It was just a nightmare. Shake it off.
I blinked the sleep out of my eyes, my gaze landing on John. But at first glance, he seemed . . . different. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.
Then it hit me.
“Where are your glasses?”
A smile curved on his lips. “Don’t need them.”
“What?” That didn’t make any sense. His vision was so impaired that most mornings, he struggled to find the eyewear on the nightstand.
“That’s the least of your concerns, Rory.”
My blood ran cold. No one had called me that in years.
But it was when I peeked out the window and saw we were parked in front of the Bellini Estate that I stopped breathing.
Oh my God.
This whole fucking thing had been a trap!
Trembling from head to toe as terror set in that I was about to come face-to-face with Gio, I turned to John, my voice breaking as I asked, “What have you done?”
His dark laughter filled the cabin of what I was coming to realize was a Bellini vehicle, with guards seated up front. When he dropped his palm to my belly, I jerked away, but he used his free hand to grab a fistful of my hair, the tight hold keeping me in place.
“He’s going to kill you,” I seethed, anger at his deception flooding my veins.
John moved closer so that we were nose to nose. “Did you really think you could run forever? Debts must always be paid, and you owe me an heir. It’s time to collect, sweetheart.”
His fingers flexed over where the baby grew inside me, and I sucked in a sharp breath as it finally sank in.
“Gio?” The name was barely a whisper rolling off my tongue.
He released me, withdrawing enough for me to get a good look at him. There was no recognizable trace of the man I’d married.
With a smug smirk, he touched his face. “It’s remarkable what’s possible when you can afford the world’s top plastic surgeons.”
Even with his admission and the evidence mounting, my brain struggled to process that John—the man I’d fallen in love with,whose baby I was currently carrying—had been Gio this whole time.
“No.” I shook my head. “No, this can’t be happening.”
The door opened behind me, and I swung my head around to find my brother-in-law, Matteo, his eyes darting between John and me. Or was it Gio? Fuck, how was I supposed to tell?
Appealing to the kinder, more logical one of siblings, I begged, “Matteo, please. Tell me it’s not true.”
His gaze dipped to my belly, and he grimaced slightly, giving away how he felt about the unhinged methods his brother had used to secure his heir. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Fuck this.” I shoved Matteo aside and climbed down from the SUV. With a shaking finger, I pointed to the men gathered nearby. “Fuck all of you!” Then I turned to glare at my husband. “Bet you think you’re real clever, don’t you?”
The wicked gleam lighting up his eyes—that were now the same chocolate brown they’d always been, instead of the green of John’s; fuck, had he been wearing color correcting contacts too?—confirmed that he was beyond proud of himself for duping me.
My chest heaved as I huffed, “You may have won this round, but don’t for one minute think that I won’t be researching how to get my hands on magnets strong enough to rip every single piercing out of your dick.”
Spinning on my heels, I stomped toward the front door.
It might appear as though I was accepting my fate as Gio’s prisoner once more, but the truth was that escape was damn near impossible with a dozen armed guards watching on. I needed a minute to think about my next move. I was smart; I would figure something out. I had to, because no way in hell was I handing over my baby to a monster.
Behind me, I heard Matteo ask, “Did you actually let someone shove a needle through your dick?”
