Page 23 of Tempted to Rebel

I think she understands that danger. It’s why she has always resisted living within the bratva and being tied to men like us. Danger liveswithinus.

If she carries my brother’s child, that danger will live inside of her, too. It will change her, just like it’s changed him, and their child will be no different than either of its parents.

She wraps her arms around her body and slumps against me. “I can’t get pregnant,” she whispers, shivering. “Not like this. Not when I’m—” Her voice cracks, and she doesn’t finish her thought.

I think I understand that, too.

When we stole Celia from her normal life, her entire world shifted. She could no longer see the future she wanted because we were standing in the way. But it’s in those moments—the ones where we feel stuck in uncertainty—that carving a path ahead becomes as important as breathing. She can either keepbanging her fists against our bodies to try and force her way to the future she’s always wanted, or she can take our outstretched hands and let us lead her to the future she’s alwaysneeded.

Because the two paths don’t have to divide. They can merge somewhere in the middle to create something even better than she ever imaged… and better than we ever dreamed.

I press my palm to her stomach and wonder what it’ll look like—her golds mixed with my reds, or Rebel’s blues, or Rage’s greens. Will it be as beautiful as she is? Or even brighter?

My brothers limp over and stand next to us, the two of them leaning on each other. Rebel has a black eye and split lip, while Rage has scratches from Rebel’s rings on his cheeks and rips in his suit. Rebel grins at Celia, his teeth bloodied from the fight. “Careful, baby. You two look good together. I might get jealous.”

She stares between the two of them, then cranes her neck to look up at me. “If we’re going to make this work,” she says slowly, “we need some ground rules.” Clutching my hand over her stomach, she takes a deep breath. “I can’t have a baby in a cage.”

Rage grumbles under his breath. “You’d be out of the cage by then.”

Jabbing his elbow into Rage’s side, Rebel hisses, “dude,not helping.”

“I don’t want to be in a cage at all!” Celia’s eyes flash with anger. “So get rid of it!”

“I amnotgetting rid of the cage.” Rage drops Rebel’s weight and steps in front of Celia, leaving our brother to grumble and groan as he drops onto the guardrail. Her eyes meet his and sparks fly between them, intense enough that I can feel her trembling in my arms. “Untilyou’re pregnant, I’m not letting you out of our sight. And even then—” his nostrils flare—“I need you safe. That’s what the cage is for. Safety.”

She crinkles her nose. “It’s a prison.”

“It serves a purpose.” Rage won’t budge, but I never expected him to. He grips her chin and presses the pad of his thumb against her lips. “Once you show me that you can behave like a wife instead of a runaway, I’ll reconsider.”

Rebel rolls his eyes behind Rage’s back but doesn’t verbally disagree. It’s only a matter of time before he lets Celia out again… or I do. My heart thrums with energy, the possibility of learning new things about Celia swirling in my head. What would she do if I was the one to sneak her outside? Would she happily follow me like she did with Rebel, or would she insist on staying locked away until someone else came for her?

Could I drag her out?

Would she scream?

I clutch Celia’s stomach tighter, feeling her flesh give beneath my fingers. When Rebel grabbed her hips earlier, did he leave marks like the ones Rage left on her neck? If I remove her collar, I bet I can count the fingerprints on her skin. One-two-three-four?—

She takes a shaky breath and clutches my hand tighter, derailing my thoughts until the only thing that’s left is the pressure of her fingers sliding through mine.

“What if I’m already pregnant?”

“Impossible,” Rebel calls out, a cocky grin plastered on his face. “I know I’m skilled, but even my swimmers need time to cross the finish line.”

Shaking her head, Celia meets Rage’s eyes and repeats her question. “What if I’m already pregnant?”

They stare at each other in silence until finally, Rage releases the iron grip on his emotions. The impassible stone in his eyes crumbles, and he presses the palm of his hand directly beneath mine and Celia’s to touch her abdomen. “Impossible,” he breathes, repeating Rebel’s turn of phrase. “That’s impossible, Celia. You—” He slams his jaw shut, forcing his next wordsthrough clenched teeth. “You took the pill. I saw it. Rebel saw it. The box was empty, and there wasn’t a single pill in your trash or anywhere on the bathroom floor. I checked. I checkedfive times.You swallowed it. You must have.” He wraps his hand around her throat and squeezes. “Tell me that you swallowed that pill.”

I hear Celia’s throat click on a timely swallow.

“I swallowed it.”

Rage sneers. “I fucking knew it?—”

Celia flinches at the venom in his voice. “And then I threw it back up.”

“Liar.” Rage squeezes tighter, and I grab his wrist to keep him from suffocating her. He snarls, turning his glare onto me, and pushes off of her neck to pace in front of the guardrail. “You just want out of the cage.” He laughs bitterly and kicks a rock off the cliff’s edge. When that doesn’t satisfy him, he grabs a fallen branch and hurls it over with a yell that echoes all around us. “You can’t be pregnant. Youcan’t.Because that would mean?—”

“—that you’ve been hurting the mother of your child? That yousuffocatedme when I didn’t deserve it?” Celia pulls free from my arms and jabs Rage in the chest with her fist. “I took the pill, yes, but I couldn’t hold it. Not when I—” She takes a shaky breath. “When all I really want is a baby.”

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