Chapter Twenty-Nine Ella
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ella
Does Tiero know about our baby?
The thought drains the blood from my face even as I lie perfectly still.
How?
“Angel, wake up. Come back to me,” Tiero says, his voice edged with panic.
If I were a better woman, I would open my eyes and spare him this worry.
But I can’t.
Not now.
If I open my eyes, he will read the truth in them. He has always been able to. And I can’t risk him knowing about the life growing inside me. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
The intensity of his gaze presses down on me. It’s palpable, like a weight in the air. I feel it even without looking.
Then his arms slide beneath me, lifting me with infuriating ease and pulling me against his chest.
“We need to get her out of this cold,” he says to someone nearby. Santino, perhaps.
His scent engulfs me instantly. Ocean air, musk, and heat. I drag in a breath before I can stop myself, my lungs grateful just to work again.
A low hum sparks to life beneath my skin, electricity waking muscles I would rather stayed numb.
Then the memories come uninvited.
Sweat-slicked skin. Tangled sheets. The sound of our breathing as we chased the same release.
My pulse stirs, gathering insistently in my core, and I nearly curse out loud.
Now is not the time for this.
A sharp cry cuts through the fog.
“You can’t leave him out here. Hey. Where are you taking me? I’m talking to you, goon head.”
Rhia’s voice fades abruptly. I can’t even hear Claudette’s.
Panic surges.
What are they doing to Lex? Have they hurt him?
I have to know.
My heart hammering, I crack one eye open. All I see is dark fabric, stretched taut beneath my cheek.
Right. Wrong direction.
I stir deliberately, letting out a weak moan as I shift in Tiero’s arms, trying to turn my head.
It backfires.
His hold tightens instantly, pulling me closer, his body a solid wall around mine.
“Shhh, angel,” he murmurs. “I’ve got you. Everything is going to be okay.”
The low timbre of his voice, wrapped in that unmistakable Italian accent, steals my focus for a dangerous second. My body betrays me completely, nuzzling closer without permission, my nose brushing the warm skin at his neck.
“Santino, get Agosti,” Tiero orders.
The words snap me back to myself.
Agosti. His doctor.
Cold dread floods my veins.
Why is his doctor here?
Oh god. He knows. He has to know.
My thoughts scatter as nausea rolls through me, sharp and real this time. If I open my mouth, I will be sick. My hands curl into fists, my muscles locking as panic spikes.
Think, Ella. Think.
The fainting was a mistake. A rushed decision. We didn’t think it through.
Now we’re separated, and I’m alone with the man who wants to control every aspect of my life.
Shit, shit, shit.
A door opens, and warm air washes over my face.
Tiero lowers me onto a bed carefully, his arm still supporting my head. I hear him adjusting cushions before he finally eases away.
His fingers trail over my cheek, gentle and familiar. His breath ghosts across my skin.
Silence settles around us, broken only by the crackle of a fire in the room.
He’s watching me. I can feel it.
Keeping my breathing as even as possible, I count each inhale, each exhale, as my stomach twists painfully, tight and hollow all at once.
I want to run. I want to curl into myself and disappear.
Neither is an option.
How much longer can I pretend to be unconscious?
When he speaks again, the frantic edge is gone. His voice is steady now, calm in the way that has always undone me more than shouting ever could.
“I know you’re awake, princess,” he says quietly. “Your breathing gives you away. Please open your eyes.”
Crap.