Page 32 of Defiant Devotion

Well, guess what. I mightbefamily already.If Sonya was carrying my baby, then I was affiliated with the Baranovs by blood in an indirect way.

That was an avenue of leverage I didn’t want to reveal yet. Not until I knew whether Sonya was pregnant. And if I was the father. Only then would I consider what it could mean to be connected to the Baranovs. At the moment, though, the idea didn’t piss me off. I’d much rather ally with them than the Petrovs or Ilyins, if I were going to ally with anyone.

“I wanted to get ahold of you to discuss the O’Malley hit,” I said instead, changing the topic from Sonya, now that I could personally have higher stakes in her return.

“Then stop fucking spying,” Lev warned. “You want to talk to me, then be upfront and come talk to me.”

“Sure, because you make yourself accessible.”

Vik frowned at me. “If you have to sneak in to get close, why snoop while you’re at it?”

“Because I haven’t gotten as good as I am without understanding and respecting the value and wealth of intel.”

“So you’ll turn on us?” Lev accused, advancing toward me with his fist reared back to punch me.

“No.”That wouldn’t make sense if my child might be one of you…The notion that I could have a child threatened to stun me all over again. I hadn’t had enough time to come to terms with this, and I refused to get ahead of myself or let my hopes get up too high until I found Sonya and spoke with her once and for all.

“Again,” I said, determined to change the topic, “I intended to get ahold of you and give you an update about the O’Malley hit.”

Behind Lev, Kelly winced and folded into Rurik’s arms for a hug.

“What is it?” Lev demanded.

“I followed Eric Benson and O’Malley to a strip club yesterday.” I glanced at Kelly. “The one next to Mancy’s, in fact. And someone else took a shot at them there.”

Vik nodded and crossed his arms. “Yeah. We heard about that already.”

“While I’m pissed that the fuckers didn’t die, I’m not surprised someone else wants them dead,” Lev said.

Nor was I. Corrupt politicians were asking for it. If they wanted to play stupid, dangerous games, they’d get what they had coming sooner or later. Eric and O’Malley likely had plenty of enemies.

“I’ll keep at it,” I promised him.

But I’m going to keep on looking for Sonya, too.

She’d become my priority, and I didn’t care whether these Baranovs approved of that change of plans or not.

13

SONYA

Too soon, the nausea took over. I had one night left at the rented room I’d found, and I dreaded having to find another place to stay.

I could try to see if anyone’s at the mansion…

Shaking my head as I lay on the lumpy mattress, I heaved out a sigh and rejected that idea.

I’d tried earlier to have someone drive me there. The young woman gave me a side-eye when I said I didn’t have a phone and could pay her cash instead—the last of my cash. But when she typed in the address of the mansion, she freaked out and backed away.

“You want me to drive to one of the Mafia compounds?” She scoffed and retreated. “Hell no. Like, no way, girl. I don’t want to get involved with that shit, like, at all.”

But as I tried to relax on this bed, I wished I could find someone to take me home, if that still was a home.

Being pregnant had to be a challenge to adjust to, but going at it alone sucked. It was a struggle to convince myself that I wouldn’t be suffering, and without the bare basics of needs for much longer. Until I could overcome my paranoia about someone hearing about my return and trying to hold me back from getting home, I felt like I was at a personal stalemate.

Maybe… maybe I shouldn’t have run from Ben.

I opened my eyes as my stomach growled louder yet, so knotted and clenched with hunger that I feared it’d never stop hurting.

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