Page 97 of Toxic Salvation
I grab the box and the note, stuffing them in my jacket pocket. My hands are steady, but my mind is racing.
Ihor knows Vesper is pregnant. He knows we have a child coming. And now, he has the ultimate leverage against me.
“If anyone asks, this conversation never happened,” I tell the clerk.
“What conversation?” He grins nervously.
I leave without another word. We need to get home. We need to increase security. And I need to figure out how the hell Ihor found out about the pregnancy when we’ve been so careful to keep it quiet.
Outside, Vesper is pacing next to Pavel, her hand resting protectively on her still-small bump. She doesn’t know it yet, but everything just changed.
“Ready to go?” she asks, searching my face.
“More than ready.”
As we walk toward the exit, I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being watched. Every shopper, every employee, every security guard could be one of Ihor’s people. The onesie feels like it weighs a hundred pounds in my pocket.
Vesper slides her hand into mine, and I clutch it tightly. She’s carrying my child, and now, our enemy knows it. He knows. He fuckingknows.
“Kovan?” she says softly. “Everything okay?”
I look down at her—this woman who attacked a stranger with a purse to protect Luka, who’s carrying my son, who’s become the center of my entire world without either of us planning it.
“Everything’s fine,” I mutter.
It might be the biggest lie I’ve ever told.
34
KOVAN
I don’t tell her about the onesie.
If I did, she’d be up right now, staring at the ceiling like I am, obsessing about everything that could go wrong.
And there’s a fuck ton that could go wrong.
This—this right here—is why I wanted to stay single. I always swore I would. But somehow, I came across a hypnotic pair of blue eyes and some well-fitted scrubs and I’d completely lost my mind.
Vesper shifts to her side with a soft sigh, her little sleep top riding up just enough to give me a peek of her pregnant belly. She looks so damn peaceful, so damn content when she sleeps. There’s nothing there to suggest that she’s tied her life to a man who has the potential to destroy it.
Why the fuck did she want me back?
If she had said no, then I would have been able to put some distance between us. Set her up in another house, far from me. Gave her the space she wanted.
But there’s no way I could have walked away from her knowing that she wanted me, too.
It’s one in the morning when my phone flashes on the bedside table. I swing my legs off the bed, grab my phone, and read the incoming message from Osip.
OSIP: We’re all cued up and ready to go, brother. You just need to give me the word.
I allow myself one last look at Vesper—her arms and legs wrapped around a pillow that should have been me instead—and then I get dressed.
Pavel is waiting for me in the driveway, his eyes puffy with sleep, yawing like a beached whale. “What the hell is so damn important that I had to give up my REM cycle to be here?” he complains.
“Get in the car and shut up.”
He throws me a glance as he buckles himself in. “Are you still mad at me about what happened yesterday at the mall?”
