Page 105 of Reckless Promises

The car rolls to a stop and the man climbs out, circling to my door. He peels it open, and even if I’m weak, I try to fight him when he reaches for me. I could go willingly, but making it easier won’t change my fate, so I refuse to be taken down without a fight.

“Bitch.” He grabs my hair in his fist and pulls me from the car.

My body slams onto the gravel, and he kicks me in the ribs.

Not the stomach.

I scream, cradling my center and praying he doesn’t notice what I’m shielding. If he finds out I’m pregnant,I have no doubt they’ll find worse ways to terrorize me than torture.

The man bends down, grabbing me by the hair again, and tugging it back so my whole body arches. Blood trickles from a gash in my lip as I stare up at him.

“Fighting only makes this worse.” He sneers down at me.

I grind my teeth, biting back everything I want to say because I can’t risk him kicking me again.

The driver rounds the car, coming to a stop above where I’m lying sprawled out on the pavement. His gaze travels down my body, frowning. Like I’m more of an inconvenience than anything.

“What is this?” A man’s voice thunders from the doorway, and the one holding my hair releases me.

I slump down into the gravel, trying to catch my breath.

I’m not sure what time it is, but it’s dark, and my body starts shaking from adrenaline and the thin fabric of my hospital gown.

The driver watches me while the two men talk. His lips purse, and I don’t know why he looks at me like he hates me, but his eyes narrow as his gaze drops to where I’m holding my stomach.

“The doctor told us she’s pregnant,” he announces, grinning.

“What?” An older man storms over, and it takes me a moment to put together that it’s Joseph Moreno.

Of all the people I suspected might be behind this, he wasn’t one of them.

Joseph squats down, looking at me. “Pregnant, huh?”

He grips my chin and I twist out of his grip, but all it does is make him laugh.

“I’m not.”

“You’re lying.” He leans in closer. “And here I was worried you might not be enough to get me what I want. After all, Cillian bought you. But a baby… what a man won’t do for his whore, he’ll do for his heir.”

“Screw you.” I swat at him, but he catches my wrist.

His fingers wrap it so tightly my bones feel close to splintering. “I see your husband hasn’t taught you your place yet. Surprising, given who your daddy is.”

He’s trying to make me sound weak. Because I should be given how I was raised. But what he doesn’t realize is that Cillian isn’t my father. He doesn’t want to snuff my flame. He lit it, and I’ll burn bright for him now for me and our baby.

“My husband will ruin you for this.”

Joseph gets closer, but I don’t break his stare because I won’t back down.

“You really should shut your mouth, or I’ll send you back to him in pieces.”

He’s so close I can smell the onion on his breath. And it’s enough to push my nausea over the edge as I heave forward and throw up on him.

“What the fuck?” He scrambles, shrugging off his jacket, before pulling me up to standing.

I’m wobbly on my feet, but his grip is tight, and he’s holding me so close to him I’m on the verge ofthrowing up again.

“Call her husband,” Joseph demands to the man behind me, before locking his gaze on mine. “Try something like that again, and I’ll tie you to a bed for my son. He doesn’t care if you’re used up or pregnant. Maybe he’ll even fuck another child into you.”

---