My throat tightened painfully.
“He thinks...” I swallowed, forcing the words out. “He thinks Matteo or one of his men violated me. That this is the result.”
A tremor ran through my voice now.
“But I swear to you, Ciro—I was never touched. Not like that.”
Ciro exhaled slowly through his nose, a sound that carried weight rather than relief.
He glanced briefly toward the empty driveway where Vincenzo had disappeared, then returned his gaze to me.
“I honestly wished you weren’t carrying his child. Vincenzo didn’t deserve it—not after everything he put you through... the pain, the agony he caused you.”
I blinked at him, caught off guard by what he said.
He met my gaze directly now.
“Do you intend to keep the child or terminate it?” he added, voice low. “If it’s really for Vincenzo, as you say, he wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of it.”
“And you might not even realize it—he could go as far as slipping abortion pills into your food.”
My chest tightened.
“No, he wouldn’t... He said he’d accept the child if it’s his.”
Ciro’s expression intensified, rage flashing in his eyes. I could see his fist clench so tightly I could almost hear the tension. “Believe Vincenzo at your own risk,” he growled.
My mind spun. “You think... if he finds out the baby is his, he would really... end it?”
“You don’t understand Vincenzo like I do. He would terminate it. He wants no child—neither from you, nor Violet, nor anyone. And certainly not from you, because you’re a constant reminder of the torment he’s been through.”
My chest caved as panic gripped me.
Vincenzo’s soft promises from the car now felt like a cruel contradiction to Ciro’s warning.
Had he been lying to me the whole time—uttering love while planning to end my child before it even had a chance?
A man like Vincenzo... he could definitely do it.
“There’s something else you need to know.”
Ciro said, cutting off my spiraling thoughts
My stomach tightened
“What?”
“Do you know that Ruslan Baranov has married your sister?”
For a moment—
The world stopped.
No sound. No air. No movement.
Just that name.
Ruslan Baranov.
