CHAPTER 35
NERO ZANTHOS
I keep tapping my foot against the cobblestones. Behind me, the Export Company’s administrative building could be on fire and I wouldn’t care—not until Nina’s damn taxi pulls up.
I should’ve insisted on picking her up at the station. That would’ve been far more efficient. I haven’t been able to focus on anything except the wild speculation running through my head since we hung up. Work simply wasn’t an option.
Not when her voice kept replaying in my thoughts, echoing endlessly. We need to talk. Famous last words.
I thought we were fine. I was sure we were fine. Now, after combing through every second of the past few weeks for any clue about what the problem could be, I find only one: I pushed too hard.
I didn’t mean to. I was honest when I told her I didn’t want to wait anymore to live what I’d found with her. Every I love you that left my mouth was sincere. Every time I called her love was genuine. Every gesture or word meant to show those feelings was real.
And even though Nina never said the words back, I thought she just needed time—to understand herself or feel safe about her own feelings. I didn’t mind. I would give her all the time she needed. I thought she was happy.
Anxiety makes my hands clench into fists as the clock seems to slow, stretching the taxi’s path from the gate to here into infinity. I lift my eyes from the ground when the not-so-silent engine finally hums and track every inch the tyres roll along the road.
The car stops and I come dangerously close to ripping the door off as I yank the handle.
Nina pays the fare and thanks the driver with a gentle smile.
I don’t even wait for the car to leave before pulling her into a tight hug, unable to shake the fear that this might be the last time she lets me do this. To hell with discretion.
“Are you okay? Is everything alright?” I ask, still holding her, and she takes a deep breath against my chest. Her hand moves slowly up and down my back in a calming stroke.
“I’m okay. Can we go inside?”
“Of course. Of course.” I step back reluctantly.
I lace our fingers and we head into the building. The walk to my office is silent. Every soundless second costs me ten years of my life. I open the door and Nina goes in first. Cowardly, I take a few seconds too many before turning after I close it.
“I’m pregnant,” Nina says from the middle of the room when I finally turn—and I blink.
“Wait—so you’re not breaking up with me?”
“What?” Her brows knit and her face twists in confusion. “Breaking up? And—”
“What did you say?” I cut in when the first words finally pierce the fog of my anxious expectations. My heart starts pounding like a drum and I think I might be getting dizzy. “What did you say?”
Nina blinks a few times and exhales deeply. “I said I’m pregnant.”
For a moment, I freeze. Then my body kicks back in and I rush to her, cupping both her cheeks, locking my eyes on hers, needing confirmation even as a huge smile spreads across my face.
“Pregnant?” My eyes burn—fuck, I wasn’t ready for this. “You’re pregnant? We’re going to be parents?”
Nina nods, up and down, and a tear slides down my cheek.
Her gaze, though, remains strangely flat, and my mind races trying to understand why. The idea that she might not want this pregnancy—that she might not want this child—drops a stone into my stomach. It would make sense. Nina is young. She has plans. Dreams.
“Let’s sit,” I say, taking her hand and guiding her to one of the sofas.
She sits. I go to the minibar, grab a bottle of water, return, open it, and hand it to her. She takes a small sip. I sit beside her and take her hand again.
My Little Fae stays silent. The lack of expression in her eyes worries me more with every passing second.
“If you don’t want this pregnancy, Nina…
” It takes every ounce of strength I have to say the words, but I say them anyway.
In the last thirty seconds, I’ve already dreamed up a million things I didn’t even know I wanted—but this isn’t just my choice.
Nina needs to know that. She has a choice. With me, she always will.
“No!” She reacts instantly, horror finally flooding her face. Nina stands, breathing hard, staring at me in terror. “Are you insane?” The question comes out almost shouted.
“I wasn’t suggesting anything, love.” I stand too, palms raised in a calming gesture. “I just wanted you to know you have a choice. From my side, there’s nothing in this world I want more than you—than this baby.”
I move closer slowly, testing whether she’ll accept my touch. When she doesn’t step back, I rest our foreheads together, sliding one hand along her neck to her nape while the other stays on her cheek.
“All I want is to be with you forever. I want to marry you,” I confess, my lips barely brushing hers.
“W-what?” she stammers, and I laugh.
“Don’t make me repeat it.”
“If you want me to say yes, you’ll have to repeat it, because that definitely didn’t count as a proper proposal—and I’m a proper lady".”
I laugh, but her smile isn’t the bright one I’ve come to crave.
“What’s wrong, love?”
“I’m just processing.”
“I know you still haven’t—”
“I love you,” she says, cutting me off, and I swear if I feel one more big emotion today, my heart will explode. “I didn’t think I should, because it’s too soon, but I think time clearly doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
“It never did.” I kiss the tip of her nose.
