Chapter 11
JULIET
When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I noticed was the pain.
A dull, throbbing ache pulsed through my stomach.
Then the memories came rushing back.
The flash of the knife.
Yarina’s face.
The warmth of my blood spilling beneath me.
And Romeo—carrying her away without looking back, leaving me to bleed out alone.
My breath caught.
I tried to sit up quickly, but something tugged painfully at my arm.
I looked down.
An IV line.
My heart sank.
I wasn’t in a hospital.
I was still in my room.
Slowly, I pushed myself upright and looked around.
Everything was exactly as I remembered.
The same walls.
The same bed.
The same prison.
I lifted my shirt carefully.
My stomach had been cleaned, bandaged, and covered with fresh medical dressing.
The work was precise and professional.
Someone had treated me while I was unconscious.
Someone skilled enough to handle the injury.
But I had no idea what they had done.
I didn’t know if my baby was safe.
That uncertainty terrified me more than the pain.
The door opened and my body went rigid.
Romeo walked inside.
The anger came instantly.
Hot. Sharp. Uncontrollable.
The image of him carrying Yarina out while leaving me bleeding on the floor burned into my mind.
I reached for the IV line and ripped the needle from my arm.
Pain shot through me, but I ignored it.
I pushed myself to my feet, though my legs trembled beneath me.
“I’m done.”
My voice was weak, but the hatred in my eyes was not.
“I don’t want this marriage anymore, Romeo. I don’t care about the trust fund. I don’t care about your name or your money.”
I held his gaze. “My trust fund can go to hell.”
Romeo’s expression barely changed. “But mine cannot.”
The calmness of his response made me want to scream.
“Four months have already passed,” he said. “You have one year and six months remaining on this marriage. After that, you’re free to leave. Until then, you remain my wife.”
His gaze held mine, firm and unyielding.
“Now sit down. You need to rest.”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “I need rest?”
My voice cracked.
“You left me bleeding on the floor.”
His jaw tightened slightly. “You were not dying.”
The words felt like another wound.
Before I could answer, a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” Romeo called.
A woman in a lab coat entered.
The moment she saw me standing, her expression changed.
“Ma’am...”
She hurried toward me.
“You shouldn’t be standing. You need to rest.”
She reached out as if to guide me back to the bed.
I stepped away.
“I’m fine.”
The lie tasted bitter. “I can stand.”
The nurse looked at me with concern.
Not just concern.
Suspicion.
Her eyes flickered briefly toward Romeo before returning to me.
Then she leaned closer.
Lowering her voice, she whispered, “Does he know you’re pregnant?”
My chest tightened.
The nurse had discovered it while treating me. There was no way she could have missed it.
I shook my head quickly, lowering my gaze.
The nurse studied me for a moment, her expression softening.
“I see...”
Her voice was quiet. “Please sit down.”
Her eyes flickered briefly toward my stomach.
“For the sake of the baby.”
The word made my heart squeeze.
Baby.
The one word that made everything feel real.
I lowered myself back onto the bed reluctantly, one hand instinctively resting over my stomach.
My child.
My reason for surviving.
“Is something being hidden from me?” Romeo’s voice cut through the room.
But sharp enough to make my skin tighten.
The nurse immediately straightened.
“No sir. I’ll return in two hours to check on her.”
She looked at me.
“Please don’t get up unnecessarily.”
Then she turned toward Romeo, bowed politely, and left.
The door closed behind her.
Silence filled the room.
I clenched my jaw.
I couldn’t keep hiding it.
Not anymore.
If I stayed silent, Romeo would force the truth out of the nurse. And if he discovered it that way, he would see it as another betrayal.
A small, foolish part of me still hoped this would change something.
Maybe knowing I carried his child would break through the ice around his heart.
Maybe, for once, he would look at me and see more than an enemy.
Maybe he would remember that I was the woman who had saved his life.
The woman who was carrying his baby.
It was a fragile hope.
But it was all I had.
“As soon as the ambulance took Yarina,” Romeo said, breaking the silence, “I contacted the nurse and had her treat you here.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“Of course.”
His brows drew together. “Excuse me?”
“You couldn’t even take me to the hospital yourself.”
My voice shook. “Was I too heavy for you to carry?”
The words came out sharper.
“I was literally bleeding out on that floor, and you left me there as though you hadn’t even noticed. As though whether I lived or died meant nothing to you. And then you had someone sent here to patch me up while you rushed your mistress to the hospital.”
Something cold entered his gaze.
“You nearly killed Yarina. And you expected me to take you to the hospital after that?”
