“I’m not done,” I said finally. “But I won’t let her win this time.”
“Win?” Nicco repeated. “This isn’t a game, Lord.”
“Isn’t it?” I countered. “She thinks she can leave me, sleep with my cousin, and I’ll just accept it? That’s not how this shit works.”
“What have you done?” Nicco’s voice took on a warning tone.
I held his gaze, unflinching. “I swapped her birth control pills for vitamins a few months ago. You told me I should knock her up since I can’t legally marry her.”
Silence fell over the room. Even Cenzo looked shocked, which was saying something given all the violence he’d both witnessed and committed.
“You did what?” Nicco finally asked.
“You heard me.” I kept my expression cold and calculating, though inside I felt a twist of something that might have been shame. “I replaced her birth control pills. She’s been taking vitamins for weeks now, thinking she’s protected.”
“Lord, I didn’t think you had it in you.” Nicco muttered. “I’m impressed.”
I simply said. “She belongs with me. She just needs to be reminded of that fact.”
“By getting her pregnant?” Nicco’s voice rose slightly. “She has a career now.”
“It’s effective,” I insisted. “Labria would never abort my child. Her sense of responsibility wouldn’t allow it. And once she’s carrying my baby, she’ll be locked in for life.”
Nicco rubbed a hand over his face. “And what about Maurizio? Your plan didn’t account for him. She is sleeping with him now with those same pills she thinks are working.”
“Maurizio is a problem I’ll handle separately.”
“What does that mean?” Nicco said firmly. “Maurizio is family.”
“So am I,” I reminded him. “And Labria was mine first.”
“She’s not property, Lord,” Cenzo said quietly. “And whatever she was to you, she’s fucking Maurizio now.”
The words hit hard, though I’d known it was true. Hearing it stated so bluntly made something dark and violent stir inside me.
“I’m well aware,” I replied.
“Are you?” Nicco leaned forward. “Because if your little birth control swap worked, you need to move quickly. Before she ends up pregnant with Maurizio’s child instead of yours.”
The thought made my stomach turn. The image of Labria swollen with another man’s child, my cousin’s child, was unbearable.
“That won’t happen,” I said with more confidence than I felt.
“It might already have,” Cenzo pointed out. “How long has she been with him? Three or four weeks?”
I felt a muscle in my jaw twitch. “Look, I have her gynecologist on the payroll. That doctor reports to me. If the timeline doesn’t match up, I will have the doctor terminate it without Labria knowing anything at all.” I corrected. “Not long enough for her to know if she’s pregnant yet.”
“This is brilliant and ruthless. I’m proud to call you my brother.” Nicco said. “But this situation, this little love triangle,needs to be resolved. Fast. I won’t have the family fractured over a woman.”
“I agree,” I said, the wheels already turning in my mind. I needed to see Labria to make her understand that what she thought she’d seen with Lolita wasn’t what it appeared. And I needed to deal with Maurizio. One way or another. Enough time had passed, and I knew she missed me. That greasy-haired weasel could never be a replacement for me.
My hands curled into fists as I thought about Maurizio fucking my girl. And worse, getting her pregnant. The rage I’d been controlling threatened to boil over, but I forced it back down. I needed a clear head. I couldn’t make any more mistakes. Not with this. Not with her.
“I want to kill him,” I said, the words escaping before I could stop them. “Maurizio knew what he was doing. He knew she was mine.”
Nicco’s expression hardened. “No, you won’t.”
“He broke the code,” I insisted. “He took what wasn’t his to take.”
