Page 146 of Merciless Desires

“I get it. Let me talk to Balor and see what we can do.”

My head is ready to explode with all this new info crammed in there, shit that will make Ana flip out.

I have to get back in her good graces and wipe the idea from her mind that I offered to kill my own twin so she doesn’t take off.

CHAPTER 11

Ana

In the kitchen, Sophie eats her nuggets under my lingering gaze while I discreetly open up cabinets and drawers until I find…ha…stamps.

Sneaking a look over my shoulder, I see Sophie watching the kitchen television mounted on the far wall. She swings her legs happily, not suspecting anything is amiss, so I keep searching until I find…

A notepad and envelopes.

I shove everything into my bra.

Darragh appears in the kitchen moments later, his eyes tearing into my soul. I’m so confused, and I’m tired of feeling alone. Like I have no one.

I have my sister, and I want to reach out to her. Clearing my throat, I say, “I’d like to lie down if I can.”

“Of course. I’m going to grill those steaks. Red meat has iron which is good for the baby,” he says, pulling two rib eyes out of the refrigerator and begins seasoning them.

“Great. Just…call me.”

He stops the pepper grinder and glances over his shoulder. “You okay?”

No. Shrugging, I say, “Sure. Just tired.”

Nodding, he goes back to the seasoning. “Get some rest.”

I swing by Sophie and stroke her head. “Did you enjoy going to the baby doctor with us today, sweetie?”

She looks up at me with the same green eyes as her father. “Uh huh!”

With golden hair and a strong jawline like Darragh, it’s like her mother was wiped from this little girl’s existence before she left.

What will my baby look like? Catching my reflection, I have the same blonde hair, but blue eyes. I hope when I look at the baby, I’ll see myself and not Cormac.

But I take heart in knowing that if I do, I’ll see Darragh. And Sophie.

Darragh’s comment about killing his twin for me rocked my nerves, though I don’t think he was serious. He’s wired, and so am I.

Could Darragh just feel that strongly for me? After two days?

It’s not really two days, though. We met years ago, briefly. Him on one side, with his Irish family, and me, with my Russian brood on the other.

Katya had struck up a friendship with Isabella Parisi, the Mafia don’s daughter, who is now Darragh’s sister-in-law. I avoided friends. I spent more time figuring out how to sneak off. Or losing my guards for fun. I was eighteen!

Now, at twenty-three and pregnant, I feel stuck.

Shaking all that away, I amble through the main floor and climb the stairs. In my room, I lock the door, and then go into the bathroom for extra security. With a pen I swiped from a desk in my room, I scribble out a note to my sister back home in Astoria.

Getting it all out, I give her the facts. Where I am. Who I’m with. Darragh. Not Cormac. But I summarize the last two plus years with gritty and honest testimony. I don’t want her to worry about me, but I can’t lie. We grew up in a brutal world, and she deserves the truth. I urge her not to fret and tell her that I love her.

After signing my name, Anastasia, I fold the note sheet and stick it in the envelope. I fish out the address I wrote down before Cormac took my phone, so thankful I went back to that motel. Otherwise, I would have lost Katya's school address forever.

I attach the stamp to the envelope and glance out the window. A mailbox sits at the end of the street. I see the rain has temporarily stopped. With the letter now shoved into my pocket, signed, sealed with hopes of delivery, I head back downstairs.

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