“I still want that proposal,” she murmurs, earning another laugh from me.
“I’d propose right now if I had a ring,” I promise—then step back.
Nina’s brows draw together as she watches me walk to my desk and pick up a small rubber band. I return to my Little Fae.
“Will you marry me, Nina?” I ask, offering her the elastic. “I promise I’ll replace it later—but will you marry me?”
She bites her lip.
“I don’t want you to do this just because of the baby. I know it would be complicated, but we could—”
I silence her with a kiss. Deep and intense, with lips, tongues, and teeth—one meant to leave no doubt about how much I want her.
“I want to marry you, Nina,” I whisper against her lips. “I want this child—and ten more.”
“Ten? I’m not a copy machine, Nero. Be happy if I decide to have a second one, and definitely many years from now!” she protests, and my mouth stretches into what must be the biggest smile of my life. “What?”
“Is that a yes?” I ask.
She rolls her eyes. “Yes, Nero. It’s a yes.”
I wrap the elastic around her finger three times before pulling her into my arms and sealing our mouths together again.
***
“You have a problem,” Nina says later, as we lie in my bed. I keep tracing a trail of kisses across her stomach, doting on our baby.
“Not today. Today, problems don’t exist, and life is perfect,” I murmur against her skin, and her whole body shakes with laughter.
I stroke her thighs and brush my nose against her navel. My eyes burn again, like they have all day, every time I stare at my Little Fae’s belly for more than two seconds. Father. Fuck. I’m going to be a father.
I’d never made plans for this. There had never been anyone in my life with whom I wanted to make this kind of plan.
I wouldn’t bring a child into the world without being certain they’d be loved and cared for as every child deserves—and I always knew I’d only take that step if I had absolute trust in the other half of the equation.
Until Nina, I didn’t think this was a real possibility.
That’s why, after she said yes this afternoon, I ignored everything else that still needed my attention at the company and brought her home. Our home. I wanted her in my arms—without restrictions, without restraint, without anything.
I lift my eyes to her face and find a tear track on her cheek. This isn’t the first time Nina’s cried today.
After the initial shock and insecurity of the day’s whirlwind, she allowed herself to relax, and the tears came as part of the process. Tears of joy, she assured me. Of anticipation too—about everything that’s about to change in our lives.
I climb up her body until my mouth is level with her face and kiss the entire path the tear took, drawing more laughter from her lips.
“The groomsmen,” she finishes what she started. “You can only have two.”
“Any chance we get married in Las Vegas, love? Because if I choose two and leave one out, there’s a good chance you’ll be a widow before the wedding,” I say, and she laughs again. I drink in the sound.
“Well, Drako can always be the flower boy,” she suggests between laughs. Seeing her blank expression earlier today is something I never want to experience again. I lie beside her but keep my hand on Nina’s belly.
“Hi, baby,” I say to the warm skin of her abdomen, then look at my Little Fae.
“Do you think it’ll be a girl? I think it’ll be a girl.
Somewhere up there, there’s probably a guardian angel who was just waiting for someone to volunteer to pay for my friends’ sins.
We’re always together—I wouldn’t be surprised if the angel thinks I do the same stupid shit. ”
Nina laughs, shaking, and places both hands on her belly, covering mine with one of them.
“I think it’ll be a boy.”
“I don’t think I’d be that lucky,” I say honestly.
We spend some time in silence, enjoying each other’s presence, feeling on our skin and in our chests the unexpected, wonderful turn our lives have taken.
“A child, Little Fae,” I say for what must be the thousandth time today. “You’re carrying my child.”
I cup her cheek and Nina turns her face to kiss my palm before leaning into it.
“We need to tell my mother,” she says after a while, and I laugh nervously.
Do you think she’ll steal the honour of killing me from whoever doesn’t get picked as one of my best men?
“No—but I do think we’ll be forced into a very awkward conversation about contraception.”
I laugh. “I think I can live with that. We also need to tell my parents.”
Nina bites her lip, and the joy on her face wavers.
“You didn’t seem very excited about me meeting them before,” she says cautiously, and I slowly let the air out of my lungs.
“My parents are complicated… I knew sooner or later I’d have to expose you to them, but I tried to spare you as much as possible.”
“Complicated how?”
I let out a humourless laugh. “I don’t think I can explain. But don’t worry—it’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure? We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“You’re going to be my wife, Nina. The mother of my children—all the ones I can convince you to have,” I tease, and the smile I adore returns to her face. “All I want is to show you off.” I kiss her lips softly.
“I love you,” she says against my mouth, and my entire body reacts to the declaration, still hardly believing Nina is finally saying it out loud.
“I love you too, my Little Fae. Both of you,” I say, returning my hand to her belly.