"You're what?" he asks cautiously, shaking his head.
"I'm so sorry, Stepan. I should've told you but my father... and Maksim..."
"Stop." The word feels like a slap, but I don’t think he means to make me feel that way. "We're about to go in and talk to my cousin and there is a hell of a lot of stuff I need to know before I do that."
I cower against the door, but my body is starting to lose some of the tension. Every moment we've spent together up until this point flashes through my mind. His hands on my body, the way he pleaded with me to marry him. He loves me. He's said it himself more than once, and I told him last night that I love him too. He has to know I'm being honest when I say that. I may be conflicted, but I'd never outright lie to him.
"Tell me what's going on. Tell me everything now."
When he sits back and turns the full weight of his gaze on me, I melt. I break down and tell him about Maksim being pushy, andhow when I found out I was pregnant, what Elira told me to do. Then I tell him about both my father and Maksim threatening to force me to have an abortion, and when I get to the part about being afraid to go home for fear they will follow through, I can't finish. I cry so hard, he reaches across the center console to cradle my cheek.
"Hey, shh... I'm not mad, okay? I'm sorry I scared you." Stepan's voice and touch are so gentle, I cling to him, pressing my hand against his on my cheek.
"I'm so scared. He's going to make me abort the baby. He threatened to do a mercy killing, Stepan. I don't know what to do." I'm shaking, so scared I might pee myself, and he climbs out of the car and walks around, opening my door.
When he pulls me out and into his arms, I instantly feel safe. I've never been more at home than when I'm here against his chest, knowing he will fight for me. And after seeing him with that gun chasing down armed men who invaded his home, I have no doubt he can protect me. He killed Maksim. Nothing else would ever be as difficult.
"Look, we have to go in and talk to my cousin." He presses kisses to my forehead, then continues. "You're gonna see stuff and hear stuff, but I need you to trust me. I don't have time to explain everything right now." Now he's the one who sounds uncertain, but after he just accepted my whole mess without judging me, I have no reason to doubt him.
"Okay?" I say, sniffling. He takes my hand and walks with me, leading me through a side gate where he has to enter a code.
"And you're safe here, okay? No one will ever get into this place and if they tried, there would be a dozen guards on them in lessthan ten seconds." He's so sure now, walking so fast, I can't keep up. "I just need you to promise me something."
He stops short of a door on the side of the house, and I look up at him, worried about what might be on the other side of that wall. "Anything," I tell him softly.
"Promise me, no matter what you see inside this home, you'll remember that I love you with every shred of my being. Promise me that you will trust that I have your best interests at heart, and that I know you." His hands cup both of my cheeks and he squeezes, shaking me gently. I have no clue why he's being so serious all of a sudden, but it scares me again.
"I promise, Stepan. I love you." My words come out as a whimper, sealed in a heated kiss before he pulls away and opens the door.
And I'm two steps into what appears to be a well-lit garage before I realize how stupid I really am. Stepan moves to the side, revealing me to a room full of men, and I see Darius Radin standing next to a man I don't recognize, but it all clicks into place.
"Stepan?" I look up at his profile and my stomach rolls.
He's a Radin?
Or at the very least, he works with them.
And my father really will kill me now. I'm having the enemy's baby.
24
STEPAN
"Ro, we need to talk." My cousin's eyes go dark as soon as he lays eyes on Marina, and she is shaking like a leaf. Those fuckers had no right to enter my home, but I'm glad she's with me and not them. After what she told me, I know she'd be shipped off to an abortion clinic first thing in the morning, especially since they know she's been with me.
Roman turns from his place at the head of the table he's erected in his garage for this meeting with his wife's family and nods at them. "If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I have something to deal with." He sounds cordial to them, but I can see the dragon under the surface coiling to strike. Dragging a woman into his intel meeting with the Radins isn't a good idea. Especially when that woman is one of their dire enemies.
I see a few faces screw up in anger and acknowledgement of that fact, and I put my arm protectively around her. Roman won't stand for any of them lashing out or hurting her for no good reason, and I'm banking on that fact as we turn our backs to themen and follow Ro into the house and around the corner into his office.
"Sit down," he grumbles, walking straight to his liquor cabinet to get out a bottle of vodka. He pulls three glasses out and carries them back to his desk, where he sets them down and leans as Marina and I take the wooden chairs positioned across from it. "Let me pour you a drink."
I watch him uncork the bottle and pour as Marina leans into me, and it finally makes sense why for the past month every time I've offered her a drink, she's refused it. She's known she's having a baby and she's making healthy choices. So before he pours the third glass, I clear my throat.
"Uh, just two... Marina won't be drinking."
Roman's eyes shift as he stops pouring and looks at me. Then his gaze flicks to hers and a knowing passes through his expression. It makes his features tighten as he corks the bottle and sets it down, then hands me my drink.
I'm going to be a father. Me—the loser who could never keep a woman, who never had a plan in life to even settle down. I'm going to be a dad, and at the hands of someone we never expected. I don't even know what to say to that. I down my vodka and nod at the empty glass, handing it to Roman who has his in hand. He quickly refills it without question and gives it back. Clearly, he understands what's at stake here without my having to say a word.