Chapter 22
AURORA
"You have visitors."
I look up from the financial spreadsheets I've been analyzing for the past three hours. Margareta's standing in the doorway with an expression I can't quite read.
"Uh? Visitors? Who?"
"Two young women. They're quite... insistent."
Chloe. Tiana.
My heart leaps. I'm out of my chair and running down the stairs before Margareta can say another word.
They're in the foyer, facing off with two of Axel's guards. Chloe's got her hands on her hips, looking ready to fight. Tiana's beside her, quieter but just as determined.
"Chloe! Tiana!"
They whirl around, and the next second I'm being crushed in a three-way hug so tight I can barely breathe.
"Oh my God, you're alive," Tiana's crying into my shoulder.
"Of course I'm alive."
"How were we supposed to know!" Chloe pulls back, gripping my arms. "You stopped responding to our calls! We've been going crazy trying to reach you!"
"How did you even find me?"
"We didn't." Tiana wipes her eyes. "Someone called me this morning. Gave me this address and said you were here."
I freeze. "Who called you?"
"He didn't give a name, just said he was asked to call us.”
I turn around. Axel is standing at the top of the stairs, watching us.
Our eyes meet. He arranged this. He knew I missed my friends, and he brought them here.
Something warm blooms in my chest.
"Thank you," I mouth.
He nods once, then disappears back down the hallway.
"Was that him?" Chloe whispers. "Silver fox? Baby daddy? The guy who caused all this chaos?"
"Yes."
"He's hotter than I remembered. Like, unfairly hot for a man his age."
"Chloe!"
"What? I'm just saying. No wonder you slept with him."
Tiana elbows her. "Not the point right now."
I lead them up to my suite, and the second the door closes, they both turn on me.
"Spill," Chloe demands. "Everything. Now."
I do. I tell them about leaving with Axel, about the fight with my father, about living here for the past two weeks, and trying to make the best of everything.
"This is insane," Tiana breathes when I finish. "Aurora, this is actually insane."
"I know."
"Your dad disowned you?"
"Basically."
"And you're living with the mafia boss who got you pregnant?"
"When you say it like that, it sounds worse than it is." I groan.
"How could it possibly sound worse?" Chloe's pacing. "You're in danger. Actual danger. Someone burned down a warehouse. Someone's watching you."
"I'm handling it."
"Are you though?" Tiana's voice is gentle. "Because you look exhausted. And scared. And like you're one bad day away from falling apart."
She's not wrong. I've been holding it together through sheer force of will, but I'm barely sleeping. Barely eating. The stress is crushing me.
"I'm fine," I lie.
"Liar." Chloe sits beside me on the bed. "You're not fine. But that's okay. That's why we're here."
"To do what?"
“To save you, of course.”
“I do not need saving.”
"Okay then, how about to remind you that you're Aurora. Not just some pregnant girl hiding in a mansion. You're our friend. Our friend who had a life outside all this drama."
"That feels like a lifetime ago."
"It was three months ago." She grabs my hands. "And you're still that person. You're just temporarily buried under all this chaos."
"So what do we do about it?"
Chloe grins. "We go out."
"Out?" My veins are already pumping with adrenaline.
"Yes, out drinking.” Her eyes sparkle. “Well, you can't drink because of the baby, but Tiana and I can drink for all three of us. We find a quiet bar, and remind you what fun feels like."
"I can't just leave. Axel would..."
"Axel's not your keeper," Tiana says firmly. "You're a grown woman. If you want to go out with your friends, you go out."
I think about it. About the constant tension in this house. About feeling trapped and controlled, and like I'm losing myself.
"When?" I ask.
"Tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Why wait?" Chloe's already pulling out her phone. "I'll find us a club. Something fun. We'll sneak out after dinner, dance for a few hours, and be back before anyone notices."
"This is a terrible idea."
"The best ideas usually are."
I should say no. Should tell them it's too dangerous, that Axel will be furious, that this could end badly.
But God, I miss feeling normal. Miss laughing without fear. Miss being just Aurora instead of Aurora Luca, pregnant mafia girlfriend in hiding.
"Okay," I hear myself say. "Let's do it."
Chloe whoops. Tiana hugs me.
And I try to ignore the voice in my head saying this is a mistake.
We sneak out at ten PM.
Axel's in a late meeting with Viktor and some other men. I keep my face straight as I lie to the security at the gate that we are just heading to the hotel to pick up my friend's things, since they will be spending the night here at the estate instead.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Tiana giggles as we roll out of the estate.
