I swallowed hard.
His possible reaction to the news of my pregnancy played out in my mind in flashes—and none of them were good.
Rage.
Cold dismissal.
A quiet order spoken in that same controlled tone he used for everything else.
End it.
The word echoed, even though he hadn’t said it yet.
But he might.
And I had to be ready for that.
I lay back slowly, careful of my ribs, letting my body sink into the mattress while my feet still touched the floor.
Half-propped.
Suspended between rest and tension.
My eyes fixed on the ceiling.
I started counting.
Seconds.
Minutes.
Heartbeats.
Anything to keep my mind from spiraling too far ahead.
Time blurred the way it always did when you were waiting for something you couldn’t avoid.
At some point, the light shifted.
The gold faded into softer hues, shadows stretching longer across the room.
The quiet deepened.
Then—
A knock.
Soft. Controlled. Real.
My heart jumped before I could stop it.
“Elena,” Renzo’s voice came through the door, slightly muffled by the wood. “Vincenzo’s around. He’s in his study.”
Everything inside me went still.
“Got it,” I called back, forcing steadiness into my voice. “Thank you, Renzo.”
“You’re welcome.”
