Page 16 of Broken Princess

"Okay," I say, bracing myself for whatever it is. With him, it's guaranteed to be a doozy.

Anthony takes a deep breath, which has me even more on edge. He is not the type to shy away from saying… well, much of anything.

"Amelia is pregnant," he says, proving that I haven't actually braced myself. Not at all. "And it's your baby."

CHAPTER 8

LORENZO

And it's your baby.

Those words ricochet through my mind like flaming bullets.

Amelia is pregnant.

Amelia is pregnant withmybaby.

It's not possible. It just isn't. And yet…

Fuck, yeah, it is. It's very possible, and there's something about it that immediately rings true to me. It should terrify me, and it does, but it's not just that. There's an instinctive response there—an instinctive rightness, as wrong and fucked up as everything about it is—that I can't deny.

Denial does eventually stick its claws in, though, and I find myself grasping at straws even though I already know the truth on a deep, inexplicable level.

"You're lying."

He just gives me a bored look. "Come on, Lorenzo. You're a big boy. You had unprotected sex. You don't need me to explain to you how it goes."

"I thought she was on… I don't know, something," I mutter, raking a hand through my hair.

This all feels surreal. And yet, even though the panic has fully set in, there's still a part of me that's… excited? That's insane.

Completely and totally insane, and yet…

"Yeah, you thought," he scoffs, folding his arms. "I'm only telling you this because I'm afraid for Amelia, and you need to know what the stakes are."

I frown at the implication laced in his words. "What, you think I wouldn't want to find her otherwise?"

He shrugs. "You've made it pretty fucking clear she's not a priority, so I don't really know what you would or wouldn't do, given the right circumstances. Or the wrong ones."

His words enrage me, but if I'm being honest with myself, I can't say I blame him. He's right, I haven't made Amelia a priority at all. I expected her to be my dirty little secret and threw a tantrum when she refused.

And she's carrying my baby.

She's already said she's afraid of history repeating itself. I know that's at least part of the reason why she doesn't want to be my mistress, but now…

"She never said anything," I murmur.

Anthony raises an eyebrow. "Are you really surprised by that?"

I frown, but he has a point. I can't say I am, no.

"Is that why she left?" I ask. "Because she was afraid I would find out?"

"That's part of it, yeah," he answers. "That, and her father, for obvious reasons."

Can't argue with that, either. I know he's already going to want to kill me when he finds out I'm engaged to one of his daughters and fucking the other. And now I got her pregnant.

Not that any of that even matters right now. Not when she—and our baby—are in danger.

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