Page 86 of Pregnant Bratva Wife
“What are you doing here?” I asked into her hair. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”
“Spring break,” she said, pulling back to look at me. “And I missed my big sister.”
“Just remember,” Beatrice declared as she gave Megan a playful glare. “Autumn is mine now. You can’t have her back.”
“But I’ve come to kidnap her!” Megan laughed and teased back.
“For the right price, maybe…” Beatrice winked.
“Hey!” I protested, giggling now, as I watched these two wonderful girls tease and argue.
God, it felt so normal. And for the first time in days, I felt happy.
Beatrice discreetly slipped away soon after, and I pulled Megan onto the couch, bombarding her with questions. How did she find me? How long was she staying? How were her classes?
“Slow down,” Megan laughed as she kicked off her shoes and pulled her feet up beneath her. “One question at a time.”
“How did you even know I was here?”
“Federico called me.” She bit her lower lip, like she knew we had had a fight or something.
“He what?” I hissed.
“He called a few days ago. Said you needed me,” she sighed. “He arranged everything—the flight, the taxi here. He even gave me extra spending money so we could do whatever we wanted while I’m here.”
I didn’t know what to say. Federico had reached out to Megan? After everything?
“Autumn,” Megan’s voice was gentle. “What happened between you two?”
I shook my head, not ready to get into it. “It’s complicated.”
“Federico didn’t say much, just that you were staying with his sister for a while and could use some company.” She hesitated. “He sounded... I don’t know. Sad, somehow. Different from when I talked to him before.”
When she talked to him…before? What did she mean by that?
Megan watched me carefully. “Want to tell me what he did?”
I sighed.God.How I wanted to tell her the truth. But something in my heart held me back.
This was my baby sister, and I knew the truth would only worry her. Besides, I wasn’t ready yet to tell her what I had done: that I married a stranger, a mobster no less, to pay her tuitionand our mom’s debts. She’d have blamed herself and thought none of this would have happened if only she had dropped out.
I couldn’t have her live with that burden.
So, I lied. “We argued,” I sighed. “Nothing major.”
“Nothing major, but you moved out?” She cocked an eyebrow in my direction.
“Well, I moved into his sister’s house, didn’t I?” I fired back. If I were living with Beatrice, Megan would know it couldn’t have been that bad. “Besides. I don’t want to talk about it.Please.”
My tactic worked, for Megan leaned forward and hugged me. “Oh, Autumn,” she sighed. “I once read that the first year of marriage is the hardest. He’s a nice man. I’m sure it’ll all be okay.”
“Thanks, Megs,” I said, though a lump formed in my throat. How simple this situation was in my sister’s head. If only that were the truth.
A small part of me longed for it all to be okay. An obstinate part of me refused to believe it could be.
We spent the rest of the day catching up, carefully avoiding the Federico-shaped elephant in the room. It wasn’t until that night, after Beatrice had gone to bed, that I remembered something Megan had said. Something I ignored.
“Hey, Megs?” I asked as we sipped our tea in the kitchen.
