Page 84 of Dangerous Vows

She takes a breath. “I didn’t know who you were in the club. I changed my name so I wouldn’t be found. I burned my past, but I can’t leave my grandmother. She’s the only one who truly loves me. I told my father I’m pregnant. I thought it would end the arranged marriage….”

Silence falls so heavily that I feel it crushing my chest.

I can’t move. I can’t breathe.

Everything inside me shatters into silence.

“You told him about the baby?”

She nods, slowly.

I step back again, further this time. My hands tremble with the need to destroy something, anything, but I can’t. Not when she’s looking at me like that.

“You told him too much.”

“I was trying to protect you?—”

“That doesn’t fucking matter.” My voice is low and raw. I fiercely protect what is mine. “Your family is our sworn enemy,” I yell. My eyes shoot daggers at her. How could she betray me? How could she betrayus?

It’s as if I don’t know who she is anymore.

She reaches for me, and I jerk away.

I want to walk out the goddamn door and never look back.

But I can’t.

Because even as the fire of betrayal burns through my veins, I can’t erase what I feel.

“This baby is the bridge between two empires. Do you know what that means?” I look at her, wondering if she understands the danger.

“That they’ll hunt me down like a dog,” she whispers.

“Damn right that’s what they’ll do. And they won’t stop until they get you and my son.”

And with that, her lips tremble and tears flow down her face freely. I know she’s upset, but so am I. I should comfort her, but I can’t bring myself to touch her.

She’s a Moretti.

She could have told me they would come after me.

She could have confided in me.

But none of that matters now.

The genie is out of the bottle, and we can’t put it back.

No matter what happens, I love her.

God help us both.

It kills me not to lie beside her. She’s inches away, knowing I can’t touch her, feel her, kiss her… One touch—just one—and I’d unravel.

If I so much as touched her, all the control I’ve fought to keep would dissolve in a heartbeat.

I watch her as she curls into herself, her hair a dark wave against the pillow, and I’m thankful that tonight, her breathing is soft and even. I hover over the bed, then I stare out the window and into the darkness like it’s got answers I haven’t earned.

AMARA

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