Page 52 of Sinful Obsession
The lack of modern fixtures made it the one place I felt reasonably sure was free of Cassian’s surveillance.
My fingers trembled as I tore open the envelope, its wax seal crumbling under my touch like an ancient relic.
Inside was a sleek burner phone, its screen dark.
A genuine smile broke across my face, a flicker of hope in the suffocating darkness of my captivity.
Ethan had done it.
Tucked beside the phone were three pregnancy test kits, their sterile packaging gleaming.
My smile faltered, replaced by a cold knot of dread in my stomach.
The nausea, the dizziness, the morning sickness—they’d plagued me again today, each symptom a whisper of a truth I wasn’t ready to face.
I powered on the phone, my hands shaking as I dialed the only number programmed into it. Ethan’s voice came through instantly, warm but edged with tension. “Charlotte?”
“I got it,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “Thank you.”
He exhaled. “God, I risked everything to get that to you. If Cassian had found it before you did, my entire family would be done for.”
My throat tightened at the weight of his sacrifice. “I’m so sorry, Ethan. I didn’t realize—”
“It’s fine,” he cut in, his tone firm but kind. “Just be careful with that phone. I’ve encrypted it with every tech trick I know to keep it undetectable, but you need a safe place to hide it.”
“I will,” I promised, glancing around the library’s shadowed corners. “Ethan... what if I’m pregnant?”
A long pause stretched between us, heavy with unspoken fears.
Then, the call switched to video, and his face filled the screen—sharp jawline, tousled dark hair, and those familiar eyes.
My breath caught as a memory slammed into me: Ethan, the scrawny kid from high school, always hunched under the weight of bullies’ taunts until I stepped in to shield him.
My fractured memory was a cruel puzzle, pieces locked away until something—or someone—jarred them loose.
It was the same with my mother, my brother, even my father, whose face only resurfaced when Cassian dragged me to that mafia meeting days ago.
Whoever had stolen three years of my life was a monster, but I’d claw my way back, no matter how long it took.
“Charlotte, can you hear me?” Ethan’s voice snapped me back, his brow furrowed with concern.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, my cheeks flushing. “I got lost in my head.”
“I was saying, if you’re pregnant, Cassian might not react as badly as you think. He... he might still love you.”
I scoffed, the sound bitter. “Love me? Maybe once, but not now. He thinks I killed his sister, Ethan. He’s planning to punish me, and I don’t know what that looks like, but I know it’ll be cruel. And if I’m pregnant...” I swallowed hard, the words tasting like ash.
“Cassian and I haven’t been intimate since I woke up in my grandfather’s cabin last December, abandoned by whoever took me. If there’s a baby, it’s not his. It could be... it could be from someone who...” I couldn’t finish, the thought of violation too horrific to voice.
Ethan’s face paled on the screen, his jaw tightening. “That’s... complicated.”
“Exactly,” I said, my voice trembling. “If Cassian finds out I’m carrying another man’s child, his hatred will destroy me.”
“Let’s hope you’re not pregnant,” Ethan said firmly. “Do the test and let me know. If you are, I’m getting you out of there, no matter what it takes.”
My chest ached with gratitude, but another thought surfaced. “There’s something else. I told you about the House of Devils, that underground mafia competition...”
“I disguised myself as a man to join, to win enough power and money to claim my inheritance without marrying one of the Morettis.”
