"You don't even know what that is!" Amy hissed, letting go of their hands and stomping back downstairs.

"Why the hell would you even think that?" she muttered under her breath, brows furrowed. She was on birth control, for Pete's sake!

The discussion didn't end there, though. Zia and Mira were tough to get rid of—so tough, in fact, that three days later they had her peeing on a stick in the bathroom.

"What does it say?" they questioned eagerly behind the door. They were worse than her brothers when she took them to the arcade.

"It says gimme a minute, I'm still busy!" Amy snapped, cheeks heating at how uncomfortable it was to do this in Mira's bathroom.

A few minutes later, she forgot all about that as she looked at the stick in question. "Oh, fuck!" Amy hissed, her back against the door. Literally and figuratively.

"What? Is it positive?" Zia asked, knocking quietly.

"Go away, damn it!" Amy snapped, while a moan of despair built in her throat. She could've cried right then and there. Tears pressed against her eyelids, and she blinked at the mirror across from her, seeing frazzled blonde hair and bloodshot eyes.

"I have to try another one. It's probably wrong," she mumbled to herself, already opening the next one. Four tests later, she was stuck in a silent staring contest with the pregnancy tests lined up on the bathroom counter.

"Oh, shit," Mira and Zia said in unison.

"Let me in," Zia muttered as Amy sniffed, the two women pushing the door open until they could squeeze through. "Oh, honey!"

Their hugs only made the sobs come harder, and Amy spent a good ten minutes crying in their arms before a knock sounded on the door.

"Mira?" Mikhail's voice was worried, and Amy squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered they'd borrowed Mira's bathroom to avoid anyone else figuring out what they were up to. Russian spewed out, the knocks sounding more urgent. "Are you crying?"

"Oh, hell. I have to speak to him; otherwise, he's going to break the damn door," Mira muttered before hollering. "Stop knocking, you big dummy!"

Amy laughed, her small frame shuddering as the tears poured down her face. "What am I going to do, Z?" she whispered as they scooted their butts enough to let Mira through.

"That's up to you, hon," she answered, hugging Amy close. "Do you think this is something you'd both want?"

"I don't know. It's sure as hell not something we planned. I must've mixed up the dates on my birth control," Amy answered as she rested the back of her head on the wooden door. "There are so many unanswered questions between us that I really don't know right now."

"Do you love him?" Zia pressed, meeting Amy's eyes with a concerned expression. "Because I know it's unconventional, but if you love him and you actually want this to work, then you just need to talk to him. An idiot could see that he loves you, Amy."

"I know. He told me," Amy mumbled, remembering that night in her living room not so long ago. Zia's eyebrows rose, and Amy let out a sigh before explaining. "I don't think he meant for me to find out, but I figured with everything I found in his apartment... I assumed," she corrected before mumbling, "That maybe there was something there."

"And you?" Zia asked again, wrapping her arm around Amy. "Do you love him?"

"Yeah," Amy admitted softly. "I love him."

"Then the rest is history," Zia snorted. "You need to talk to him, hon. You can't know what he's going to think until then."

"I doubt he wants kids, though, Z."

Letting out a sigh, they sat for a moment until a loud, "What!" interrupted the silence.

"Oh god," Amy muttered, a blush heating her cheeks. She could hear Mira scolding her husband, and she already knew what he was so shocked about. Rising to her feet, she brushed herself off and left the bathroom, Zia chuckling behind her.

The Pakhan's eyes were wide as he stared from his wife to the two women leaving the bathroom. And for the first time, Amy couldn't feel frightened. The scene was too comical to be worried about the Bratva's leader. Besides, she had to get their word that they wouldn't say anything else. Ivan deserved to know before anyone else.

With her hands on her hips, she expelled a frustrated breath.

***

After she managed to secure a promise from Mikhail and the women, Amy started planning how she was going to tell Ivan about the baby. It wasn't the best timing, that was for damn sure, but she couldn't deny the little flicker of hope in her chest every time her fingers brushed her belly.

The prospect of motherhood left images of their future dancing in her mind—a child with Ivan's eyes and her smile. Maybe a girl with his sunny disposition, or a boy with her resilience. The idea left her giddy. But the joy was quickly overshadowed as she considered the chaos of their lives currently. Frustration surged through her.Why does everything have to be so complicated?