Chapter 11
Dmitri
“What the fuck took you so long?”
Despite how exhausted I am, I smirk at Andrei as I follow Cara to the table.
“The bastard kept firing at me. I had to take another route, and I got turned around.”
“You do have a terrible sense of direction,” Andrei replies amusement flashing in his eyes.
“Oh, fuck off,” I mutter with a tired chuckle. “We need to find shelter somewhere. And what the hell, Luca? How are we already compromised?”
Luca shakes his head. “I don’t know. They could’ve been monitoring the roads or even the airfield in Naples.”
“I guess we don’t have the element of surprise anymore,” I say as I scan the square, uneasy about standing out here where anyone could spot us.
The crowd gives us some cover and safety, but these guys might be crazy enough to fire anyway.
“How about we get a suite in one of the fancy hotels?” Sean suggests. “Someone here has to have a fake ID with a different name that they can check in with. It’ll be hard for Ferro’s men to breach and attack a busy hotel.”
No one argues.
“I’ve got an ID with a different name,” Leo speaks up from a nearby table. He walks over and shows me. “I had to have some documents made for a fake persona when I went down to Mexico.”
“Works for me,” I tell him. “Luca, which one should we stay at?”
“How about that one?” Luca suggests as he points to a three-story, off-white building with tall windows and balconies on the other side of the square.
“We’ll filter in slowly. Just walk through. Act like you’re already guests,” I say as more people in our group gravitate toward us. “Leo, go ahead and grab as many suites as there are available. At least three if possible.”
Leo nods and sets off.
After fifteen minutes, he sends me a text.
Suites 304, 305, and 306
“Let’s go,” I say, heading to the hotel.
We go inside, walking straight to the elevator to go up to the top floor where the suites are located. Our guards split into two suites, while Sean, Andrei, Luca, Cara, and I take the suite in the middle.
“Let’s rest for a minute. Then, we can come up with a plan,” Luca says before flopping down on a nearby couch.
Sean heads to the restroom to clean up, while Andrei goes over to the balcony doors to peek out at the town.
I look over at Cara, who seems deep in thought. We haven’t had a moment alone all day. “Come here.”
I lead her into one of the bedrooms and shut the double doors behind us. “Are you okay?”
Cara suddenly rushes forward and throws her arms around me.
“I could’ve lost you out there. Again!”
I frown at the concern in her voice. My fingers gently brush through her hair as I hold her close. “I’m okay. Just took a longer route.”
Cara squeezes me tighter, shuddering a little.
Unease has me cupping her face, lifting her eyes to mine. “What’s the matter, milaya? Talk to me.”
Cara breathes in shakily, a slight sheen filling her eyes. “You have to be more careful!”
“I’ll try,” I agree with a quiet nod.
“No, Dmitri! You have to be okay because our son or daughter deserves to know their father.”
At first, all I can do is stare at her in confusion, wondering if she’s being serious or just wistful. But the longer I look at her, the more I realize just how worried and serious she looks. And then it hits me.
“Cara, are you pregnant?” I ask her, the words knocking the air from my lungs.
She chews on her bottom lip for a second before nodding. “Yes. I’m pretty sure.”
As if I wasn’t already having trouble breathing. My eyes widen in shock as her words hit me like a train that I didn’t see coming.
Holy shit.
“If you don’t want—”
I shake my head and tighten my hold on her face, drawing her closer to me. A laugh breaks out of me, half disbelief, half joy. “Seriously? You’re really pregnant? You took a test?”
Cara smiles, but she still looks nervous. “I took a test. It was positive. But I haven’t seen a doctor yet.”
The woman I love is carrying my baby.
We’re going to have a family of our own.
The realization hits all at once.
“Holy shit,” I breathe out before pressing my lips against hers. “I can’t believe it.”
“You’re happy?” Cara asks, her eyes glimmering more now as hope shines in them.
“Of course I’m happy. Why wouldn’t I be?” I reply as I brush my fingers through her hair, not wanting her more than a few inches from me. I want her in my arms forever, especially now.
We’ve created something incredible together.
Cara sniffles a little as she shrugs, trying to blink her tears away. “We haven’t talked about this. I wasn’t even sure if you wanted kids.”
“I always wanted a family, but I buried that idea for a long time,” I admit to her. “But when I fell in love with you, all of those desires came back.”
“You never said anything,” Cara replies with a soft smile on her face.
“I didn’t want to spook you,” I say with a light chuckle. “And too much has been going on for us to even have time for a conversation like that.”
“Better late than never,” Cara points out as she winds her arms around my neck, her body relaxing against mine.
I lean down and press another lingering kiss against her lips, my chest tight with emotion. I still can’t believe it. I didn’t expect this to happen for a while longer, but I’m sure she feels the same way.
“When did you find out?” I ask her as I lead her over to the bed so that we can sit down next to each other.
“Not too long after you rescued me,” Cara tells me before pausing for a moment. “But I suspected that I was pregnant while I was captured.”
My eyes widen. “You’ve been pregnant for that long?”
Her teeth press into her bottom lip in a nervous bite as she nods. “I missed some birth control pills when everything happened.”
