“He came and visited Lucia in the hospital. No one saw him but me, but he told me, well, he didn’ttellme, but he heavily suggested that your father was behind everything that’s happened. Faking his death, killing my parents, his arrival at the altar - all of it. He said that Angelo’s starvation for power is dangerous. He showed me scars that looked like mine and Savio’s. Said we were far from his first.”
Natalia’s hands came up and clasped around her mouth. “Romeo will never forgive him.”
“I know. I let him leave, but I told him not to come back,” I said. “For his good and ours.”
“Even Gianni has been his victim,” Natalia said. “All of us, all this time.”
“Gianni asked me to do two things before he left the hospital,” I said. “He told me to take care of you and he told me to kill your father. I plan to do both.”
“He told you to take care of me?” Natalia said.
“Yeah. He said you’re a good woman. I told him I already knew that.”
Natalia rubbed her nose and forced a weak smile. “I thought my brothers hated me.” She chuckled. “I thought I hated them.”
“Your father is poison. Heneedsto be eliminated,” I said.
“My brothers are already planning something I’m sure,” Natalia replied. “After he threatened your sisters, they’re all in a rage.”
“Your brothers aren’t strong enough.” Natalia actually looked hurt, so I grabbed her hands and squeezed them. “Don’t get me wrong, Iknowyour brothers are strong, but they fear Angelo. Gianni wasn’t anywhere near him and he couldn’t even say the words that your father had done it. I saw the fear in his eyes. They may have good intentions, but they’ll fold before him. It has to be me.”
“You can’t,” Natalia said, starting to get emotional again. “I’m afraid you’ll die.”
“I can take care of myself. I’m not just some guy. I’m my family’s heir now.”
“I know, but what if something happens? What if he sees you coming? I need you.”
I stood up, setting my hand on Natalia’s face. “He’s not going to kill me, Natalia, I won’t let him. Even if he somehow saw me coming and got the jump on me, I’m not going out without taking him with me. At least if you and my sisters can live safely, that’s enough.”
“No!” She screeched. “It’s not. You need to be here. You can’t die!”
“Nat.”
“You can’t! You’re gonna be a dad! You can’t die.” Tears started to pour down her face again.
I slumped backward, falling onto the bed. “What?”
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
“H-how?” Then it all became clear. The reason she said it was fine when I came inside her the night before. It was because she was already pregnant. “I thought you took the morning-after pill.”
“I did,” she whimpered, “but I guess I didn’t take it soon enough or it didn’t work, I don’t know.”
“Maybe it’s just stress?” I said.
She shook her head. “It’s not. I took two pregnancy tests earlier today and they were both positive.”
“W-well, I’ve heard of that happening before, that sometimes stress can result in false pregnancies. You should take another one, or actually see a doctor. We could be getting upset over nothing,” I said.
“Upset?” Natalia stood up. “I’m not upset about being pregnant. I’ve always wanted to be a mom. I never had one.”
“Natalia, wecannothave a baby right now.” What was she thinking? We were just talking about being afraid of her father hurting my sisters a minute ago. Clearly, he didn’t care about Lucia being pregnant. Why would he care about her? Or me for that matter. “It just wouldn’t work.”
“Why wouldn’t it?” she said. “Are you going to leave me if I keep this baby?”
“What? No, but I need you to think logically here,” I said.
“Iamthinking logically,” she snapped back. “For once, I made a decision for myself and it resulted in something that I feel in total control over.” She gasped. “I thought you’d be excited.”
