And it tugs at my heartstrings. When I pull back to look at him, Sandro loosens his grip almost reluctantly, but he doesn’t release me completely, and his arms lend me strength that I desperately need.
“Yes,” I breathe. “I found out a few days before we were captured.”
I can see the hurt flit through his eyes when he realizes I’ve been keeping it from him all this time, and it guts me. I can’t do this. I can’t lie to Sandro any longer. He riskedeverythingfor me—gave everything to protect me—and all this time, he hasn’t known the real me. I’m not the angel he thinks I am, and while I’m terrified that he’ll hate me when he learns the truth, I can’t stand the thought of keeping it from him anymore. Sandro has been nothing but honest with me from the start, and he deserves my honesty. Now that he knows I’m pregnant, I can’t let him have the false hope that I’ll carry to term.
He needs to know.
“Sandro, I’m so sorry,” I sob, my head hanging in shame as I fail to look him in the eye. “I lied to you—I’ve been lying to you all this time.”
I can feel him stiffen, his hands tightening reflexively around my arms, and I close my eyes, willing myself to find the courage I need.
“I’ve known for a long time now that I won’t likely be able to bear children. I knew it when I married you, but I kept it secret to ensure my family’s position among your brother’s men. I—” I choke, the words cutting off abruptly, and it takes me a moment to pull myself back together.
And all the while, Sandro remains silent, still.
Considering we’re surrounded by dead bodies that he killed with his bare hands, perhaps now is not the best time for my confession if he decides that I should join them, but now that I’ve started, I can’t seem to stop myself. The words pour from me like a deluge as I tell him all about my parents’ promise that Sandro would cast me aside when he realized I was incapableof providing him with heirs, but if he didn’t think I knowingly entrapped him, no harm would come of it. He could remarry, and I would go back home.
My words die on my lips as a dark frown creases Sandro’s brow.
“But… you did get pregnant,” he points out, the statement almost a question as his eyes search mine.
I nod, my cheeks flushing, and my hands drop automatically to my still-flat stomach. “Yes.” I sniffle, a sad smile tugging at my lips. “But, Sandro, you should know that even if I am pregnant… because of my condition…” I swallow hard, struggling to breathe life into the words. “I won’t likely be able to carry to term.”
Pain flits across his face. Disappointment. Then, concern. “Will it put you at risk—the pregnancy?”
“I…” No one’s ever thought to mentionmyhealth in that scenario before. My parents, the doctors have only ever talked about what would happen to the baby, and it hits me like a ton of bricks when I realize… “I don’t know.”
Worry flickers in Sandro’s eyes, and his hands slide down my bare arms to capture my hands. “We’ll see a doctor as soon as we get home. And, Evi, if you can’t have this baby… we’ll get through it together.”
Hot, salty tears sting the backs of my eyes, and I sniffle as my heart swells until it feels like it might burst through my chest. “You…” I swallow hard. “Still want me for your wife?”
Sandro’s laugh is warm and laced with stunned disbelief. “Of course I do. How can you doubt that for even a second?” he asks incredulously. “I’m so in love with you that just the thought of losing you drove me to the brink of insanity.”
He glances pointedly around the room at the bloody scene of destruction he left in his wake, and I giggle shakily as I see his point.
Then his face grows serious once more. The chains still dangling from his wrist clink as he lifts his hand to cup my wrist, the pad of his thumb brushing my cheek. “I’m glad to know what’s been weighing you down all this time,” he murmurs, and his hematite eyes are so soft and understanding, it steals the oxygen from my lungs.
I don’t know what to say. It might be the kindest, most compassionate thing anyone’s ever said to me, and I’m overcome by his unwavering love and support.
“I love you,” I breathe, covering his hand with my own.
Bringing his forehead down to mine, Sandro closes his eyes. “I love you too. With all my heart.”
My breath hitches, and I smile, letting my eyes sink closed as well as I whisper my last confession. “I hope more than anything that we can have a family together, but if you love me, then that’s all I need.”
Cradling the back of my head, Sandro brings our lips together in a passionate kiss, then he pulls back too soon. “As much as I want to celebrate with you right now, I think the rest can wait until you and the baby are safe,” he says.
“Agreed.”
Accepting the key from him, I help Sandro out of his own shackles, biting back my shock and fury toward Kenji when I see the deep cuts they opened around his wrists as he tried to get tome. But he hardly seems to notice as the chains fall heavily to the floor, and he takes my hand, pulling me toward the door.
He stops just long enough to snatch his tattered sweater off the floor and sling it around my shoulders. Then we’re climbing the narrow staircase up to a trap door that still gapes open.
Sandro presses a finger to his lips, signaling that we should move quietly, and I nod, though I find it odd that no one came to see what all the commotion was about. The door at the bottom of the stairs might be thick—but I doubt it’s soundproof enough to have silenced Kenji’s screams.
Regardless, I don’t question our luck as Sandro creeps forward toward the sliding frosted-glass panel and eases it open. His boots are impressively quiet as he navigates the long hallways, keeping me shielded behind him, my hand held firmly in his.
He stops suddenly, his arm coming across my clavicles to push me back against a wall as a loud crash echoes somewhere ahead of us. But it sounds distant enough to be outside. And the report of gunfire that follows a second later confirms my suspicion. A disturbance at the front gates seems to be preoccupying everyone—which is probably why no one came to see what the commotion was downstairs.
