Page 264 of Untamed

A new thought slides in, quiet, cruel.

They’re all right. Maybe Giana is the better choice.

She’s the perfect weapon. The safe play. The deal that keeps him breathing. And me? I’m the opposite. Messy. Risky. The girl with no connections, no legacy. Just a body to bury when the war gets too loud.

He told me I was his peace, but peace doesn’t win wars.

Luciano’s words slam through me like a blade;You’ll be the reason he dies.

My throat tightens. I sit up, legs pulled against my chest, and stare at the nightstand like it might have the answers I’m too afraid to say out loud. Slowly, I reach for the drawer.

The envelope Bianca gave me is still inside.

Cash. IDs. A new life.

My fingers shake as I pull it out, gripping it like it might burn through my skin. My heart is hammering. Every part of me is screaming not to do this. But I can’t stop.

And then my eyes fall on something else hiding under the envelope. My hand closes around it. A plastic stick. The one I shoved in there days ago and tried not to think about.

I stare down at the faint word on the tiny screen:Pregnant.

The world blurs around the edges.

I don’t breathe. I don’t move.

I just… stare.

Because now it’s not just about Ares.

It’s about the tiny flicker of life he doesn’t even know exists. A consequence. A miracle. A secret that changes everything. I’m not the only one who needs protecting. I need to protect our child. I need to protecthim.

Tears fall silently, slipping down my cheeks as I press my hand over my mouth, trying to hold in the sound of something inside me shattering.

The test slips from my fingers and lands silently on the bed. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I need air. Something, anything, that doesn’t feel like this crushing weight bearing down on my chest.

I move on instinct, legs shaky as I step toward the open balcony doors. The night air rushes over my skin, warm and suffocating all at once. The grounds are cloaked in darkness, but voices drift up from below.

Familiar. Close.

I press myself to the shadows near the stone rail, heart stuttering.

Ares.

His voice carries like gravel, low, lethal, shaking something deep in my chest.

“You may be my brother, Enzo. But if you stand with him, you stand against me. It’s as simple as that.”

A long silence.

Then Enzo’s reply, sharp with fear. “This war’s going to kill you, Ares. And it’s going to kill her too, if you keep pulling her deeper into it.”

A beat.

And then his voice, Ares’s, cracks something open inside me.

“I’m already dead without her.”

I slap a hand over my mouth, swallowing the sob that claws its way up my throat.

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