Chapter 36 Raven
THIRTY-SIX
RAVEN
My eyes fluttered open and the ceiling came into focus—a vaulted white dome with crown moldings too intricate to be anything but expensive. I was in Aiden’s penthouse.
Stretching out, I scanned the room while the blinding morning light poured through the French windows.
I glanced at the grandfather clock and gasped.
“Jesus, I slept most of the day away,” I whispered, flabbergasted.
I jerked into an upright position, looking around furiously.
“Aiden?” I called out, noticing the slight soreness in my lower back as I stood. The blanket slipped off me, landing on the ground in a puddle of cashmere.
“Aiden,” I tried again, my stomach tightening with uncertainty.
No response.
I padded through the living room, looking in every corner, then moved on to the kitchen. I tried the office, then one of the spare rooms, before ending up in Aiden’s bedroom.
There was no trace of him. I was alone.
Heaviness flooded me, but I ignored it as I continued toward the front door, a chill, possibly anxiety, whispering across my skin. I pulled at the neckline of Aiden’s oversized T-shirt, finding comfort in its leathery scent. It smelled like him.
I reached the front door and attempted to yank it open but was met with resistance.
I noticed a console table and rummaged through the drawer and basket on top, but a key was nowhere to be found.
He must have locked me in from the outside.
Prick.
I paced a little, chewing on the inside of my cheek.
This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. He’d whispered things in my ear and touched me and even gone out of his way to do a grand fucking gesture, only to leave me. What the hell?
A part of me screamed I should be grateful, but the other felt kind of… disappointed. Jesus, what was it with me?
Some time alone could be exactly what I needed to clear my head.
I should find a way to get back to my apartment.
I couldn’t stay and betray my mother’s final wishes. It was the least I owed to her and her memory. She’d sacrificed everything for me. I had made such a mess of things. My mom would be disappointed in me on so many levels.
The walls felt like they were closing in, pressing against possibilities I wasn’t ready to face: the pregnancy test.
It still sat back in my apartment, unread and waiting silently…
yet louder than any scream. My stomach twisted with anxiety and something close to dread.
I wasn’t ready for this. I wasn’t ready to bring a child into the wreckage of my life.
An innocent didn’t deserve to be born into this chaos.
My mom and I were the perfect example of why it was a bad idea.
Then, that cruel little voice in my head whispered, Then why didn’t you use protection last night?
I flinched.
I didn’t have an answer.
Maybe part of me had been reckless. Maybe part of me had been clinging to something dangerous and comforting. My husband. Maybe his strength and power could somehow shield me from the consequences. He was a better man than my father.
Dammit, now I was engulfed in confusion, a tangled knot of guilt, fear, and something I was terrified to name.
I pressed a trembling hand to my stomach while my mind whirled around like a tornado. The chances of already being pregnant were slim to none. They had to be. I had bigger problems to tackle, namely the evidence of my best friends’ and my direct implication in Angelo Leone’s death.
“If that video of my friends and me dismembering Angelo Leone comes out, we’ll need all the protection,” I murmured, although I would do everything in my power to ensure that video never came out.
The world couldn’t find out what we did.
I needed a plan, but I worried that whatever path I chose, someone would get hurt.
I made my way back into his office, hoping to find a laptop or computer that would allow me to track down the file and get rid of it. It was a lame plan, but it was all I had.
I approached the large mahogany desk and started rifling through the drawers, but I came up empty. The shelves behind the desk were lined with leather-bound books, though they appeared to be mostly decorative classics.
I stood at a loss for where to go from here when a ringtone startled me. It would seem Aiden had charged my phone.
Following the sound, I found it on the kitchen counter.
The screen flashed Athena’s name and I quickly answered.
“Where the hell are you?” she snapped, skipping all pleasantries.
I leaned against the edge of the counter, rubbing my temple.
“The better question is where the hell were you last night?” I countered. “And where is Phoenix?”
There was a pause, and my stomach dropped, expecting bad news.
“She took off,” Athena finally said.
“What? Why?”
“I guess to look for Reina. Amon kidnapped her.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“Jesus Christ.” These fucking bastard mobsters were always resorting to kidnapping. Somehow it felt like everything was unraveling. Our friend group, our sanity, our entire damn world.
But Athena’s voice brought me back. “Where were you last night?”
Shit. I didn’t have an answer for her. I’d have to dodge her questions. “Where did you go?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at the window. “And why was the apartment such a wreck?”
“You’re not there, are you?”
“No. I’m staying with…” I faltered, biting down on the truth. “A friend.” There was a pause before I added, “So where are you, Athena? With your Italian daddy?”
She wasn’t promiscuous, so if she was with a man, she would be with the same one she mentioned that morning we both experienced the walk of shame.
“I got knocked up by an Italian daddy,” she blurted.
I froze. “You’re joking, right?”
