Page 71 of Surprise Pregnancy for Villain

Daddy scoffs. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have dragged my feet with the wedding. You should be Lucca’s problem, not mine.”

“Well, heisdownstairs, and we could get a priest here within the hour,” Aunt Carlotta suggests, and my chest tightens in response.

Ezio gently eases me out of the way. “Over my dead body,” he growls, then adds, “Sir.”

“Oh, that will be arranged,” my father replies. “Carlotta, go get Lucca.”

“Daddy, please, just let me explain—”

“Not another word from you, young lady,” Daddy snaps. “Here I am, worried sick out of my mind, thinking you’re buried in a ditch somewhere, when in reality, you’ve been shacking up with this…” He gestures with scorn at Ezio. “This…”

“Sir, I didn’t harm your daughter, and I have no intention to,” Ezio beseeches him. “I love your daughter very much, and I –”

“Shut the fuck up.” My father tightens his grip on the gun as he trains the gun on Ezio. “Do you think I give a shit about your love? You and your family have done enough damage. It ends right fucking now.”

“Daddy, no!” I scream as he pulls the safety. “I’m pregnant!”

His hand goes lax with the gun as he gapes at me.

“I’m pregnant, Daddy,” I repeat as Lucca and Aunt Carlotta enter the room.

“The fuck?” Lucca exclaims.

Daddy shoots him a look, raises the gun at Ezio again. “You knocked up my daughter.”

“It was consensual,” I defend.

“Nicki.” Again, Daddy relaxes his hand with the gun. The look on his face breaks my heart. He looks angry, disappointed, and confused all at the same time. He walks over to me and holds my shoulders gently. “You’re engaged to marry Lucca.”

“Which I don’t want. I’ve never wanted that. I keep telling you.”

“It’s not about what you want. It’s—”

“Tradition. Your legacy. I get it.” I roll my eyes. “But is that more important than my happiness? Would you rather that I’m miserable for the rest of my life, just to give you what you want?”

“What I want will make you happy. Eventually. You’re going to do as I say.”

“Daddy, no!”

“Nicki, use your common sense! You can’t raise this child out of wedlock! Stay here, be with us, and Lucca will take care of you. He will treat the child as if it were his own.”

Ezio slips his arm around me, pulling into him. “I’m afraid you’ll need to kill me first,” he rumbles. “I refuse to let another man raise my child.”

“Offing you is next on my list,” my father promises. “Right after Lucca and my daughter say their vows, which you will watch.” He smirks at Ezio. “Call it punishment for touching what doesn’t belong to you.”

“Punishment?” Ezio shakes his head. “I’m not the only one who’ll suffer. You’re marrying off your daughter to a man who abused her.”

He inches forward. I grip his arm as Daddy lifts the gun higher. “Count yourself lucky we’re not the only ones in this room. I’d break your fucking neck in a heartbeat,” Ezio says to Lucca with a growl.

Lucca tsks. “Fuck you. I don’t want that whore, anyway. I definitely won’t be taking care of her bastard,” his voice cuts through the air like poison.

Almost immediately, my father spins around and slugs Lucca across the face. My once-betrothed goes down in a heap. “You put your hands on my daughter, you fucking bastard?”

Lucca rubs the side of his face, glaring up at Daddy. “She needs some manners. Pity I won’t get the chance to teach her.”

Daddy stoops right in front of him. “If it weren’t for your family, I’d kill you right where you sit. Get the fuck out of my sight before I change my mind.”

He slowly gets to his feet, shoots me a nasty glare and does the same with Ezio before storming out. The door slams on his exit.

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