Page 27 of Violent Reign (Violent Kingdom)

“I need you down here.” He means down the hall somewhere. Somewhere that used to feel familiar to me. Somewhere that used to be my home. It’s not my home anymore.

No, you don’t need me. Just knock me out and do what you’re going to do, Nathan.

But the argument isn’t worth my life.

I follow the sound of his voice to the bathroom.

“It’s time to take a pregnancy test, Aves.”

My stomach turns and plummets, skin breaking out into hard chills at the shine in Nathan’s eyes. He’s excited. He’s been waiting for this. If I weren’t already pregnant I would be looking down the barrel at my infinite future, probably until he either killed me or I entered menopause.

Nathan opens the cupboard and I’m dragged under by a panic so sharp it shoves the air from my lungs. The movers from his apartment packed up everything with such a swift efficiency that I didn’t have time to get rid of that box of tests. He’s had the mansion fitted with cameras that don’t leave a single corner untouched.Let me get that, I want to say. But he’s already pulling the crumpled box out from where the movers tipped it into a small cardboard box the day after we got married. He’s already rattling it in his hand and pulling out the used test. Suspicion clouds his features and then his eyes snap to mine.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt out. “I took it last night. I was feeling kind of sick all day, and I just...I had to know.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “And it’s positive?”

“Yup.”

Nathan lets the box fall to the ground and he’s on top of me right away, backing me up against the door and kissing me with a ferocity that scares the shit out of me. I try to go with it—open my mouth, let him in, but he must know something’s up because he backs away. Either that or he doesn’t care if something’s up. I wouldn’t put it past him to want to take a kiss from me. He’s taken everything else.

“That happened fast.” He runs a hand through his hair. He’s nervous, I realize. The psychopath actually has a sliver of humanity inside him. A point of weakness. Who knew it would be his offspring? I mean, it makes sense, doesn’t it? An animal who wants to sow his seeds and make more of himself, the ultimate ego trip. “I didn’t think it would happen so fast.” A perverse satisfaction transforms his face into the ugliest expression I’ve ever seen. A proud father. A psychopath. “Good job,” he tells me. “You must have really liked what we did to make that happen.”

I remember what I told him in bed on our hellish wedding night. That it would be better if it felt good. My cheeks go painfully red at the suggestion that Ilikedit. Nathan notices and comes over to run one knuckle down the outside of my cheek. I brace like he’s going to slap me.

“You don’t have to be ashamed for liking what you like.” He studies my face, my lips, my throat. “You’re a Capulet, baby. Depravity is in our blood.”

Not in yours,I think,because you’re fucking adopted, idiot.I don’t say that, though. Mostly I’m trying to stop myself from going for his eyes.

If I clawed at him, how long would I be able to survive? His eyes seem like easy targets at such close range and I’m desperate to take a chunk out of him. What in the actual fuck is he thinking? That I’m coming around to this? That I actually would be happy at the thought of having a baby with this murderous fuck? Eliza must have messed him up beyond words that he could even think, for a moment, that I wanted any part of this.

“I suppose it is,” I agree.

“I hope it’s a little girl,” Nathan whispers. “Just like you. I wish I’d seen you when you were tiny and innocent.”

Bile rises in my throat.Don’t rise to the bait. Rome’s whisper is soft and tantalizing in my ear, and shit, I’m losing it. If I can actually hear him then my mind has broken. Or the rest of me is breaking down. I can feel him, too, his body pressed against mine, his arms around my waist. He’s holding me upright.

And then he’s gone again. There’s nothing I can say to Nathan that will make this any better. Getting through the moment is enough. This moment and the next and the next.

Nathan pulls his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll make the call.”

My blood freezes again, stuttering to a stop and then rushing painfully through my veins. It dizzies me. “What call?”

“To your OBGYN. Dr. Hollis, right?”

The fact that he knows this is so gross. I guess I will never stop being shocked at how disgusting and depraved Nathan is. His whole family is rotten to the core. If that means that my family is rotten, then so be it.

“Yes, that’s my doctor’s name.” I’d prefer to make calls for myself. But that, like all my other freedoms, has been stripped away.

“I’ll make the appointment.”

“They don’t usually do appointments this early. They usually wait until ten weeks, I think.” I overheard that in the waiting room once. Not until ten weeks, unless there’s some pressing reason otherwise. The longer I go, the easier it will be to fudge the extra weeks. But right now? It’ll be obvious. To everyone.

Nathan laughs. “Oh, Avery. Listen to yourself. He’ll make an appointment for you. Or should I say—he’ll make the appointment for me. I’m not waiting until you’re ten weeks pregnant. We’ll go as soon as they can fit you in.” He pockets his phone again, grabbing the hem of my dress. He yanks it up, pulling my panties to the side with force.

“Wait-” I stammer, but it’s too late. He’s got me up against the wall and impaled on his cock before I can even think a single coherent thought.

A celebration fuck. How lucky am I.

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