“In a rush somewhere?” he asked. His tone was dry as ever, but his curiosity bothered me.
“Oh. No. Just bringing some laundry over to do with the other things.” I cleared my throat, wishing I could be a more convincing liar. “Do you need me to do anything? Something I can help with?”
He shook his head, but his gaze lingered with skepticism.
I was prone to clumsiness at times. That shouldn’t have been so surprising and out of the norm to have him looking at me like this.
“Sorry I didn’t look where I was going,” I added as he passed me by.
“No worries,” he drawled as he moved down the hallway.
I cringed.
Shit.
Now he was acting weird. He was probably suspicious of me too. He already had been, if I was honest, never seeming to accept that I was with his boss.
I continued to pack, but as I passed the bouquet of flowers Andre had delivered to me a week ago, I gagged at the cloying smell of the petals. They were still fresh—enough—but the sickly sweet fragrance turned my stomach.
“Oh, God…” With my bag hanging over my shoulder, I grabbed the flowers and carried them toward the door off the kitchen. I’d thrown away that other old flower delivery that had been sitting on a side table in the hallway toward the foyer. It hadn’t looked that bad yet. Only a couple of lilies were wilting, and I hated to throw out anything Andre had so sweetly gotten for me, but the smell nearly made me puke yesterday.
I’d pitched it in the big trash can yesterday afternoon. As I lifted the lid, I held my breath to toss out this other bouquet.
“Is every smell going to bother me now that I’m pregnant?” I muttered to myself. That sounded like misery.
I closed the lid and paused to admire the soft summer breeze that carried through the utility area.
Pressing my hand to my flat belly, I sighed. “I can’t believe Iampregnant,” I admitted to myself, letting the secret float away with the wind.
It wasn’t so hard to believe, though. With how often he’d come inside me. How many times we’d pursued each other physically. In the heat of the moment, I never wanted to slow down and get protection. The one time I asked if we should use a condom, Andre smirked and proceeded to fuck me with more force, as if the idea of knocking me up was a goal.
Yeah, right.
He wouldneverbe happy to know that his child is a Giovanni as well.
I shook my head, resolved to get out while I could and take this secret to the grave with me. No matter how much I’d miss him and regret having to lose the best thing in my life.
I don’t think this is quite what you meant when you said to live life to the fullest, E.
It was too late to have regrets, though. All I could do was carry on and try to take care of as many people as I could—without hurting them like I had Andre.
25
ANDRE
“Need anything else?” I asked Sergei as we left the building where a couple of morons from the Cartel tried to harass the bartender at one of our bars. Security kept them overnight in a dungeon for us to question and interrogate. Sergei would’ve handled it on his own just fine, but he’d wanted to “check on me” with the news spread about a mole or spy still being in my building, or interfering with business from my end.
“With them?” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the Cartel gangsters who wouldn’t be messing with us anytime soon after the lesson we’d taught them. I was just glad that no blood had messed up my suit. “No. I’m good.” He shot me a wry look. “I only asked you to come so we could catch up and talk.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, no thanks.”
I’d told him the same thing that I’d told my father. And Oleg. I would defend Sofia. But I wasn’t ready to be blind to evidence. Ifshe was a spy or connected to any of our enemies, I would stand loyal with my family. Not her.
“What did the security team find?” he asked. “When they swept for the bugs?”
I sighed and headed toward my car. “Nothing.” And wasn’t that a kicker? “They picked up a hint of a device, but not from inside the house.”
“So the reading was wrong?”
