Page 47 of Savage Proposal

“Fuck,” Lorenzo groaned. “You just got so much wetter,dolcezza. Pussy feels so fucking good.” He lost his rhythm chasing his own orgasm fast and furious, and I whimpered when he finally came inside me.

It took me way too many tries to get out: “I can’t feel my legs.”

Lorenzo laughed. “Give me a few minutes, and I’ll carry you to the shower.”

Shit, there was that feeling again in my chest. He was cruel for being sweet to me, but only ever in the context of sex or just after. Because I knew, probably better than anyone, that the laughter and smiles I was getting now would be gone the second the shower ended. Then it would be me waiting to get them back while I navigated the pitfalls and land mines that came with living in this house. I had to be a masochist, right? Knowing all of that, and still feeling the way that I did every time one of those smiles was aimed my way.

I woke up alone the next morning, and when I glanced at the clock on Lorenzo’s bedside table, I could see it was later than normal too. When I sat up, my stomach immediately started rolling, and I nearly collapsed back again. It would feel better in a moment, I knew, but it made getting up harder of a task than it needed to be.

Slowly, I made my way to the bathroom and did my normal morning routine. When I opened the cabinet beneath the sink, I paused when I saw the box of tampons that I had moved back and forth between the ensuite in the blue guest room and here. It was still sealed. Beside that box was the opened pregnancy test that Amalia had given me; there was a second test in it that I hadn’t bothered with after the first test I’d taken was negative.

But that had been weeks ago, and I still hadn’t gotten my period. I reached for the pregnancy test. It couldn’t hurt to be sure, right? Maybe I needed to scare my period into coming.

Three minutes later, however, I was looking at two pink lines.Positivepink lines. “Oh,” I breathed out. My heart kicked against my ribs. I was pregnant, like for real.

It shouldn’t be surprising, after having so much unprotected sex with Lorenzo, but I was shocked all the same. I touched my stomach, flat and unassuming, and emotion like I had never felt before gripped me. I was going to have a baby. I had never?—

The baby isn’t yours. It was a cruel thought, something dark and bitter slithering up from the recesses of my mind, but it wasn’t wrong. This baby wouldn’t be mine; I wouldn’t get to be a mother.

Lorenzo wasn’t interested in anything to do with me that wasn’t sexual. He had made that clear over and over again. It wasn’t like I could fault him for leading me on.

I couldn’t stay in the bathroom for much longer. Someone would come looking for me eventually. But it was hard to make myself leave. A part of me didn’t want to say anything to anyone, keep things a secret, but I knew that I couldn’t do that.

Lorenzo might, legitimately, kill me if that were the case.

The walk to his office was slow, but I had nearly convinced myself that saying something immediately was for the best when I paused outside the door. I was going to knock…but then again, fuck it. I was about to tell him something he wanted to hear.

I wasn’t expecting to see Lorenzo and Elio standing over Damian, who was pale. His shirt was soaked with blood.

Lorenzo looked at me, jaw set. “Now isn’t a good?—”

But I wasn’t paying attention to him. I had lasered in on Damian; he was a minute or two away from passing out. “One of you go get a first aid kit,” I barked. “Why wouldn’t you come get me immediately?” There was a pause, and then Elio was moving. “Can we take your shirt off?” I asked Damian. “I need to see.”

CHAPTER 29

Lorenzo

Iswallowed back the reprimand that had jumped to the front of my mouth as Isabella helped Damian to strip off his shirt. His shoulder was a mess. Color drained from her face. “Were you shot?”

Damian shook his head, wincing as the wound pulled tight. “Figlio di puttanahad a knife.”

She didn’t relax, per se, but she looked more confident than she did when she first saw the wound. “At least I’m not digging out a bullet,” she murmured, more to herself than anyone else.

“Can you close him up?” I asked her.

She looked at me and nodded. “It’s not going to be pretty, and I don’t have anything for the pain, but I can do it.”

I cleared my desk so that Damian could sit and she had room to move around. “I need better light,” she said. “Do you have a flashlight?”

“Will the one on my phone work?” I turned on the light and held up my phone, and she hummed.

Elio came back with the first aid kit. It was brand new and top of the line; Isabella almost smiled when she saw it. “Amalia said that she can help if you need it.”

The look that she gave him was a touch unfriendly. “Does she have any medical training?” Isabella asked.

He shook his head. “No, but she won’t throw up either.”

“I can handle it.” Her eyes met mine. “Just hand me things when I ask for it? I don’t want to go back and forth between him and digging through the box; he’ll end up with some kind of infection.” To Elio, she said, “Hold the light for me.”

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