Page 51 of Gilded Desires

“Why did you have these?’

“You know why, Little Miss Cupid.”

Now that I think about it, I’ve seen her nibbling on salty things and drinking lots of water.

Stupid me. I’ve been so tied up with Aziel, Gage, and Rush I kind of let the Southern Alliance and my cousin’s sexcapades slip off my radar.

“Do you think…” I don’t know how to finish the glaring question we both know is a high possibility.

“I didn’t have a chance to tell you but the breeder contract… I signed it.”

My hands fly to my mouth. I gasp so hard I nearly choke. “Holyshit!”

Instinctively, my hand drops to her stomach and my other to mine. “Sapph. What the fuck have we done? Do you think you are carrying their baby?”

“I know I am. I’m late. I just haven’t had the balls to, you know…” she gestures to the three tests lined up on the edge of the countertop.

The timer goes off and we both shoot forward.

I stand over the sticks and my world blurs behind a sheen wall of water.

I grab her shoulders. “I have to go. Cover for me, okay?”

Fifteen

Belle

I’m pregnant.

Those two words play on repeat the whole drive over to their lake house.

How in the hell am I going to tell them I’m carrying their child? I can’t even bring myself to tell them my real name.

They’re going to have a child with a mafia princess.

A shit storm inside of a shitstorm

Fuck.

I grabbed Santi’s keys to his low-key BMW. The one he uses when he wants to blend in with the other drivers on Chicago’s roads.

I have news for him. That man stands out like he’s bathed in neon paint in a rave no matter what he drives.

I point the car east and don’t stop until I am outside their home.

It’s late afternoon and the lights are off. It looks like no one is home.

I kill the engine and walk the outside perimeter of the cabin before coming up to the door. I thought maybe they were outback, but nope.

I pull my phone out and almost hit up our shared chat when I see a piece of paper tucked between the door frame and the door.

Key is above the door. We will be back from training by nightfall. Our home is yours. -G

Home. The word strikes me with a thousand volts of electricity. I read that last line again and the effect is the same. I’ve never had a home of my own. What the family owns and what I call mine are two different things.

I find the key and slip inside, closing the door behind me.

I haven’t been back since that first night I stayed. The night I gave them my virginity.

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