“I didn't realize you weren't living at The Centennial anymore.”
"We thought it was a good idea to have more than one location. No one knows about this place.”
My eyebrows rise. “Ah.”
“So tell me," she says simply, sitting beside me on the bed, her gray moonlight eyes soft with concern.
The whole story pours out of me. The one-night stand she knows all too well about and tonight’s disastrous dinner. My Father’s announcement. Bradley's wandering hands and my father's cold commands. Running from the guards. Standing on the street in the dark, alone and terrified and pregnant.
“I took three pregnancy tests. I am for sure pregnant.”
"Pregnant?" Luna's eyes widen, her lips parting with shock. "But you said you were on the pill."
"I was." I laugh, but it comes out more like a sob, raw and broken. "Apparently even ninety-nine percent isn't a guarantee."
"The man from Scarlet Thorn? The one with the mask?"
I wipe my eyes and nod miserably, fresh heat spilling down my cheeks. “Who else? It’s not like I go around banging random men. I don't even know his real name. I mean, he said it was Dante, but..." I trail off, remembering that flicker of hesitation in his eyes, the brief shadow that crossed his handsome face before he answered.
"Yeah, definitely not his real name. It doesn't matter. I have no way to find him, and now I'm pregnant with his baby and my father wants to marry me off to some politician's son and I have no money, no job, no future. And after tonight I don’t even own a clean pair of panties. There’s no way I can go back to my apartment."
Luna shakes her head. “Hell no. They’d snatch you up in a heartbeat.”
The tears come hot and relentless, streaming down my cheeks as Luna pulls me into her arms.
"Shh." She rocks me gently, stroking my hair with fingers still stained with traces of gold and emerald paint.
“I’m sorry I interrupted your work.” I point to the paint on her hand.
"Never mind that. We're going to figure this out. You're not alone, Ilona. You have me. You have my men. We protect our own."
I cry until I have nothing left, until my eyes are swollen and my throat is raw. Luna hands me tissues and lets me blow my nose with graceless, hiccuping sobs.
"Okay." She straightens, her gray eyes taking on that determined glint I've come to associate with her solving impossible problems. Her jaw sets with quiet resolve. "First things first. You need a job. Something legitimate, something that pays well, something your father can't easily trace or take from you because he 'knows someone.'" She throws up air quotes with an exaggerated eye roll, and the absurdity of it pulls a broken laugh from my chest. Leave it to Luna to make me smile when my world is crumbling.
"I have a degree in business administration and half a communications minor." I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand, my voice still thick with tears. "My qualifications for the real world are basically 'knows how to smile at dinner parties and stay quiet.'"
Luna's lips twitch, a hint of her usual mischief breaking through. "That's actually perfect for what I have in mind." She pulls out her phone and taps out a quick message, her thumbs flyingacross the screen. "I know someone who might be able to help. He's been looking for an executive assistant, someone smart and discreet."
Her phone pings almost immediately.
"That was fast." She reads the message, her eyebrows lifting slightly, then holds out her phone to me. "He says call him to set up an interview, first thing tomorrow. Save this number, sweetie, and we’ll get this figured out."
Thank all the angels for best friends.
I take my own phone from my clutch and create a new contact, carefully typing in the digits she shows me. The name field stares at me blankly, cursor blinking.
"What's his name?"
"Luca Valentina." Luna says it like it should mean something, but it doesn't. Just another wealthy man in a city full of them. "He's... well, he's connected. Powerful. But he's fair, and he pays well, and if you work for him, your father won't be able to touch you."
I save the contact and set my phone aside. "Thank you, Luna. For everything. I don't know what I would do without you."
She hugs me one more time, fierce and brief, her small frame surprisingly strong. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day, and you have an interview to prepare for." She points to the dresser across the room. "There are pajamas in the second drawer and there are clothes in the closet. Some of them are brand new. Jasper likes to keep the safe house loaded as he likes to put it. You’ll find other garments in the top drawers. Help yourself to anything you want."
After she leaves, I release my hair from its clasp. I strip out of my dress and undergarments. They suddenly feel like a costume from another life. The fabric pools at my feet like a bloodstain, and I kick it away with more force than necessary. I catch my reflection in the full-length mirror and pause.
My stomach is still flat. No visible sign of the life growing inside me. But I know it's there. I can feel it in some primal, inexplicable way, a presence that has become the center of my entire universe in the span of a few hours. My hand drifts to rest against my belly, palm flat, fingers spread wide.