her had to be bad, and it was enough to push my own problems, the possibility of a tiny plus sign on a stick, and the nauseating realization that my life was no longer just mine, to the back of my mind.

I sank to the floor, feeling the weight of a thousand impossible choices crushing me. I couldn’t lose Nina. Not now. And as the reality of everything hit me, I realized with a sickening clarity that the nightmare was just beginning. I hearda sound from the doorway of the bedroom and turned my head in surprise. He stood there in the frame glaring at me.

“And why would you be breaking a phone I never gave you back, wife?” Riccardo stood in the doorway, with his scarred flesh on full display, and anger flashing in his eyes.

“Double fuck.” Where the hell did he come from? I looked at the clock, not realizing how long it had been. Shit.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Riccardo

Samuel flew out and dropped off a package for me. He hid it right in the hole I’d asked him to. I couldn’t wait to kill that uncle, but now wasn’t the time. His retribution by the Brotherhood’s hand would come later. For now, he could sit and think. Alone with his thoughts in a dark hole, where he couldn’t hurt any other person.

My little wife was being a very bad fucking girl. She may have knocked out my alter, but that left me wiggle room to wake up in his stead. I stood in the doorway of the bedroom, as she tried to hide the broken cell phone in her hands. Her big doe eyes were wide with false innocence.

See, I was coming to check on her, after pulling up the video on the phone, and seeing her vomit in the bathroom. I saw her facial expression, and it sent tingles down my spine. A knowing feeling in my gut grew. I couldn’t help shoving Sebastian down when I saw. She was pregnant, which was the only reason I hadn’t grabbed her by her throat for breaking a basic rule.

I took a step inside. “Who were you talking to?”

Mya stood up and backed away from me. “N-no one,” she stammered.

I tsked. “You can lie to Sebastian, but we both know that shit won’t fly with me.”

She gasped. “So what? You’re the bad cop, and Sebastian is good?”

I chuckled, rolling up my sleeves. “Sebastian is the bad cop. And me? I’m the fucking Devil.” I lunged toward her.

I’m not ashamed to say that I saw red. The words I’d wanted to say died on my lips, replaced by the roaring rush of blood, and memories that clawed their way to the surface. It wasn’t Mya’s panicked face I saw anymore. It was Amelia, her eyes wild and furious, the smoke thick and suffocating, as it wrapped around us both.

She screamed and tried to escape me, but I caught her around the waist and swung her toward the bed, ignoring her legs kicking in the air as she fought against me.

I threw her on the bed, unbuckling my belt, when my phone started ringing.

“Riccardo! Please!” she cried.

I couldn’t ignore the incessant ringing. I’d been busy as hell with business, and now wasn’t the time to miss a call from Vito. “What?” I barked into the receiver.

“Amelia is dead,” Vito whispered.

The news snapped me out of my crazed mind. “Where are you?” I demanded. “What the fuck did I tell you about using the phone?” My voice was raw and ragged, echoing with the remnants of my anger and fear. “I told you: no calls. No contact. You keep your eye on things.”

“In the hospital, Samuel saw something while hacking her records, and I went to check it out. They pronounced the girl dead only a few moments ago. I’m suspecting the family will be here soon.”

“Fuck,” I cursed, running a hand through my hair. Mya scrambled to the other side of the bed while this conversation was happening, but she hadn’t run out the door.

“The Albanians are going to try and come for us.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache coming on.

“Arjun is here. I have to go before he sees me, and my cover is blown.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Vito.” I hung up on him so he could keep watch. While Sebastian had been busy figuring out his relationship with Mya, I’d implanted someone I could trust to suss out the Albanian situation.

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