Page 133 of Chains of Recompense
My breasts ache, sensitive in a way that sets off a quiet, ominous bell in my mind.
No.I press a hand to my stomach, heart racing as the math clicks into place with horrifying clarity.This can’t seriously be happening. Not again.
But a dark sense of certainty slowly settles into the pit of my stomach. I know these signs.
The familiar, telltale clues that hint at a life growing inside me.
Pressing my eyes shut, I consider how that might even be possible.
Raf and I only started being intimate, what, a few weeks ago?
And he’s been careful to pull out or use a condom every time.
Then it dawns on me—that one late, drunken fight.
A night that ended in passion we both pretended hadn’t happened. Raf had passed out afterward, and I didn’t think he’d finished.
Oh, God.
Grinding the heels of my palms into my eye sockets, I will myself not to cry. I need answers, not a pity party.
Pulling myself back together, I head out into the hall once more, considering my options.
The house is fairly empty.
I know Sandro and Evi were planning on going to visit Miko and Anika today, so I quietly pad toward their wing of the house, hoping against hope that Evi has a few spare pregnancy tests lying around.
Blessedly, she has an open pack tucked at the back of a bathroom drawer, and I snag one, racing back to my room before anyone catches me.
Three minutes later, I sit on the edge of the tub, the test trembling in my hand. The seconds stretch endlessly.
Breaths shallow, I stare down at the two innocent pink lines, confirming my terrible suspicion.
I’m pregnant with Raf’s child.
Again.
A hollow laugh escapes me, brittle and broken. It’s history repeating itself with brutal precision.
Same man.
Same silence.
Same impossible choice.
I press my forehead to my knees, curling in on myself, tears dripping onto the tile.
What the hell have you done, Aisling?
Then a fierce, fiery conviction rises inside me, that same familiar anger that I’ve clung to for so long.
It feels like an old friend stepping back into my life. I won’t tell him.
He made it clear.
This arrangement between us is temporary, and it will be over soon.
When the fighting is done, we will go our separate ways.
