Keeping his bride

Verona

W

HEN I WAKE up the next morning, Luca is nowhere to be seen. I vaguely remember a call in the middle of the night that took him away from me in a hurry, but he promised I had nothing to worry about.

I slowly sit up, and a wave of nausea hits me instantly. I barely make it to the bathroom in time before I’m retching in the toilet.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

I groan as I flush and manage to pull myself to look at my reflection in the sink. A sheen of sweat covers my face, and I quickly rinse my mouth out with water before brushing my teeth and swigging some mouthwash.

It’s a good thing Luca wasn’t here when I woke up. He wouldn’t have wanted to witness that mess, and he would have been worried.

I guess the jetlag really got to me…or maybe I have food poisoning. I’m trying to think of what I ate last night while I’m rummaging through the lower cabinet for a towel and washcloth when I spot a box of tampons. Furrowing my brow, I try to think of the last time I needed a tampon. It’s been…weeks. A month? More than a month?

“Oh, no,” I gasp as I try to count back how many days I actually haven’t had a period. I can’t even remember the last time. Luca and I have been fucking like bunnies for a while, and I can only recall one period.

“Oh, my god,” I groan, wiping my sweaty face with my hand. Pregnancy isn’t something that Luca and I have discussed. I mean, we knew the consequences from having sex…so much sex…without condoms, so I’m assuming he wanted children. But he’s never mentioned it. What if he doesn’t want children? That would be completely irresponsible of us not to use protection then.

I pace the bathroom, trying not to freak out. Then another thought hits me. What if he assumed I was on birth control? What if he thought we were protected the whole time and that’s why he never wore a condom?

My inner thoughts are strangling me to the point that I’m having trouble breathing. I’m panicking and overanalyzing every single thing, but I can’t help it. Luca is so hard to figure out at times; and when it comes to this, I have no idea how he’s going to react.

Placing my palms down on the countertop, I steady myself. I can’t allow myself to overreact to something that I’m not even certain of. First things first, I need someone to get me a pregnancy test. Once I take it, then I can decide the next step.

“Baby steps,” I tell myself out loud, and then I cringe at the word baby. Oh god, this is going to change everything.

IT’S LATER that morning when I encounter Benito in the hallway. He looks like he’s in a rush and already has a destination in mind, but I quickly pull on his arm and beg him to follow me. He reluctantly does as I ask.

“I need your help,” I tell him.

“What is it? Did something happen?” he’s quick to ask, concern lacing his features.

I swallow hard. I’m trusting Benito with more than I’ve ever trusted anyone before. But I’m too afraid to ask Dante for this favor, because judging by his recent reactions to Luca and my relationship, he’ll just flip out on me and wouldn’t help me anyway.

I lean up on my tiptoes and whisper into the giant’s ear, “I need you to get me a pregnancy test.”

He pulls back, his eyes wide. “What?” he asks as if he misheard me.

“I need the test, Benny,” I say vehemently. “And I want you to keep this between you and me. For now,” I add quickly. “I’ll tell Luca. I will. I just want to be the one who does it…when I’m ready,” I tell him in a rush.

He groans and swipes a hand down his face. “Luca is not going to be happy that I’m leaving the house when we’ve

been under attack since last night.”

“We’re under attack?” I ask, panic lacing my voice.

“We have it under control,” he assures me. He glances at his watch. “There’s a pharmacy not too far from here. I can be back here in less than fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you, Benny!” I exclaim, wrapping my arms around him in a hug.

He stiffens against me, probably not used to such emotion or maybe even affection at all. He clears his throat until I back away from him. And then he’s out the door, retrieving me something that might change my entire life.

Luca

B

EFORE I EVEN made the decision on when and how to attack Constantine, our entire computer server went under attack late last night. Someone cracked into our main computer and sent out a virus, infecting every computer connected to the network.

Aldo has been desperately fixing the problem, but he hasn’t been able to give me a definite answer yet on who is behind all of this. My assumption is Constantine, of course, but it could be any number of enemies that I’ve accumulated over the years.

I’m biding my time when it comes to going after Constantine until I have hard, concrete proof. And then, once I do, I’m personally going to destroy his empire until there’s nothing left but burning ashes on the charred fucking ground.

First the photos and now this. It all has to be connected. I just wish I knew who was behind it all and what their reasoning is behind it. If they want money, they can have it. But if they want something else…if they want someone else, then that’s a whole other matter, and they’ll have to go through me first to get to Verona.

My office has officially been taken over by my men. Aldo is in the corner, furiously typing away on his laptop, while he barks out instructions to the other IT guys on my team. There are computers, monitors, laptops, cords, wires and cables everywhere. It’s a fucking mess, but we’re working on borrowed time here.

I know this is the safest place on the property given that the walls were specially reinforced. Hell, even the glass in the windows is bulletproof. I spend most of my time here, so I needed to make sure it was secure.

We have a secret underground bunker on the property, and I’m sure we’ll be going there shortly, but I feel safe here for right now. Besides, the reception in the bunker is spotty, at best, and we need as much communication as we can get right now.

Looking around the room, I ask, “Where the fuck is Benito?”

A second later, Benito rushes into my office. “Sorry, boss. Got hung up on something.”

“We need everyone here,” I tell him sternly. I don’t need any of my men to go missing when we’re under attack.

“Understood,” Benito says with a nod.

“I managed to effectively wipe out the virus on our system,” Aldo says, which elicits some cheers and whistles from the rest of my team. “I’m still trying to figure out how they cracked into the network to begin with. I’m tracing everything back now.”

“Hurry, Aldo,” I tell him with urgency. I need to know what the attacker’s game is that they are obviously playing. Do they want to harm us by trying to steal information, or is it something much more sinister?