I stared at him, disbelief tightening my chest.
Then his next words cut even deeper.
“Sending a nurse to treat you here was the most I was willing to do.”
My heart cracked.
His eyes remained emotionless.
“And I did it only because I needed you alive long enough to secure my inheritance.”
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
But I refused to let him see me break.
I had spent four months surviving his absence.
I could survive his cruelty.
I lifted my chin.
My voice came out quieter than I expected. “I’m four months pregnant.”
The words fell between us.
I looked down at the floor, unable to face him. “With your child.”
I forced myself to look up.
Romeo stood completely still.
Like someone had struck him and his body had forgotten how to move.
Then, suddenly, he crossed the distance between us.
His hands grabbed me.
The next second, my back hit the wall.
Pain shot through my body.
“Tell me this isn’t true.”
His face was inches from mine. “This better not be true.”
My heart raced.
Not for myself.
For the tiny life between us.
“You think I gained weight for no reason?”
I forced the words out, trying to sound stronger than I felt.
“Even after I took the pill Keegan gave me, it still happened.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Pregnant? After one time?” He looked almost offended by the possibility. “Just one fucking time?”
His grip tightened.
“You liar. Even for you, this is pathetic.”
The accusation cut deep. “I’m not lying.”
My voice cracked.
But I held his gaze. “You know I haven’t been with anyone else.”
The truth hung between us, suffocating in its certainty.
I had been locked away here for four months, with no opportunity—no possibility—to see anyone else. The timeline of the pregnancy was undeniable.
The child was his.
And Romeo knew it.
I saw it in the way his anger faltered.
In the way his certainty began to collapse.
Slowly, he released me.
He stepped backward like he suddenly needed distance from me.
His hand moved through his hair.
For the first time since I had known him, he looked lost.
I looked down, both hands moving protectively over my stomach.
“Don’t you want a child?”
The question left my lips softly.
Almost like I was afraid of the answer.
“Your own child, Romeo. Don’t you want that?”
“A child?”
Romeo repeated the word like it was something foreign.
Something he couldn’t accept.
He took another step back.
Then another.
His hand moved through his hair repeatedly, the same frustrated motion over and over again. His jaw clenched. His breathing grew heavier.
He looked like a man fighting against something inside himself.
But instead of fear, instead of confusion, all I saw was anger.
“If I ever want a child, it will never be with you.”
The words cut deeper than any knife. “I just need this marriage to end. One year and six months. That’s all that remains.”
His expression twisted. “Then you can go wherever the hell you want.”
My voice trembled.
“You hate me so much that even carrying your child disgusts you.”
The words broke something inside me.
Another knock sounded at the door.
Romeo’s head snapped toward it. “Who the fuck is that?”
“Keegan, sir.”
His anger shifted instantly.
Romeo began pacing the room.
Back and forth.
Like a predator trapped in a cage.
His veins stood out against his neck.
Then suddenly—
His fist slammed into the wall.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The sound echoed through the room.
When he finally pulled his hand away, his knuckles were split and bleeding.
But he didn’t seem to notice.
“I know women like you.” His voice was filled with venom. “You think a pregnancy gives you power.”
My stomach twisted.
“You think a child can force a man to stay.” His eyes narrowed. “Women like that are nothing but manipulators.”
Each word became crueler.
My breath caught.
“What part of ‘I do not love you’ do you still not understand?”
He stepped closer. “I never will.”
The tears burning in my eyes threatened to fall.
“Why didn’t you tell Keegan when you first suspected?” His voice hardened. “So he could have handled it immediately?”
The meaning behind his words made my blood run cold.
“Handled it?”
I stared at him.
“You mean gotten rid of my baby?”
The silence that followed was heavy.
“Keegan comes here once a week,” I said, my voice shaking with anger. “Once a week to check on me like I’m some animal trapped in a cage.”
I wiped at my cheek angrily.
“Do you know what’s worse?” My voice cracked. “Even animals are treated better.”
I looked down. “And in the beginning, I wasn’t even sure.”
My fingers curled. “I thought I was sick. I thought the stress, the isolation... maybe it was all affecting my body.”
A voice interrupted from behind the door.
“Boss...”
Keegan’s tone was urgent.
“This is important.”
Romeo’s expression darkened.
“Come in.”
The door opened.
Keegan stepped inside, his eyes briefly moving between us before settling on Romeo.
“We found her father.”
Everything inside me froze.
What?
“He was attempting to cross the border from Poland into Belarus.”
Keegan continued.
“Our men at immigration intercepted him. He’s being transported here now.”