Page 169 of Merciless Desires

Federov. Russian. I don’t know him. An OB nurse named Rita did my ultrasounds.

Behind a curtain, the woman helps me change, and fear drags me under. I’m here. I’m having this baby. It’s real, and I’m terrified.

I need Darragh after all. I reach into my pocket for Sophie’s phone, but it’s…gone.

CHAPTER 18

Darragh

I leave work after I managed to sweet-talk Dr. Marley into coming in early and covering for me for a few hours. I met her outside, gave her an update on a patient, and raced home.

Ana didn’t voice any concerns, but I could hear the fear in her voice. It was my first day back after Cormac broke into the house and attacked her. I hated leaving her alone while Sophie was in school. Ana’s been different since the attack. Silent, watchful. She continuously checks the windows and jumps at even faint noises. She soldiers on like a champ during the daylight, but the afternoon grayness, with the way the days are getting darker earlier, must weaken her strength.

I paid extra for my security company to add a secondary system. The house is more wired than ever. Still, Ana looks scared all the time. I updated all the passcodes and didn’t realize Cormac knew the old ones. He must have disabled the alarm at the front gate and climbed inside Ana’s room. That he knew which room she’d be in suggests he must have been watching the house.

Watching us.

I kept a smile on my face at work and amped up my usual charm, so no one knows I’m dealing with a nightmare in my personal life as far as my brother and what he’s done. I spent the weekend hovering over Ana, making sure she had everything she needs, giving her extra hugs, and telling her she’s safe, that I will protect her.

Traffic is backed up, and the rain isn’t helping. I call the house phone, and when Ana doesn’t answer, I’m perplexed. But she might be taking a nap, or a bath…

Yeah, she could use one of those lavender baths with oils that will make her body shine. And her cunt slick for me. I can’t push sex with her, though. Not when she’s so close to her due date and maybe sees Cormac when she looks at me.

Fucking Cormac. I never thought he’d show up at my house. Never thought he’d attack a woman, much less one staying under my roof. One I’m falling in love with. I have to think differently. He and I played by the rules since leaving Astoria.

Well, mostly.

Now the gloves are off. He’s forcing me to think like my older brothers.

Once the baby is born, there will be a reckoning. I need to convince Ana’s father that I did this. Not Cormac. That she’s been with me the whole time. Convince Ana to tell her father we’re in love. Fuck, I’m already there. I want her to feel it, too.

We can be a family. I can give her whatever she wants. If she wants a cosmopolitan life of fancy restaurants, exotic vacations, and galas, the kind of life a Bratva princess was promised, I can give her that. Even if it’s everything I despise. I’ll do it for her.

I get to the house, and seeing it’s dark, knocks me out of my thoughts.

“Hi!” Inside the door, I yell and wait to hear her voice call back to me. Only silence greets me, and I know something is wrong.

I’m shouting her name as I take the stairs three at a time, my worry intensifying. I don’t hide the desperation in my tone since I don’t have to stay calm for Sophie.

For a split second, when I open the door to Ana’s room, her scent hits me, and I relax. But she’s not here.

Lucy may have invited her to have tea while the girls have their play date. I yank my phone out, and swallowing my embarrassment, I call my seven-year-old daughter’s phone. It’s supposed to be for emergencies. For her to call me.

I feel like shit for not getting Ana a phone sooner, but these three weeks have flown by.

“Hello,” a man’s voice answers, and rage blurs my vision.

“Who the fuck is this?” I bark.

“Hee, hee… The guy who stole your pregnant wife’s phone, asshole.” The line goes dead.

I spin around, putting the pieces together. Ana isn’t in the house. She left and took Sophie’s phone. But some man has it. I call it again, but whoever the fuck that was doesn’t pick up this time.

Someone has my Ana.

My world goes tunnel vision and right now, I understand I need my brothers back home. I can’t do this by myself. When my phone rings again, and I see it’s the hospital, I scream into the silence, “Fuck! Can I not have a moment’s peace?”

I ignore it, and go to call Eoghan, when the hospital rings again. Keeping my lunch down, I take the call because I have a duty.

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