41. Nyah #3
I breathed out a shuddering breath at the realization I believed him. Tears filled my eyes, and I crumpled, wrapping my arms around him. “I’m sorry. Shit, Lynx, I’m so sorry. I had to ask. Because I was so sure Virginia wouldn’t…”
He untangled himself from my embrace and stared down at me. “You told the housekeeper?”
“She’s also Dax’s mom. So she’s…”
“The baby’s grandmother,” Lynx murmured with a groan. “Fuck, Nyah!”
A tear spilled down my cheek. “Why would she tell MacGregor about the baby?”
He squinted, his face crinkling up in confusion. “I can’t believe she would.”
“Neither can I. But he knows. And more than just that. He knows that Carlos doesn’t let me have a phone. So he gave me one.”
Lynx stared at me. “How?”
“There was a package waiting for me in that interrogation room. It was never about my bag. It was always about MacGregor getting a phone to me.” I wrinkled my nose. “And some sexy underwear.”
Lynx made an identical disgusted face, then cocked his head to one side. “How sexy?”
I slapped his arm. “Stop it! It doesn’t matter. I’m never going to wear it.”
His expression turned thoughtful. “Maybe you should.”
“Lynx! Not a fucking chance! I’m already on Carlos’s bad side just from having a polite conversation with the man.”
He recoiled at that. “I didn’t mean wear them for MacGregor.
But fuck, Nyah. Wear them for Luca. When MacGregor plays his trump card, the only way you and that baby don’t end up dead at Carlos’s hands is if he thinks that baby is his blood.
And since he can’t be the father, then we have to make them think Luca is.
If one of the airhostesses sees the two of you fucking on the plane here, then there’ll be someone to back up your claims that you two are sleeping together. ”
“Luca will know it’s not his!”
Lynx bit his lip. “Maybe.” And then he sighed. “But I have something that will keep his mouth shut.”
I widened my eyes at him. “What?”
He ran his hands through his hair. “I shouldn’t say.”
I glared at him. “You shouldn’t say? Are you joking, Lynx? I’ve told you every fucking secret I have. Spill it!”
He sighed. “Why is it so hard to say no to you?”
“’Cause I’m fucking adorable. Now tell me what you have on Luca.”
He swallowed hard. “He’s into guys. Well, at least one guy.” He shrugged. “Me, in particular. And I have a video of him…doing some things…”
I covered my mouth with my hand. “Of you and him having sex?”
He flapped a hand at me. “Fuck, you’re loud. Secrets are supposed to be whispered! Not full sex, but of him blowing me. Yeah. It didn’t get any further—”
I suddenly needed all the juicy details. “Did you want it to?”
He leaned back against the wall. “Have you seen him? Fuck, yeah, I wanted it to. His uncle caught us, and Luca freaked out. Apparently, Carlos is a massive homophobe, and him finding out about us would be the worst thing in the world.”
I nodded. “Carlos is old-school, like my father. My brother owns a gay club and is very certainly into men, but my father won’t hear of it.
As far as he’s concerned, it’s a business venture, and my brother is fucking women every night.
Even still, my father keeps him out of his business circles and parades my older, very straight, very cut-from-his-cloth brothers around, while Ric is hidden behind closed doors doing accounting and tech work so as to not draw attention to him.
Men in those circles, of that generation, aren’t exactly very accepting of a lifestyle that isn’t ‘dominate a woman, fill her with babies, raise the next generation to walk in my footsteps.’” I gave a gruff “grr” to emphasize the point.
Lynx snorted on a laugh. “You’re cute when you’re trying to be a gangster.”
I flipped him the bird, but we both sobered, staring at each other.
Lynx sighed. “Now is the ideal place and time to sleep with Luca. The cabin staff will know what’s going on.”
“Luca will pay them to be discreet.”
“Maybe, and that will probably work in the short term. But at the end of the day, when it all comes out that you’re pregnant, and you say it’s Luca’s, there will be at least one witness to back up your claims that you slept together.
I get the impression the staff here is familiar with the family and that they’ve probably seen some stuff.
And yet Carlos has kept them on, so he must trust them.
He’ll trust them when they confirm they saw you and Luca going at it. ”
“A DNA test is going to prove this baby isn’t his.”
He grabbed my arm, his gaze steady. “Luca will say the baby is his and refuse a paternity test, or I’ll deliver the video of him and me to his father.”
I muffled a groan and gripped the bathroom sink. “This is blackmail! We’re bad people, Lynx!”
“Are we the bad ones, or are they?”
He was right. I’d been happy, living my dream life with a man I loved and our baby growing in my belly. I hadn’t asked for any of this. All I was trying to do now was survive and protect the life that hadn’t chosen to be born into this world of violence and lies and secrets.
The only person I felt bad for was Luca.
He hadn’t asked for any of it either.
But I was running out of time. And running out of options.
I stared at Lynx. “Get me my bag. And the fucking underwear.”