"I can," Chloe says. "Aurora needs this."
The club we visit is downtown, crowded with people and pulsating with music so loud I can feel it in my chest. We slip inside, and instantly I'm overwhelmed by the vibe. Bodies moving, lights flashing, the smell of sweat, alcohol, and life.
"This is perfect!" Chloe shouts over the music.
We find a spot on the dance floor, and I let myself get lost in it. Let the music move through me, let my body remember what it's like to just exist without fear.
Chloe's dancing is wild, all chaotic energy. Tiana's more reserved but smiling wider than I've seen in weeks. And I'm somewhere in between, feeling the bass in my bones and forgetting everything else.
A guy approaches, cute, maybe twenty-five. "Can I buy you a drink?"
"I'm pregnant," I shout back.
"Water then?"
I laugh. "Sure."
He's harmless, just friendly. We dance for a song, nothing serious, just movement and fun. Chloe's found her own dance partner. Tiana's filming us on her phone, laughing.
This is what I've been missing. This feeling of being young, free, and alive.
But then I see him.
A man at the bar, standing perfectly still while everyone around him moves. Older, maybe forty, wearing an expensive suit that looks completely wrong in a club like this. Too formal. Too clean. Too deliberate.
And he's staring at me with an intensity that makes my skin crawl.
Our eyes meet across the crowded dance floor.
He smiles, slow and predatory.
And pulls out his phone, never breaking eye contact.
"Aurora!" Chloe's suddenly beside me, shouting over the music. "What's wrong? You look freaked out."
"That man. At the bar. He's watching me."
She follows my gaze, squinting through the flashing lights. "So? Lots of guys are watching you. You're gorgeous and you're dancing. That's kind of how clubs work."
"No, it's different. He knows something. I can feel it."
"You're being paranoid."
Maybe I am. Maybe the stress and fear of the past few weeks are making me see threats where there aren't any. Maybe I'm so conditioned to danger now that I can't recognize when I'm actually safe.
But then three more men appear, materializing from different parts of the crowd.
They're moving through the mass of dancing bodies with clear purpose, not swaying to the music, not looking around.
Just moving. Heading straight for us with the focused determination of predators who've spotted their prey.
"We need to leave," I say, grabbing Chloe's arm. "Right now."
"What? We just got here!"
"Chloe, please. Something's wrong. We need to go."
She must see the genuine fear in my face, the way my hands are shaking, because she nods without further argument. "Okay. Tiana! We're going!"
We start pushing toward the exit, trying to navigate through the crowd without causing a scene. But the men are faster, cutting through the dancers like they're not even there. They reach the exit before we do, forming a human wall between us and the door.
We stop. The music is still pounding, people still dancing around us, but we're frozen in place.
"Aurora Luca?" The one in front speaks, his accent thick Russian, his eyes cold and professional.
Oh no. Oh God, no.
"I don't know who that is," I lie, my voice barely steady.
"Yes, you do. You're the whore who spread her legs for Axel Santego. Got yourself pregnant to trap him." His words are clinical, emotionless, which somehow makes them worse than if he'd been angry.
The insults hit like physical slaps. Around us, people are starting to notice that something's wrong. Starting to back away, creating a circle of space that makes us even more exposed.
"Leave us alone," Chloe says, stepping directly in front of me with the fearlessness of someone who hasn't fully grasped the danger. "We don't want trouble."
"Too late for that." He reaches for me, his hand extending toward my arm.
Chloe punches him square in the face.
I don't even see it coming. One second, he's reaching, the next, his nose is gushing blood, and Chloe's shaking out her hand with a wince of pain.
"Run!" she screams.
Chaos erupts instantly.
The men lunge for us. Chloe kicks one in the balls with her pointed heel, and he goes down hard.
Tiana's screaming, trying to physically get between me and another guy who's reaching for me.
I'm stumbling backward, people pushing and shoving around us as the crowd realizes violence is happening and scrambles to get away.
Someone grabs my arm, fingers digging in hard enough that I know there will be bruises shaped like fingerprints tomorrow.
"Axel's going to watch you die," the man hisses directly in my ear, his breath hot against my skin. "He's going to watch, and he's going to know it's his fault."
Terror floods through me, white-hot and paralyzing. I'm kicking, fighting, trying to break free with everything I have, but he's too strong. His grip is iron, and he's already dragging me toward a side exit I didn't even know existed.
Then suddenly he's on the ground, his grip torn away, and Axel's there.