Page 136 of Merciless Desires

Ana stands up and strolls toward me. “That’s it. That’s the slight difference I couldn’t pinpoint.” She brings her hand to my face. “May I?”

“May you what?” I grip her hand.

“Touch you.”

Fuck… I have to get a handle on these feelings and not do something I’ll regret. “That’s dangerous, Anastasia.”

“Call me Ana. I certainly don’t want to be Stasia anymore.” Her fingers brush my collar, and it heats my neck.

“Did… Did Cormac take your virginity?” I ask in a low, husky drawl.

I don’t live in my older brothers’ world where virgins are commodities, but Stasia was her father’s jewel. She was expected to stay pure.

“Does it matter?”

“I guess not. Was the sex with Cormac always consensual?” When she lifts tear-filled eyes to me, my heart falls. “I’m sorry.” Rage clouds my vision, like the perpetual fog of this damn wet city. I feel my soul passing through Cormac at this very moment. Twins feel each other’s pain. I hope he feels my fury, and it burns him until he’s choking. “He forced himself on you?”

“No, Darragh, he didn’t force himself on me. We had a great time for a while. I felt like he understood me. He promised to keep my real identity a secret and…”

“And?”

“He promised to bring me here to Seattle.”

I shudder. “When?”

“It got muddy.” She shrugs. “He said he would drive me to Vancouver and…leave me there.”

“What happened?”

“This happened.” She points to her stomach. “He freaked out. Left me for a few days. I don’t want to talk about it. And we hadn’t sex for months before that.” She edges closer, and the air rearranges around me.

What is this?

“I see how you look at me. But I can’t… We can’t act on this.” I feign wariness. “I mean, you’re fucking gorgeous, Ana. And what you did for Sophie today, it…melted me.”

“I was happy to do it, obviously.” She clears her throat. “Will you drive me to Vancouver?”

“When?”

“Now. Tomorrow.” She futzes with her sweater. “If I give birth in Canada, my baby will be a citizen. I can disappear into the Canadian Rockies and—”

“Over my dead body.”

“I’m carrying my father’s heir. This baby is the future pakhan of Astoria. Your dead body is what my father and his bratoks will gladly climb over when Papa finds out you have us.” She brushes past me, her scent disorienting me as she slams the door and leaves me here feeling like a fucking mess.

CHAPTER 9

Ana

The food cravings hit me out of nowhere. For so many months, I barely had anything to eat. Maybe my brain didn’t let me crave what typically taunts pregnant women since I stood a one percent chance of getting it.

Sunday morning, I wake up salivating for pancakes. I saw batter mix down in the kitchen. I’m sure Sophie will love them.

God, how her father adores her.

It occurs to me that my father hasn’t even come close to finding me these past two and a half years. How hard has he been looking? Does he not have cyber capabilities?

Maybe he doesn’t care about me as much as I thought. I was just his pawn to marry off to another pakhan.

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