Vik (Shot Callers 2)

It had to be.

But… he didn’t stutter. In fact, what he said was very clear, with flawless delivery, meant for shock value. And it definitely delivered.

My mouth dried as I struggled to concentrate. And amongst the confusion and panic, I managed to shift my focus to Nas, who…

Are you fucking kidding me right now?

…looked guilty as hell.

At a glance, Sasha’s surprise matched my own. Lev simply stood there, emotionless and stiff. Philippe frowned at his ex-fiancé, while Alessio’s brows rose to the roof. Meanwhile, Laredo peered at Roam with a face I could only describe as fatherly disappointment.

The flurry of emotions I felt tripled when my hold on her weakened. Her desolate eyes locked on me and looked around before peering back at me, throwing out a delicate but despondent, “I was going to tell you.”

What?

What?

I felt sick.

A father. Me. A baby. In her.

I couldn’t even begin to process.

“Vik,” she called out to me, but it sounded muffled.

Suddenly, my manner changed, and anger flooded me, stripping me limb from limb. Before I lost my shit, I began to walk.

“Vik, wait!”

No. We weren’t doing this here, now, in front of him. I kept walking, and when she caught up to me, I felt her sorry gaze on me.

“Please.” The tearful plea broke my damn heart.

Yeah, I was pissed, but she was my woman, so I slowed my steps, took a deep breath, and offered my hand to her. The relieved breath she took was audible, and the moment her small, cold hand slipped into mine, my anger dimmed. Her fingers entwined in mine, and although I refused to look at her, I gave them a consoling squeeze. From the corner of my eye, I saw her turn to look at me every now and again, but she smartly remained unspeaking.

My jaw tensed so hard my head ached.

Nastasia had some explaining to do.

When I got her home, when she was clean and fed and settled, we were going to talk.

And me, feeling the way I was?

Shit.

God help her when we did.

35

Nastasia

There were two ways to look at this situation.

The good news was that Vik now knew, and although admittedly it was a shitty way for him to find out, I was relieved it was now out in the open. The bad news was that from the way his jaw steeled, this was news he didn’t want to hear. And that was exactly why I wanted to put off telling him for a while. At least until I had a plan.

I could tell Roam got some sick sense of pleasure revealing my secret, and I knew why.

It was punishment, plain and simple.

Roam wasn’t the type to take kindly to manipulation, and yes, I manipulated him.

Who could blame me? I didn’t know if the guy was going to kill me or not.

Castor’s small offering of advice kept me safe for a while until I’d blown it by unknowingly setting Roam off with something so simple as a touch. I was still puzzled by it, but it was clear that Roam did not like me knowing I affected him so. And so he thought to get back at me, doing it in the cruelest way possible.

I shouldn’t have expected anything less from him. I don’t know why I did.

When we pulled up to my house, I could already see changes had been made. The front door was different, looked larger in some ways, heavier, reinforced. The alarm box out front had been altered, so I could only assume I’d gotten an upgrade in the past day or so. There were small black cameras that weren’t there before, pointing in every direction.

My heart ached at the sentiment behind it all.

I could only guess that this was done in the hopes that after all that happened over the last few days, these changes might make me feel safe again in my own home.

It was too soon to tell.

Vik turned off the car and sat in place, looking straight out the window as he spoke without feeling, “We are going to go inside, and you are not going to speak.” My heart ached at the disconnect I felt, but he was furious. I got it. “You are going to shower while I fix you something to eat. After you eat, I’m going to check your body over to make sure you’re okay.” And just as I opened my mouth to reiterate I was fine, he cut me off with a wave of his hand and a bitter laugh. “I think you’ll forgive me for not taking your word for it right now.” My lips thinned. “After I’m sure you’re fine and I can finally take in a breath without feeling like I’m choking,”—Oh, sweetheart—“we are going to talk, and you are going to explain why I had to find out what I just found out the way I did.”