Page 88 of Bound Bride
Tears crawl up the back of my throat.
"It was simple when all I had to worry about was ensuring my mother and my sister survived. But now? I didn't expect to fall in love. I didn't expect to be happy at the idea of a baby. I don't know what to do! I don't even know how I got pregnant because every other test was negative. I don't…" Breathless, I'm forced to stop talking and the heavy silence descends once again.
Calvin shifts slightly in his seat and the frown on his face deepens as he processes everything.
Then, he speaks.
"Stress can be insane for test accuracy. Given… all of this and everything you've been dealing with, it's no surprise none of them were accurate."
I clutch at my thighs and nod quickly. "They were going to kill me if it was negative, so I faked one of the tests and then told them to go to hell because they need me."
"Rose…"
"What did I do?" I turn my tear-filled eyes back to him. "Beatie is only fifteen. The things they did to me? If they do them to her…" The words catch in my throat. "What kind of monster am I that I'd let them endure that because I've fallen in love?"
"First, you're notlettingthem endure anything," Calvin says firmly. "You're as much a prisoner as they are. I can't… imagine the distress of knowing your every move plays with the lives of your family. Rose… you need to tell Kon."
"What? No! I can't do that!" Didn't he listen to a thing I just said? "If he doesn't kill me for lying and betraying him, he'll lock me up and I'll be powerless to save my family!"
"Rose, do you really think he would do that?"
"Look how he reacted when he thought you and I were having an affair," I scoff softly, wiping away a couple of stray tears. "I don't know how he would react."
"True. But this isn't you intentionally hurting him. You've been forced into a horrific situation, with the lives of your entire family hanging in the balance. Kon… is a lot of things. But he understands family. And he will understand the threat of the Vasiliev brothers."
Calvin makes it sound so easy. Just tell the truth.
"I don't want to break his heart," I murmur. "I love him."
"A broken heart sounds better than a dead family," Calvin replies gently. "It's a horrible sacrifice but in the end, what real choice do you have here?" Calvin reaches across and covers my hand with his. "I'll back you up, however he reacts, but there's only one option here. You have to tell him the truth. All of it."
I feared Calvin would say that. Deep down, I know that's the only real option, especially now I'm actually pregnant.
If everything goes south, at least I'll know I did everything I could to protect him.
"Okay." I draw in a deep breath. "Okay. I'll tell him."
"Good. And Rose… for what it's worth, I'm sorry. If I'd had any inkling about Mathew I would have killed him on the spot."
"Then my family would be dead. Lev is the more unstable one, and they have already lost Daniil."
"I'm sorry you've been through hell. And I'm sorry you had to hide it. I'm sorry."
"Stop saying sorry," I whisper with a sad smile. "You'll make me really start crying and I don't know if I'll be able to stop."
Calvin huffs out a humorless laugh, then he nods and turns on the ignition.
As we drive to the club where Kon's dealing with the fallout of underage girls being slipped into his staff (by the Italians, at least that's who he suspects), I play it all out in my head.
There's no version of this where Kon isn't angry.
Will he care about me enough to help?
Or will he only care about his baby?
Kon's always been sweet with me, and decent with Ethan and Calvin, but to everyone else, he's as cold as a bitter winter's morning.
He doesn't seem to have care or compassion for anyone outside of his inner circle.
