Page 82 of Dark Truths

“How do you feel?” I ask, wrapping my arms around her body. “How’s your wrist?”

“It’s a little sore.”

“Can I get you anything? What can you even take pregnant?”

“Tylenol is the safest.”

I should have some in the medicine cabinet. “I’ll go get some.”

“No,” Gabriella says right away, latching on to me tighter like a koala bear. “Not yet.”

“Okay.” I chuckle softly into her hair.

“I just want to lie here for a little while longer,” she says softly on the breath of a sigh.

I run one hand up and down her back and bury the other in her hair, scratching her scalp just the way she likes. With her in my arms, it’s almost easy to forget the hell that waits for us outside. Like we exist in our own tiny bubble of happiness here in the cabin. But reality is right outside those doors, waiting for us and the longer we ignore it, the worst it can become.

As if she can read my mind or maybe she feels the same, she whispers, “I’m scared.” Her words are low enough that I nearly miss it even as close as she is.

My hands grow still at her confession before I reveal, “Me too.”

Gabriella pushes up and looks at me, perplexed. “You’re scared?”

“Of course I am,” I reply immediately. “I don’t want to lose you or the babies.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a dozen times more if need be to ensure it sinks in.

“I don’t want to lose you either,” she confesses. “But what do we do? You went undercover to gather evidence that would put my family in jail. When my father hears that…and my brothers? And what about Sergei? What does this look like for us in the end, Dimitri?”

She’s beginning to panic. I can see it in the way her eyes grow wider and dart around, focusing on anything but me.

“Gabriella, look at me,” I order. Her nostrils flare from the force of her hard exhale. “Our ending looks like us together as a family. You, me, and the juniors.”

“They could be girls,” she teases.

I snort. “Unlikely.”

Gabriella smiles before pushing forward to kiss me. “I hope they’re like you.”

“God, I hope not.”

“I’m serious,” she says. “I hope they have your courage and your strength.”

“If that’s so, then I hope they have your kind heart and forgiving soul.”

Gabriella smiles before I watch it falter and then twist into a frown. The sight leaves me uncomfortable.

“What is it?”

“If I wasn’t pregnant, would you still want to go through with telling my family the truth?”

I sit up and push back until I’m able to lean against the headboard. Gabriella follows, pulling the blanket around her shoulders as if it’s a shield there to protect her while she waits for my answer.

“I already made up my mind about us and about what I wanted our future to be like before you told me about the babies. If anything, angel,” I reach forward and tug her until she’s straddling my lap, “the babies are just another two reasons why I have to do this. I want a future with you. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure of it.”

“What about the FBI? Something tells me they’re not going to be very keen about one of their agents having a family with the daughter of a mafia boss.”

There’s my spitfire little angel.

“No, probably not. But one problem at a time, okay?” When she nods but her smile doesn’t return, I skirt my hands up and down her sides. She squirms when my light touch tickles her, and I continue until the corner of her lips twitch up. “Just know, I’m not leaving you or them. Okay?”

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