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“My father. He’ll attack. He’s going to see this as some kind of…I don’t know. Ploy from your father. He’ll take it as a personal affront.”

No way will he be happy that he’s going to be a grandfather. Maybe Madd has the right idea – we should run.

“Let’s do it. Let’s run. Let’s pack some bags and move…fuck, anywhere. We can even live overseas. My mom still has some family in the UK. We’ll have some connections.”

Tears are streaming down my face now as the euphoria I felt moments ago is chased away by the what ifs that are right in front of me, both literally and figuratively. I can see the lights of the estate through the trees from where we’re sitting.

And once I push through them, walk through the house, and announce to my parents I’m carrying a child of Antoniou blood…

It won’t even matter whether the child is biologically Kato’s; Maddox and Brixton are still pledged to Christos and his organization.

Brix wipes away my tears with his long fingers then leans forward and presses his lips to my forehead. “I go where you go, E.”

“Same,” Maddox says.

Then we all turn our attention to Kato. Because there’s no way I can go anywhere if they’re not all three with me. I need my guys…my husbands. We might not be legally married, but as far as I’m concerned, the initials on my chest and the child in my womb have bound us.

Until death do us part.

Even after. I can picture all three of them in ghost forms searching for me through the ether so we can continue our lives together for an eternity.

That thought makes me smile through my tears even as the panic tries to keep its claws dug deep.

“You can’t possibly think I would ever let you walk away without a fight,” he teases, leaning forward and pressing a soft, lingering kiss to my lips. “If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do. But we have to be smart about this. No running off half-cocked.”

I sniff and blink away the tears clinging to my lashes. We’re leaving. The four of us are going to pack it up and start our lives somewhere else, somewhere we no longer have to be associated with the Antonious or the Sidorovs. I can’t imagine my father will look too hard once I take off.

Thing is, we’re all of age. They can’t stop us if we want to move out, if we want to be together.

Now the panic is receding and in its place is excitement and a little anxiety over the unknown. We’ll all have to find jobs to support ourselves and our baby, and we’ll have to find somewhere to live.

Brix can use his car without worrying about it being reported stolen since he bought it himself with cash. But the rest of us…well, my father and Kato’s father have supported us and Madd for as long as I can remember.

A grin stretches on my face as I look from one face to the other and see the love I feel in my chest reflected on their faces.

We are in this together. We’re building a family together.

And I can’t wait to start our lives out from under the shadow of our fathers.

Chapter 1

Four Years Later

Kato

Shoving my pistol against this asshole’s temple has to be the highlight of my day. I’ve been looking for this motherfucker for weeks. HeknewI was looking for him, and the dumbass decided to visit one of my clubs.

I swear it feels like he was giving himself up without walking right up to the front gate of my estate.

“I told you I don’t know shit,” Lorenzo whines. He’s about two seconds from pissing himself. I hate the smell of piss.

If I don’t end up putting a bullet through his skull, Lorenzo will still end up with a permanent imprint of the muzzle of my gun. I’m shoving it so hard against his head he has no choice but to lean to the side, nearly falling from the chair.

Not that he’ll get far with his wrists and ankles zip tied to the fucking thing.

Brix steps out of the shadows and saunters forward, lowering to the balls of his feet with far more grace than a fucker his size should possess.

Lorenzo might have been afraid of the gun against his head, but the absolute terror shining in his wide eyes at my surrogate brother’s appearance is a sight to behold.