Realization dawns on me. “Shit. I wasn’t thinking. I’m so sorry, Cara.”
Cara shakes her head and takes my hand. “You were angry and confused. I don’t blame you. I just think missing those pills and us having sex that one night before I left is the cause for…this.”
The pieces all come together, and I can’t help but blink in disbelief.
“You went through all of that abuse while you were pregnant,” I murmur, my guts twisting. It’s bad enough that she was beaten so much, but it’s even worse knowing that she was carrying our child while enduring all of that.
She must’ve been terrified.
“That’s part of why I didn’t say anything to you for a while,” Cara admits as she looks down at our joined hands. “I was afraid that I would lose the baby. So, I wanted to wait until this was all over and find out for sure.”
“When were you able to get a test? I’ve been with you constantly,” I ask her. I’m certain that I would’ve noticed one of them in the trash bin.
Cara lowers her eyes. “I asked Sean to get one and sneak it to me so that you wouldn’t find out. I’m sorry. I just…I didn’t want to bring this all up if I’d already lost the baby. And I felt like things were tense between us then too.”
I didn’t make her feel safe enough to just tell me. I shouldn’t have given her so much space, but I didn’t want to overwhelm her. Once again, I made the wrong choice.
“Don’t apologize. I understand,” I tell her with a light sigh. She’s been through more than I can even imagine. Of course, she’s been in fight-or-flight mode for months now. “I’m glad you didn’t lose the baby. Did the bastards know you were pregnant?”
“I think they suspected. One of them realized that I hadn’t had my period in weeks,” Cara explains before lifting her eyes to mine. “When he said that, I think it made someone mad.”
Frowning, I ask, “What do you mean?”
“After he mentioned it, someone started kicking me. They were aiming for my stomach, so I knew it wasn’t an accident,” Cara tells me, her voice shaky, her eyes growing distant as she slips back into the memory.
“Why the fuck would someone do that? That’s sick,” I growl as anger floods my veins. How dare they try to take our baby from us?
Cara shakes her head. “They didn’t like the fact that I was pregnant. Maybe they were trying to hurt you by making me have a miscarriage.”
I grind my teeth together, quelling my rage as much as I can so that I can stay in the moment with her. She needs my comfort, not my fury. “Do you think that you can pick out his voice if we start capturing guards? I want the fucker to pay.”
Cara frowns. “That’s the thing…they didn’t speak. They never spoke.”
“They didn’t question you like the others?” I ask her as my brow furrows in confusion.
“No, they didn’t. They just beat on me until another one told them to stop,” Cara replies before falling silent.
“What? Do you remember something?” I question her as I scoot closer to her, making her look back up at me.
“I don’t know if this is even right or not, but…something about them felt different,” Cara explains, struggling to find the exact words to match her thoughts. “I don’t think they were a man.”
My eyebrows raise. “You think a woman was beating you?”
Cara nods. “The foot kicking me felt smaller than the others. I didn’t really think about it then, but now…I think it was a woman.”
“I wonder if Enrico had a partner,” I say, not knowing any of the women associated with Ferro and his group. “Did you ever hear any women in the farmhouse?”
Cara shrugs. “I heard girls laughing from time to time. Some of the guards had women brought out to the farmhouse so that they could have company. I doubt any of them even knew that I was down in the basement, though.”
I narrow my eyes in thought. “I’ll ask Luca if he knows of any women associated with Enrico or Paolo.”
I start to get up, but Cara grabs my arm and tugs me back down.
Cara moves onto my lap, straddling my legs as she wraps her arms around my neck. “Don’t go yet.”
My face softens as I caress her back, keeping her pressed against me as she clings to me. “I love you, and I already love our little one.”
Cara smiles and rests her forehead against mine. So much shit is going on right now, but we deserve to have this one moment of joy. “I love you too. They’ll be incredible, Dmitri. I just know he or she will be perfect.”
I lean up and capture her lips, sliding my hands up to the back of her shoulders as she pushes her fingers into my hair. The rest of the world fades away, and all that I focus on is the feeling of her lips against mine and her body against mine. That’s the only thing that matters right now.
Cara grips my hair and parts her lips, her tongue teasing mine.
I groan, my hands moving down to caress her thighs as they hug my waist. Heat flows through me, building as she moves on my lap.
One of her hands drifts down my chest, edging closer and closer toward my belt.
A knock sounds on the bedroom doors, making us break apart, breathless and annoyed.
“What?” I bite out. “This better be important.”
“Uh…we might have a plan,” Luca says on the other side of the doors.
My eyes shift to Cara, who sighs and nods with a bittersweet smile on her face. “We’ll finish this another time,” she tells me.
Before she can slip off my lap, I crash my lips against hers again, grabbing her hips hard to keep her planted on top of me.
Cara moans into my mouth as she cups my face, melting into me as we share one last heated kiss.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” I whisper to her, my lips brushing hers.
Cara smiles and nods before easing herself off my lap. She walks toward the doors before pausing and looking over her shoulder at me. “Coming?”
I bite back a laugh and follow her, hoping we get the chance to celebrate the news properly.