Page 70 of Dark Truths

Sergei narrows his eyes at me and time seems to stop as I wait to find out if I’m facing my death or living to see another day. After what feels like forever, he sighs and visibly deflates, all anger leaving his body as he collapses into his chair behind the desk. He rubs at his temples and sighs once more. I don’t dare to move. Not yet. Sergei’s emotions flip faster than turning on a light switch.

“I apologize, Dimitri.” When he uses my first name, I know it’s safe to approach the angry bear. “Ever since Igor’s murder—” agree to disagree there, “—it feels like everything is spinning out of control. Igor was working behind my back with Patrick and now I think…”

“That everyone’s doing the same?” I answer for him when he trails off.

“Yes,” he admits with a hard sigh.

I let him ponder his thoughts while I pour myself a drink, needing the liquid courage to continue this charade. With thebottle in hand, I sip from my glass before I top off his and then set the bottle on his desk.

For a long moment, we sit across from each other, lost in our own thoughts. Sergei trying hard to hold on to something he’s already losing, and I'm trying hard to think out the next steps to end his empire completely. And to do that, I need to keep his trust. The best way to ensure that is to agree with his decisions.

“If your wish is for me to still marry Sophia, I will do so.”

Sergei tips his drink to me in recognition. “And soon.”

Yes. Soon. A word that has recently become like a constant black cloud hanging over my head, reminding me that a storm builds on the horizon and only the choices made will determine how devastating it is.

27

Gabriella

They say bad things happen in threes and I’m keeping a running list in my head.?

Dimitri is engaged to marry Sophia Mikailhov.

My car is totaled.?

And I’m pregnant with Dimitri’s twin babies…see number one.

Although, I guess I can’t really count that last one as something bad because it’s not. It’s more like a miracle. But I suppose it makes the list because the father is unavailable.? I should never have opened that door again, inviting him back into my life. I just couldn’t help it. Seeing him again was like breaking the surface of the water to take a deep breath of fresh air. And my stupid heart was hopeful there for a while. Enoughto trick my brain into believing that this time could be different…that it was different.Until it wasn’t.

“Do you want to call him?” Lily asks. She means well, and I should say yes, but I just can’t.

“Not yet.”

Rose hands me a cup of water with ice chips. As I take a sip, she adds, “The sooner the better, Gabriella.”

“I know,” I tell her with a gentle roll of my eyes and a heavy sigh. Setting the cup down, I lean back into the mountain of pillows behind me, stare up at the ceiling and chew on an ice chip. “I’m just not ready to share the news with him, or anyone else, for that matter. You heard the doctor. I could still lose the babies.”

“I also heard her say to stop stressing and enjoy the pregnancy,” Rose reminds me, earning a look from me. The damn woman is good at acting like the older sister she’s going to be to me soon. Calling me out as effortlessly as my brothers do.

“As a doctor, I understand your concerns about the risks and that you want to be careful,” Lily says. “But as a mother, I agree with Rose. The more you stress about it, the more likely your body is to abort the babies.”

“Exactly. Listen to Doctor Lily, Gabriella,” Rose says matter-of-factually, which makes the woman laugh and shake her head.

“I’ll talk to him. I promise. I just need some time to process the news myself.”

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