Page 35 of Claimed By the Silver Fox

I tangle my fingers in my hair, shaking my head. “He has guards everywhere,” I tell her, lowering my voice slightly, though I doubt that even the cameras would be able to pick up what I’m saying right now. “And if I try to sneak out and come to you, one of them will stop me.”

“Jesus,” she mutters. “It sounds like a prison…”

“He says it’s so I can be safe.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he does,” she replies. “You can’t stay there, babe. You need to get out.”

I hesitate. It feels like such a big swing to make, running out on this place before I’ve given him a chance to figure out where he stands with all of it.

“I don’t know,” I confess. “I think…I think I need to give him some time first, you know? Let him figure out where he stands on all of this⁠—”

She sighs, but she must be able to tell from the tone of my voice that she’s not going to get through to me.

“You call me if you need anything, alright?” she insists, and I smile slightly, beyond glad for a friend like her. I’m not sure I deserve someone so unwaveringly on my side, given the mess that has become of my life lately, but I’m sure as hell grateful that she’s still willing to be there for me.

“I will,” I murmur. “Thanks, Anna…”

We say our goodbyes, and I drop the phone onto the bed, staring down at the black screen for a moment as I try to make sense of what I need to do next. I guess it’s only fair to give Antonio a chance, given that this baby belongs to him as much as me. I’ve hardly given him the opportunity to figure out where he stands with all of it, what he wants to do. Maybe he’ll walk through that door right now, tell me that he understands that he can’t keep me locked up in here and that he wants me to get out into the real world to raise our child, to leave behind the mess of his business and start over fresh.

I sigh. Or maybe I’m living in a goddamn fantasy world, given that I’m not exactly sure he’s even capable of something like that. I push a hand through my hair and flop down onto the bed. I might not know what happens next, but I do know one thing for sure—this baby has made everything a whole hell of a lot more complicated.

And I’m going to have to make some tough calls if I want to make sure my child has the life they deserve.

17

ANTONIO

“This way,” I grunt to the doctor, gesturing for him to follow me down the hallway and toward Julia’s room. He rushes after me, fumbling in his bag, and I shoot a hard look in his direction, wondering what the hell is going through his head right now.

Hopefully, the money I offered him is enough for him to ignore the doubts he might have about what he’s doing here. Because the last thing I need is for him to second-guess why I’ve had to bring a doctor out here, pay one of the biggest and most respected clinics in the city just to get a house visit. I told them that my wife couldn’t possibly travel to the clinic to confirm the pregnancy in person, and thank God, they haven’t pressed for much more on the matter. Maybe they could sense from the tone of my voice that it wasn’t going to get them anywhere.

Whatever the reason, he’s here now, and I’m going to confirm this pregnancy once and for all.

I’ve been tossing and turning all night, trying to figure out the best course of action in moving forward with all of this, and this seems the only sensible option right now. I need to make sure she’s actually pregnant before I start to plan anything, piece anything together, work out what our lives are going to look like going forward.

The silence between us since breakfast yesterday has been deafening, but it belongs there, at least for now. Silence is the only way I can think straight, and right now, I need to clear my head.

Truth be told, I’ve been torturing myself with the possibility of this new child. I never imagined that I would be a father again, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time, given that my son has just betrayed me to work with my enemies. Things might have been quiet since the attack on the warehouse, but I can only assume that’s because they’re planning something even bigger, even more destructive, something beyond the realms of what even I could imagine.

We reach Julia’s room and I knock on the door. It takes a moment for her to answer it, and when I see her again, I feel a pang of guilt. She looks exhausted, as if she has been tossing and turning all night, and I know that it’s because of me.

“Doctor’s here,” I tell her gruffly. “To confirm the pregnancy.”

She looks past me, to where the doctor is standing, taking a moment to make sense of what I’m telling her. “You…you brought a doctor here?”

“I need to know if you’re pregnant,” I reply, and she narrows her eyes at me.

“You think I’m lying to you⁠—”

But before she can finish what she’s saying, the doctor, clearly keen for this to be over with already, has slipped into the room, and is laying out his things on the bed.

She glances back toward him and then to me, raising her eyebrows, like she’s silently demanding to know why I have brought him in here like this. I nod toward him, indicating that I am not willing to have this conversation until I know for sure what she’s telling me is true.

She turns on her heel and stomps over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it and following the doctor’s instructions to the letter—letting him take blood, urine, everything he needs to affirm that she’s truly with child.

I watch from the doorway, trying to ignore the flare of possessiveness that rises when I see him touching her arm. I know it’s stupid, he’s only doing his job, but I don’t like the thought of any other man laying a hand on her.

“Just give me a few minutes,” he tells us as he fumbles in his bag once more, pulling out a few objects and stepping to the side. Julia watches him, teeth resting on her bottom lip, as she waits for him to respond. I know she believes that she’s pregnant, but this—this will confirm it beyond all shadow of a doubt, and that reality might be different than the one she’s living in right now.