His icy-blue eyes peer into mine, narrowing a little. Creases deepen at the corners, as if he smiled at me. There isn’t a hint of frost in those clear depths. Just warmth. And sadness. “I could never be the man you deserve, the man you’d want me to be, my Little Iris. So I pretended. I wanted to know what it would be like if I were the kind of man you could love. Even if it was the tiniest fraction of how much I love you.”
A muffled cry escapes me. I’m trying to shout his name, but the only sound getting past the gag is my indistinct mumble.
A slow, loud clap fills the room. “At long last,” Bartholomew exclaims. “That was a beautiful, heartfelt confession. Such a pity it came too late.”
The clapping stops. Bartholomew’s gun-wielding hand comes into my field of vision as he aims over my shoulder at Adriano.
No!
The legs of the chair scrape on the linoleum floor as I thrash side to side, trying to get free. All my life, I’ve believed I could never kill anyone, not even in self-defense. But in this moment, if I had a gun, I’d point it at Bartholomew Shaw’s head and empty the magazine without a second thought. For my husband.
Adriano!I try to yell again, but the gag makes it completely indiscernible.
Why is he just standing there? He has a gun, too! Why isn’t he shooting the bastard?
Somehow, I manage to push out, “Kiwl hiwm!”
“I’m sorry, baby,” Adriano says, but his words land in my stomach like a boulder. “Can’t risk hitting you.”
“Ah, I love this,” Bartholomew sighs, lowering the gun until the barrel comes to rest against my stomach. “Alas, I can’t makethis simple for you, my dear Adriano. The stakes in this game must be higher. I can understand how you would rationalize giving up your life for the woman you love.” The joy has left Bartholomew’s voice. “But what if the choice before you is between your life and the life of another man’s child?”
I jerk, as a violent tremor racks my entire body.
No!
Adriano’s gaze snaps to my stomach.
“Oh, my friend, your security guys must not be that great at their job.” Bartholomew’s words seem to reverberate through the derelict office. “And your poor wife just found out the happy news today. Please don’t blame her. I’m sure she’s hoping it’s yours. After all, she knew all along it was you at the club.”
Slowly, Adriano’s eyes lift back up, finding mine. Pain and betrayal are written all over his face.
It’s not true!I madly shake my head, almost choking on the gag in my mouth.Not true!
“There’s still a chance for the two of you, you know?” Bartholomew goes on. “Since Iris was aware of your secret identity, it means she was making love to you, not ‘that other guy,’ as you put it.”
Adriano’s face loses all color as he gapes at me while the crazy man continues speaking.
“So don’t be alarmed, dear boy. I’ve referenced my old anatomy textbooks and determined the safest path for the bullet. One that will be nonlethal to your wife. However, I’m afraid the child…”—sigh—“won’t survive.”
All of a sudden, I feel as if I’m a spectator outside of my own body. He is making Adriano choose between our child’s life andhis own. Maniacally, I start to yank my arms, fighting to get free, but it’s no use. The ties won’t break.
“That’s a more difficult choice, isn’t it?” the deranged man prods, still pressing his gun to my abdomen. “Sacrificing your life for something you must despise. The life growing inside your wife’s womb is the one thing you always wanted but knew you could never have. But it is also evidence of her deception. She cheated on you. This is the proof of that. That can’t be worth dying for? Can it, Adriano?”
Can it?
Sacrifice my life to protect another man’s child.
Agony and despair grip me.
If today hadn’t happened, what would she have done? She knew it was me at the Annex. Would she have eventually confronted me about it and then told me we’re having a kid? I never did confess to her that I can’t father children.
And what about me? What would I have done in return? Would I hate the kid? The child of the woman I love? The child I could never give her?
No.The thought booms in my mind as I stare into the warm amber depths of my wife’s eyes.I could never hate anything that is a part of her. That is also, in part, my Iris. I love her too much. Everything about her. Including her child. A child conceived with another man.
I would’ve gone along with it. Never would’ve admitted that I know the truth. Know that she had an affair. And I would have loved the kid as if it were mine. Because it’s hers.
The cocking of the gun breaks the silence. “I really need you to make your choice, Adriano.”