“I wish.”
My mouth parted in shock. “Jesus, Athena. How did this happen?”
She sighed before answering, “I think you know the answer to that.”
I had no right to judge her or question her. After all, my own pregnancy test I took still sat in our scavenged apartment. Dammit, what was the likelihood of both of us being pregnant?
I shuddered, pushing the thought from my mind—just as I had been doing for the past twenty-four hours.
“So… you’re keeping the baby?” I questioned slowly, although I suspected the answer. “Are you going to marry your baby daddy?”
I sank onto the leather barstool and leaned my elbow on the cool counter.
“Man, you’re asking an awful lot of questions for someone who’s out there keeping secrets.”
I snorted. “Pfft. Your shit’s more exciting. You’re gonna blow up like a balloon.”
What the fuck was wrong with me?
She groaned. “Geez, thanks. Nice to have your support. I have to go.”
“Why?” I teased. “Are you about to have wild, unprotected sex? Oh wait, you’ve already done plenty of that.”
Statements like this were sure to tempt fate and backfire. I’d end up blown up like a balloon. Yes, karma was a bitch. Or maybe my guilty conscience was fucking with me.
“Are you?” she shot back, her tone sharpening. “Let me guess, Aiden Callahan?” I stiffened, emotions swirling through my chest, and suddenly I wanted to cry. For my friends and this cruel, fucked-up world. For the man who’d changed me forever. And for nothing being simple anymore.
“Listen, I’m sorry—”
“He’s keeping me locked up in his penthouse,” I blurted.
That got her.
“Huh? You’re what now?”
I let out a heavy sigh, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear.
“I ran into Aiden last night.” It was an innocent lie.
I didn’t want to tell her he broke into my room and blackmailed me with a video showing us all as accomplices to Angelo Leone’s murder.
If Athena told her Italian mobster baby daddy, shit would hit the fan.
White lies were okay to tell now and then.
“And now… he’s keeping me prisoner. The only reason I know about the apartment is because he sent someone to get my stuff. ”
“Do you want me to call the police?”
“And say what? This crazy Irish mobster kidnapped my friend, but there’s no evidence of it?” I barked a bitter laugh. That didn’t even cover the fact that I was legally his wife. “And even if they do find any, they’ll never get close to him.”
My stomach rumbled, and I dropped my head back with a silent groan.
Now I was pissed off and hungry. Things had been going so well.
I was dead to the world. I had my friends, my freedom, my career began to take off, and I was financially independent.
Then I had to go and be stupid by hanging around the mobster families of my friends.
I became sloppy and clearly considered myself invincible.
And now things got all complicated and dangerous. I was right back at the beginning where it all started.
“Jesus, now I’m kind of thinking I got the better deal,” Athena muttered.
“I think so too.” I sniffled, much to my horror. These emotions were getting out of hand, and I wasn’t accustomed to them. Usually, I was not the sensitive one in our group. “And, Athena?”
“Yeah?”
“You’ll be the most beautiful pregnant woman,” I said softly.
“Thank you. Is there anything I can do?”
I shook my head, then remembered she couldn’t see me. “No. I’ll have to get myself out of this mess.”
“Are you sure? Maybe I can get Manuel to fight Aiden.”
I chuckled, silently glad I hadn’t mentioned the video. That would have definitely started a war between them.
“We’d let the two of them kill each other. That’s not a bad plan.” It was fucking terrible because the thought of Aiden being dead made my chest ache. “No, I’m fine,” I said quickly. “This thing with Aiden is long overdue. I can’t keep running from it.”
“Give him hell this time,” Athena encouraged, ever the supportive friend.
“Oh, I fucking will. The man will be begging me to leave when I’m done with him.”
The question was more like what would I do once I was done with him, but I couldn’t worry myself with semantics. My friends had their own problems and things to worry about. I wouldn’t burden them with my stuff.
“That’s my girl,” she praised. We chatted for a bit more, then once we hung up, the silence returned.
I sat alone for hours, watching the sky shift from pale blue to deep cobalt as the first stars began to pierce through. By now, I had gone through every closet, every desk, cabinet, drawer, searching for something—anything—but came up empty-handed.
Then the front door clicked and I raced to it, heart racing.
Aiden stepped in, arms overflowing with designer shopping bags—Givenchy Baby, Kenzo Baby, Chloé Baby, Billieblush—and a giant plush teddy bear nearly the size of a small car.
“What the hell is all that?” I asked, blinking hard. Did he hear Athena was pregnant and go rogue with baby shower gifts? I didn’t know much about baby showers, but this looked… excessive.
Aiden gave me a look that screamed obvious. “It’s for our baby.”
My eyebrows shot up so high they practically joined my hairline. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re pregnant,” he said, like it was the most casual fact in the world.
And just like that, the room tilted sideways.