10. Anton
ANTON
I wrap my hand around the coffee cup and stare at the door, watching to see when she will finally emerge.
In the cold light of day, I know that I should be thinking about what happened at the mansion.
Maybe even heading down there to see just how bad the damage really is.
But there is only one thing I can think about right now, one person I can focus on, and she has been slumbering in the next room all night long, leaving me with no choice but to turn over in my head everything that happened the day before.
I have received no messages from my men, which I’m sure is a bad sign.
I don’t know how many of them are even still standing after what happened, but it wouldn’t shock me to discover that they were in more trouble than even I could conceive of.
And I know that my brother was behind it, no doubt in my mind. I had heard him yelling for her, for Maya, and the fact that he was willing to lay waste to my home like that for the sake of getting her back told me there was more going on here than he’d have cared to admit.
Though whether it actually has to do with her or not remains to be seen. Because, as much as I don’t want to admit it, Artem has long been jealous of me, long tried to deny the fact that he feels so strongly about me and everything that I have that he doesn’t.
He can try to convince people that he doesn’t care, that he is satisfied with his lot in life, but I can tell from the way he looks at me that there is a shimmering loathing there just out of sight.
Doesn’t matter that I’m not the reason behind it, doesn’t matter that the nature of my father’s affair with his mother meant he was never going to be able to access the power and fortune that he so clearly believes is his.
I’m the only one still standing, and now, I stepped in to purchase a woman he obviously thinks he has some claim to.
But still, I’ve never known him to go this far.
Is it because he realizes I now know about the bullshit he has been pulling with the trafficking victims and auctions?
He must be aware of my stance on that, it was our father’s, too, and I can only imagine that he has been utterly ashamed, trying to keep it under wraps, knowing that it would change everything between us and unwilling to let it slip out.
I hear a creak from inside the bedroom, and lift my chin, shifting in the stool that sits on the far side of the breakfast bar. I thought of offering to stay with her last night, but God knows things are already complicated enough as they are, given that we hooked up when we arrived here.
I could put it down to the adrenaline, the shock of it, the need to assure myself that she was still okay, but I knew it was more about the stark, unbridled desire that rose whenever she looked at me with those big hazel eyes.
Finally, the door opens before me, and she stands there, running a hand through her hair, peering around with narrowed eyes as though trying to recall just what it is she’s doing here.
“What time is it?” she mumbles, as she glances to the coffee in my hands. “Can I have one of those? I feel like I haven’t slept in days.”
“Come sit here,” I tell her, keeping my voice pointedly clear of emotion.
I will freak her out if I come on too strong, and I’m careful with my body language as she approaches me.
I can only imagine the mess that is going on inside her head, all the questions and doubts that are running through her mind after everything that has happened, and I don’t want to spook her before I have found out the truth.
She hesitates for a moment, but then thinks better of denying me, making her way over to my side and taking her seat next to me. She clamps her hands together in her lap, trying to distract herself, no doubt, from the way I’m looking at her right now.
“What is it?” she asks, forcing a small laugh with her words, as though that will go some way to softening them.
“You knew Artem, didn’t you? Before this happened?”
She nods. “I... The two of us were... We...”
She trails off, searching for the language to put it into words. I don’t take my eyes off of her, reading every stumble, every pause, scanning it for the truth that she seems so intent on keeping under wraps.
She runs a hand through her hair, and finally comes clean.
“My father, he was a big gambler,” she explains. “And Artem was one of the men he came to for money. He built up this big debt with him, and when he passed, I was the only one to inherit it. I started working for Artem at the bar, but then he...”
Her eyes glaze, her lip curling slightly, as though she is so disgusted she can’t go on.
“He told me that there were other ways that I could pay my debt,” she admits quietly. “And I didn’t see what choice I had, so I went through with them.”
I tense. Fucking hell.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that he had been auctioning off women behind my back, he was exploiting this woman’s father to force her into bed, too.
I know there are plenty of men in my line of work who did the same thing, making sure that they can get their hands on any woman they take a fancy to with blackmail. But it’s never made sense to me. When I’m with someone, I want them to be there with me, not forced into it by outside circumstances.
“I broke it off with him a few weeks before I met you,” she confesses.
“The guy he sent after me, he’s the same one who kidnapped me and took me to the auction.
I had no idea that he was involved in anything like that, though, you have to believe me—I would never have had anything to do with him if I thought he was capable of something like that... ”
She trails off as I sit there in silence, once again nibbling on her bottom lip as she waits for me to say something.
I narrow my eyes, staring down into my coffee as I process what she has just told me.
So, Artem thinks he has some kind of right to her.
Doesn’t matter that he forced her hand and left her with no choice but to do exactly what he demanded, he has clearly taken a liking to her, and he is not going to let anyone, let alone his own brother, take her away from him.
“I didn’t know he was your brother,” she continues. “And if I had... I would never have...”
She shakes her head, putting her face into her hands.
