Page 45 of The Bratva's Knocked-Up Bride

“Wait, the Pesci family,” Ari continued as the confusion in his gaze simmered to recognition. “Andrei mentioned them to me before.”

“He did?” Lukyan asked, growing more curious.

The eldest nodded. “Their group had to deal with them a while ago. The kingpin kept trying to wager his daughter for an alliance between them, but she was still a kid, and by then, Andrei didn’t need to take that kind of deal. He was offended by the offer and blacklisted him after the fact. When the kingpin’s proposal didn’t work, he waged war on them and lost.”

“How badly were they beaten down?” I asked, curious about the aftermath and how it all connected to the present day.

“Bad enough for them to disappear. The kingpin was essentially turned on by all the other families, so he disappeared. He died not long after from natural causes presumably, and Andrei thought that would be the end of it. Until his son took over and by then, his sister was a bit older, so he tried a similar tactic. Of course, he was turned away again, and ever since then, they faded into obscurity. At least, that was what we all assumed.”

Considering everything he said, I nodded to myself. “There’s a motive then…if this son wants to avenge his father and their name, then I could see why he might go to all of this trouble.”

“And to get an upper hand, they’ve placed at least one rat in Gemma’s office,” Luk concurred, focusing entirely on the task at hand. “That way, they’ve been able to record or overhear conversations and relay whatever information has been said inassumed privacy. That’s the only way these people would even know how to find our weaknesses.”

“It adds up,” Ari agreed, absently stroking his chin, eyes intense while he mauled it over. “That means this rat needs to be flushed out as soon as possible. If they’ve come this far and managed to collect this much intel, then it’s only a matter of time before they launch an attack on one of us and succeed.”

There was no getting around it. No more delay. Ari was right, and I needed to close in as quickly as possible.

Eventually, our meeting came to an end, and I left the damaged building with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. I was closer than I ever had been to catching the spy, and I just needed to close in.

On my way to the car, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, and I was quick to click on it the moment I saw Sky’s name. The text was from her, and she was asking me to come over for dinner.

My brows furrowed in surprise at the same time a flutter of hope moved through me. After everything, I didn’t think she’d want to see me again, let alone reach out and invite me over.

I could only stare at it for a moment before I texted back my confirmation, got in the car, and drove off feeling a little better than before.

***

Not a minute was wasted between me heading home, getting cleaned up, and heading for Sky’s place. Without trying too hard, I made myself presentable and drove over, following the directions given to me all the way to her floor, then to her apartment.

Pulling in a breath, reminding myself to play it cool, I knocked on the door and waited.

A beat passed before it opened faster than I anticipated, and I found Sky gazing up at me, looking as beautiful as ever.

Of course, I was a bit biased, which is why it took me a moment to realize she didn’t look as perky as usual. Despite pulling a small smile for me—again, to my surprise—I could see the bags under her eyes and the slight reservation in her expression overall.

“Hey,” I said somewhat lamely, immediately wishing I had led with something more significant.

“Hi,” she returned, stepping back to let me in. “Come inside.”

With a simple nod, I did exactly that, listening to the door gently closing behind me. I was running different questions and topics through my head, trying to land on something that might take the faint awkwardness out of the air, or help us get to a better place, but her hand was in mine before I could get any of them out.

My brows went up almost imperceptibly at the warmth of her palm against my skin, but I didn’t question it.

“Here…sit down, please,” she said, tone almost forlorn. Anxious, even.

Both confused and somewhat worried, I simply followed her lead as she guided me over to the couch and sat down alongside me. All the while, I kept my eyes on her, feeling more curious as the seconds ticked by.

Something about her quiet demeanor told me it was something serious. I realized then that she didn’t just invite meover for dinner. She needed to talk, and whether that was a good thing or not, I knew I’d find out soon enough.

“Look…I know things have been spotty between us, and this isn’t something I anticipated, but I need to tell you something,” she began, pulling in a deep breath as if mustering up the courage.

I never took my eyes off her while I waited for her to get started, even if hers were averted while she gathered herself.

“Damien…I’m pregnant.”

At first, I thought I misheard her. The words hardly registered while I gazed at her, wondering if I imagined it.

But the longer I looked at her and the more serious she seemed, the less that felt true.

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