Page 93 of Devious Secrets

Putting my hand over my stomach, I swallow hard. I could be pregnant right now.

“Oh, shit.” She reaches over the table and grabs my arm. “I’m sorry, Megan. I was only joking. He’s a young thirty-seven-year-old. Hell, I don’t think he can even get old; he’s too stubborn.”

I force a smile, but my stomach is rolling over in a fabulous tornado fashion.

“I scared you.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I just hadn’t thought about it. Everything has happened so fast, and I haven’t even really decided if I want to stay married to Alexander after all this mess is over with.”

She laughs but covers it by clearing her throat when I shoot my gaze up to her.

“Sorry. It’s just… you know Alexander is never going to let you leave him, right?” She leans closer to me. “You’re married. There is no divorce option.”

“But… his mother left his father, right? She’s in Russia?”

“Yeah.” Elana nods. “But they were still married. Our father didn’t love her, and he still wouldn’t let her divorce him. He let her go to Russia, but she was never free from him. Not until he died.”

I take another bite, giving myself a moment to think.

“If he wanted other women, why wouldn’t he?”

“Because our father was an evil prick,” she says with such severity it shakes my soul.

The rest of the food arrives, and Elana arranges the dishes on the table and two fresh plates are settled in front of us.

“So if I want out, Alexander will just send me away?” I watch her plate herself some of the pasta dishes.

“Alexander? No.” She takes my plate and fills it with more food I can even think of eating now with my stomach rolling around like it is.

“Why?”

“Because, Megan.” She puts the plate in front of me. “My brother is in love with you. He would sooner lock you back up in that tower room than let you leave him.”

My eyes go wide, and she laughs.

“Just because I don’t live there most of the time doesn’t mean I don’t know what goes on.”

“But—”

She grabs my arm and squeezes.

“It’s okay. He’s a lot. I know.” She rolls her eyes. “But he wouldn’t marry you if he didn’t love you. Even if he’s too stubborn and stupid to admit it. Maybe he doesn’t even know yet. I mean, you’re taking your sweet-ass time realizing it, too.”

“Realizing what? That he likes me?”

She shakes her head while chewing her pasta.

“Nooo,” she says after swallowing. “Not likes you, loves you. And you haven’t realized you love him back. But you do. I can see it when you look at him, even when you’re pissed. And I know my brother.”

Love him?

The background noise of chatter and forks clanking against plates blends into a soundless blur, making my heartbeat the only sound registering in my mind. I sit back in my chair.

Can he have feelings for me?

“You okay?” Elana asks, swiping her napkin across her lips.

“Yeah.” I nod, but I’m not. I’m so far away from okay I can’t even see okay. “I just need to pee.”

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