Page 34

"Raf…" I shake my head, speechless.

"We may not have known each other long, but you're my dearest friend, and the only one I feel safe enough to share my secret with. Maybe with time…" He trails off.

"I don't know what to say, Raf. This is so sudden.Toosudden."

I'd never thought of Raf as anything but a friend, and I don't think I'deversee him in a different light.

Not after him.

"It would solve both our issues. My father wants me to marry soon anyway, and I could claim your baby as my own," he continues, surprising me even more.

"Raf… Thank you, but you know I don't feel that way about you," I admit. We'd been over this from the beginning. And while Vlad may be out of the picture now, that doesn't mean that he's not still in my heart.

"We don't have to be more then. We'll do just fine as friends," he starts, taking my hands in his. "I know you're not in love with me, just as I'm not in love with you. But we have what other people lack—trust. And I swear I would care for your baby just as I care for you," he says sincerely, and for a moment I'm lost in his light eyes. So full of kindness, and so fundamentally different from the pair I love.

"I'm scared," I whisper, taking a deep breath. "I never thought I'd find myself in this situation."

But what is the alternative, really? Give birth out of wedlock and be shunned like Lina had been? If Marcello doesn't kill me and Vlad first, that is. I've heard enough of our world to know that it's simply not done, and I've seen firsthand what Lina had had to endure because she'd been unmarried when she'd had Claudia.

I could withstand it. After all, I'm good at taking people's insults in stride. But what about my child? He's innocent and Iknowhe will bear the brunt of it all.

"Okay," I whisper, "let's do it. You're right that it's the only way, and I promise that I'll be the best wife I can be. Just don't expect…" I drift off, and he catches my meaning.

"I know where your heart is, Sisi. You have nothing to worry about in that regard." He gives me a small smile.

"Thank you." I wrap my arms around him in a hug. "Thank you," I repeat.

Once the initialshock of the pregnancy wears off, I start warming up to the idea. In fact, one might say I'm becoming too thrilled at the prospect of a baby.

I'll finally have someonejustfor me. Someone whom I'll love and will love me back. The fact that he's part ofhimis a plus, since this way I'll have something of him as well.

Marcello's been in and out of the house with his treatments, so I haven't found a good time to tell him the news about the marriage. But more than anything, I haven't been able to hear anything abouthim.

"God, I can't even say his name," I mutter to myself, annoyed.

He's become something of ahe who shall not be namedin my head, mostly because even thinking up his name causes me profound pain. That doesn't seem to have stopped me from being curious about him and wondering what he's been up to though.

Marcello's been tight-lipped and other than that, I simply have no other way of knowing about him.

"I wonder if you'll look like your father." I pat my belly, a smile on my face as I imagine a dark-haired, dark-eyed child—a carbon copy ofhim. All I know is that I'll lavish all my love on this child and he'll never have to doubt whether he is wanted or not.

"I love you, little one," I whisper, happiness already enveloping me as I imagine our future.Hemay not be in it, but I'll have the next best thing.

And that will make it bearable.

Raf's been nothing but a sweetheart as he'd inquired about my health almost daily. I know this marriage is advantageous for him too, since his father has been wanting a union with our family for a long time.

And when we'll be married, his father will finally leave him alone and everything will be in order for the inheritance succession. Raf may not want the power, but someonewillhave to take it, and better him than his awful being of a brother.

Even knowing that it benefits him too, I am eternally grateful to him for offering to help me.

Laying down in bed, I start reading a book about pregnancy that I'd gotten online, wanting to know as much as I can and be prepared when the time comes. Already, I have a feeling it's going to be a boy and I've started looking at names.

Immersed in my reading, I'm surprised when my phone starts ringing, Raf's name flashing on the screen.

"I'll be by the house in an hour,"he says as soon as I answer.

"An hour? How come?" I frown, since we hadn't agreed on anything today.