Page 50 of Savage Proposal

For the first time since I’d come to live at the estate, she shook her head. “Not until you promise that you won’t touch her.”

Lorenzo’s eyes were on fire. “Get. Out.”

But Amalia didn’t back down. “You can either be honorable and promise not to touch thisterrifiedwoman, and let her explain herself. Or you can say whatever you want to say with me standing here.”

Please don’t leave me. I gripped Amalia’s arms, digging my fingers in until I knew that she would be bruised, but I couldn’t let go. “Lorenzo, I —”

“I won’t hurt her,” he said. “On my honor, I won’t lay a hand on her.”

Tears welled up in my eyes as Amalia extracted herself from me. “I will be down the hall,” she promised. “I can be here in seconds.”

He could kill me in that length of time. “Okay.”

She scooted around Lorenzo, eyes on him the entire time, and then we were alone. “I wasn’t going to leave,” I insisted before he could say anything. “I wouldn’t do that. I just panicked.”

It was clear that he didn’t believe me. When he stepped into the bathroom, I jumped back, but there was nowhere for me to go. I bit my lip to hold in the whimper that wanted to escape.

“I could do whatever I wanted to you right now. There is nothing that Amalia could do that would stop me.” His words were careful and measured, and each one landed like a blow to the abdomen.

“I know.”

“Good,” he said. “It’s good that you know that because I willneverallow you to leave this estate withmychild.”

Being pregnant is the only thing keeping me alive, I thought. No matter what we had been to each other over the last few months, I knew that he could and would kill me if he thought he had to. He wouldn’t even blink an eye at it. “I wouldn’t,” I insisted, though I couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “I was upset about the situation with Damian.” The words tumbled from me in a rush, anxiety bubbling out like a fountain. “I was training to be a nurse, you know? I have seen blood before. I’ve done stitches, even though I wasn’t really supposed to. I shouldn’t have reactedso strongly, but I…” The words fizzled when I finally looked at Lorenzo.

He couldn’t have cared less about my feelings. He still looked like he was picturing creative ways to hide my body under his floorboards. “If I ever hear you talking about leaving again, even if you’re ‘just panicking,’ I’ll put you in a room with the bolt on the outside of the door for the rest of your pregnancy.”

Lorenzo didn’t have to explain what would happen to meafterI had given birth in that scenario. It wouldn’t end with me returning to my life like this experience was all a bad dream. “Iwon’t.”

I hadn’t changed his mind in the slightest, despite my promises. “I’m going to call Dr. Coleman. I want confirmation that you really are pregnant.”

For some reason, that cut into my chest even more deeply than being threatened with being locked up for the duration of my pregnancy. “I can show you the test I took.”

“I want an ultrasound.”

He wanted irrefutable proof…and, to be honest, so did I. The first test had been negative, so which one was correct? “If I’m not pregnant?”

Lorenzo’s expression chilled me to the bone. “Pray that you are.”

CHAPTER 31

Lorenzo

By midday, I had an appointment set up for Isabella. Dr. Coleman offered to make a house call, but we wouldn’t see any immediate results for lab work, nor could I get the ultrasound that I wanted.

The drive to his office was silent. Isabella didn’t bother trying to talk; she barely even breathed. Fear radiated off her in a near-visible wave. If she was waiting for some kind of comfort or reassurance, hell would freeze over first.

I thought seeing her on Sienna’s couch, dirtying up one of her antiques with the oils on her hands, was rage-inducing. Hearing her threaten to leave with my child, however, pushed me past that point. There was no room for rage in the black void of ice that filled me. The knowledge that she may be pregnant was the only thing that had stayed my hand.

That was how I knew I didn’t have real feelings for her. If I did, I wouldn’t so easily picture squeezing her pretty throat until her blood vessels burst in her eyes. It was a relief, honestly. I liked fucking her, but it didn’t mean I wanted anything more than that.

And now that she was pregnant, there wouldn’t be a reason to do that ever again.

One of Dr. Coleman’s nurses was waiting for us the moment we arrived. “Isabella?” she asked, smiling widely. “Would you come with me? Dr. Coleman has an exam room all ready for you.” When I made to follow, the nurse’s smile faded around the edges. “Are you her husband?”

“I’m the baby’s father.”If there’s a baby.

Her eyes slid from me to Isabella, who was attempting not to look so miserable and failing miserably. “I’m sorry, sir,” she said. “But if you’re not a family member of the patient?—”

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