Page 32 of Savage Proposal

“I’m fine,” I told her, voice hoarse and so obviouslynotfine.

“Sure,” she said and led me into a chair. “I’m going to make you a plate, and then you can tell me why you’re doing ‘fine,’ all right?”

I nodded. What else could I do? “Okay.” Amalia grabbed one of the white, porcelain plates that she’d left stacked at one endof the dining table and piled it high with food. Way more than either of us hoped to finish. “What army are you trying to feed?”

She looked at the plate and shrugged. “Who doesn’t like a stack of waffles?”

I took a few bites to appease her, but my stomach was a rolling mess. Amalia stared at me intently, waiting, and finally, I broke. “I’m late.”

For a moment, Amalia looked stricken, and then her face relaxed. “I asked Elio about your deal with Lorenzo,” she said. “You’resupposedto get pregnant, right?”

Her words sank in my stomach like a stone. “Yes,” I said, sounding as miserable as I felt.

“But you’re not happy about it?”

I glared at her. “Why would I behappyabout that?”

Amalia gave me a sad smile. “Getting it over with sooner would be a good thing, wouldn’t it? Then, you can go back to your life.”

She wasn’t wrong about any of it. The faster I got pregnant, meant that I would get my life back that much quicker. But it meant giving up a baby. All of my dreams of having a family had died on my bathroom floor the night I was attacked, so how could I ever get pregnant and give it up? It was beyond cruel.

If I didn’t, though, Gemma would be in danger, and I might never work off my father’s debt. I might never be free again.

“Can you get me a test?” I asked. “It might be too early to take one, but?—”

“You’ll go crazy waiting?”

“Exactly.”

“I have one upstairs,” she said. “We can grab it after breakfast.” I didn’t know what, exactly, my face was doing, but whatever my expression was, it made her laugh. “It’s not like Elio and I are trying,” she explained with a shrug. “But we aren’t preventing anything either.”

I couldnotimagine having a child with a man like Elio Vitali, but I kept that thought to myself. It wasn’t kind…and I’m sure Amalia already knew how people felt about him. “Thank you,” I said instead.

We picked at our food for a little while longer, but were both too distracted to enjoy it now. Finally, Amalia decided to give up, and together, we packed up the leftovers. I followed her upstairs to the suite that she shared with Elio.

Amalia volunteered to wait in the bedroom while I took the pregnancy test. I tried not to stare at the tiny window as the alarm on Amalia’s phone ticked down the three minutes. When it rang, I picked up the test with shaking hands.

One line. Negative.

My breath shuddered out. I couldn’t decide whether I was glad to see the negative or not. My freedom hung in the balance, but I could push back the idea of giving up my child for a little while longer.

I opened the bathroom door, ready to tell Amalia about the results, but she wasn’t the one waiting for me. Lorenzo stood in his cousins’ bedroom with his arms crossed over his chest; a frown slashed across his face.Goddamnit.

“Are you pregnant,dolcezza?”

The question felt like a slap across the face. “No,” I said. “I’m not.”

Lorenzo held out his hand, and even as I gritted my teeth, I gave him the test. I held my breath while he looked at the negative. His face gave nothing away, and when he didn’t say anything for a long while, my anxiety ratcheted up to a hundred.

His eyes darted to my face. “Do you have any fertility issues? From your attack?”

Fuckingow.Thatquestion was a slap to the face. “Not that I’m aware of,” I said, attempting to keep my tone as even and neutral as possible. My voice cracked trying.Damn it. “My doctors were more concerned with my kidneys functioning than they were about anything else, but they never mentioned any worry about my not being able to get pregnant.”

Lorenzo hummed, and my chest squeezed tight for a moment. If I was useless to him, what would happen to me? Would he get rid of me like Sienna?

“We can always do some testing with Dr. Coleman,” he said finally.

I nodded. “Okay.”

---