She returns to the bedroom.
I start to follow her, but my phone rings. I glance at the screen, Roman's name appearing.
"I need to take this." I’m pissed at my own weakness that I'm grateful for the interruption. "What is it?"
Roman's voice is terse. "We've got movement on that situation with Blackwood. He's meeting with that Fed that’s been on Dominic. The one who’d talked to Isabella."
“Ricci?”
“Yep. Could be two colleagues shooting the breeze or they could be coordinating.”
“See what you can learn.”
“Will do.” There’s a pause. "Everything okay? You sound?—"
"I'm fine." I cut him off. "Just handle it."
I end the call, standing motionless in the center of the bathroom.
The pregnancy test still sits on the bathroom counter.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
When I return to the bedroom, it's empty.
A strange sense of panic wells.
I go to the hall and follow the sound to the guest room Gabriella originally stayed in.
I find her pulling clothes from drawers and tossing them into an open suitcase.
"What are you doing?"
She doesn't look up, just continues packing. "What does it look like?"
"You can't leave." I can’t believe I’m saying that.
I want to be as far away from her and her baby as possible.Don’t I?
"I don't need your protection anymore." Her voice is annoyingly calm. "I can be protected just as well at my father’s house, although how convenient for you if something did happen to me.”
Did she just say I’d be happy if she died?“What the fuck, Gabriella?” I feel like the floor under my feet is giving away and I can’t find steady ground.
“There’s no reason for me to stay.”
"We're in the middle of something here." I gesture between the two of us.
She finally meets my eyes, and the hurt I see there makes me want to look away. "No, Marco. We're at the end of something. You've made that perfectly clear."
"Gabriella—"
"You don’t want this.” She shrugs. “Fine. I'm setting you free."
I gape at her. “It’s not that easy. There’ll be questions,” I say, glancing at her belly that shows no signs of a baby. Maybe the test is wrong.
“Don’t worry, Marco. Like I said, it will be fine.”
Fucking hell, I wish she’d stop saying that. “How?”