Page 152 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

Esme isn’t pregnant. She can’t be.

“Did you just say… baby?” I ask.

“Yes, I’ve checked both their vitals,” Dr. Sussman explains with a pleasant nod. “A strong heartbeat and vitals all look flawless. A healthy little bean.”

He must notice the horror in my expression then, because his smile sours to a frown.

“Forgive me, Mr. Kovalyov. Have I said something wrong?”

“How far along is she?” I demand, my eyes narrowing.

Fury rises up in my belly. Hot and vicious.

Esme lied. She hid things from me.

A baby.

A child.

An heir.

Dr. Sussman glances at the chart in the nurse’s hand and then back at me. “Uh… four months,” he reads. “Just about.”

Four fucking months.

There’s no way Esme didn’t know she was pregnant for that long. Which means that she knew and she didn’t tell me.

I tighten my hands into fists.

All the questions I’ve been asking myself for the last twenty-four hours dissipate completely.

Now, there’s only one left…

What else has my wife been hiding?

41

Esme

I know it’s a nightmare, but I can’t wake up.

I’m strapped to a chair in the middle of an ocean of darkness.

In the distance—footsteps. Heavy. Plodding.

A man emerges from the swirling shadows. It’s the son of a bitch from The Siren. The one who tried to rape me.

He’s back and uglier and twice as big as before.

Twice as hungry. Twice as cruel.

“No one is coming to save you this time,” he rumbles. His face splits in a sickening grin. “You’re all mine for eternity.”

Then, moving impossibly fast for a man of his size, he shoves a knife between my ribs.

I gasp.

Pain explodes.

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