“I’m sorry, it’s all just such a mess,” she mumbles.
I think of reaching out to comfort her, but I get the feeling that she would not appreciate my touch right now, too close to the memory of everything Artem demanded from her.
Do I believe what she is telling me, that she truly had no idea what was going on with Artem when she started working for him?
That she was just dragged into this because her deadbeat father had left her with debts that she could see no other way to overcome?
I can’t imagine she would dare to lie to me, but in this world, you can’t trust just anyone.
My gaze flicks downward, towards her belly, and I recall what I noticed the day before, when I was going down on her.
The slight curve to her, the fullness in her body.
That has left me with questions—questions that I know I will need to put out in the open if I have any chance of moving forward with any of this.
“Is there anything else you need to tell me?”
She shuffles from side to side in her seat, sitting on her hands, and then shakes her head. “Uh... no, I don’t think so.”
I don’t break her gaze, practically daring her to lie to me, if she thinks she can get away with it. She looks back at me, and I’m not sure if she is trying to throw me off my game or if there is just truly nothing there that she is trying to hide.
“You’re sure about that?” I lean forward, not breaking her gaze, and I see her draw in a sharp breath.
“What do you mean?”
“If there’s something you’re keeping from me,” I tell her, narrowing my eyes. “It could compromise our safety. I need to know everything we’re dealing with right now, if we’re going to get out of here alive. So, let me ask you again...”
I shift even closer, close enough now that I can see the goosebumps running up her arms. “Is there anything else I should know?”
And, at last, she comes out with it, blurting out the words before she can duck them for another instant. “I—I’m pregnant.”
There it is. I let out a long breath, reaching for my coffee, and she stares at me, gaze searching mine to figure out how I feel about all of this. Silence sits heavy between us as I process it, trying to figure out how best to react.
“Who’s is it?”
She hesitates, and then lets out a long sigh. “It’s yours,” she replies. “It has to be. I wasn’t with Artem for nearly a month before we met, and you’re the only person I’ve been with since him. I...”
She squirms in her seat as she waits for my response.
“Please, Anton, say something,” she begs me. “I know this must come as a shock, but I only found out a few days ago, and I was going to tell you, I really was—”
“Does Artem know?” I ask the question calmly, almost coldly. It’s not because I’m not dealing with a wave of emotion right now, far from it—it’s because if I unleash everything that’s bubbling below the surface right now, I’m not sure this tiny cabin will be able to contain it. She shakes her head.
“I don’t think so,” she replies. “I don’t see how he could. But...” She furrows her brow, as if it’s the first time she has truly considered it. “I guess...I guess he might have...”
I rise to my feet at once. A baby. A goddamn baby. She’s pregnant with my child, after that single encounter—hard to believe, but I’ve seen the proof of it written all over her body and I know that she is not inventing it. No, she is going to be the mother of my child...
And my fucking brother set my house on fire with her inside. Whether he knows about my kid or not, that’s an attack on them, on my family. One that I will not let slide.
“He doesn’t want me to have anything,” I mutter, as I rise to my feet, pacing around the kitchen as I make sense of what she has just told me.
“What are you talking about?” she asks, shaking her head. “Anton, I don’t understand what’s happening—”
“You don’t?” I reply, whipping around to face her, so fast that she jumps slightly.
I don’t mean to frighten her, but the fury coursing through my veins right now as I think about everything that my bastard of a brother could have taken from me if I had been in the wrong place when he had attacked, it’s more than I can control.
“He thought he was just getting you back,” I explain. “And he was willing to take out my home, my men, my staff to make it happen. Jesus, that would have been bad enough, but he could have taken my baby from me too...”
Her hand flies to her mouth, eyes glossy with tears as if it has just hit her how much danger she was in. “You can’t—he can’t have known,” she protests. “There’s no way he did this to hurt the baby. He—”
“But he would have,” I growl. “And he’s going to pay for it. Nobody gets to make a move against my child without paying for it.”
“Your child,” she repeats after me, and I can see the pieces beginning to slot into place, the reality of this starting to take hold. She’s pregnant with my baby, and that means that she’s my priority right now.
I have to protect her. A surge of certainty runs through me, and I feel the blood pumping through my veins.
“We’ll stay here as long as it takes for my men to secure the city again,” I tell her. “And then...”
I glance to the window, to the thicket of trees beyond, that acts as our cover, at least for now. I don’t know if Artem will come looking for us here, but if he does, he’ll be met with the fight of his fucking life.
“And then I’m going to destroy my brother and everything he’s left behind.”
Her wide eyes track me across the room, and I can tell she is spooked, shocked by the intensity of what I have just said. But can she be that surprised? I’m talking about my family here, my heir, my legacy...
And, as I look back at her, I know that even if I was just talking about her, too, I would do whatever it took to make my brother pay. Because I’ve let him get away with his bullshit for long enough.
And now, once and for all, he needs to answer for it.