Page 80 of Beautiful Torment (Empire of Kings #1)

ABELLA

A fter Angelo leaves, I close my eyes for a while, but fail to sleep. So instead, I wander through the house and into Mariella’s wing. I need to see her and Valentina and let them both know I’m alright, and then I need to call Gabi and the rest of my friends.

When I knock on Val’s door and she opens it, I’m greeted with a yelp before she pulls me in for a hug.

“You’re here,” she cries out. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too,” I rasp.

After a minute, she pulls back to look at me. “Are you okay?”

“I am.” I smile softly.

“What’s going on?” she asks. “Did Angelo find you?”

“Yes, but it’s okay. I’ll fill you in on everything later.”

“Does this mean you’re staying?” Her features crease with reluctant hope.

Before I can answer, Mariella appears in the hallway. “Oh, thank God. I’ve been trying to track you down.”

“You have?” I swallow past the lump in my throat as I recall the tests she ran before I left.

“Yes, I need to talk to you alone,” she says. “Do you mind, Val?”

“It’s okay,” I tell her. “I don’t want the results.”

Mariella stares at me, her face unreadable. “I think you’ll change your mind when you hear what I have to say.”

I search her eyes, reluctantly curious, but then I remember I’m determined to protect myself from further pain.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It does,” Mariella insists.

I glance at Val, and she offers me an encouraging smile. “Go. I’ll be right here when you’re done.”

After a moment, I concede and follow Mariella down the hall and into her suite. She shuts the door behind us, then unlocks a drawer in her desk and pulls out a folder.

“You might want to have a seat for this,” she says.

“Mariella—” I shake my head, feeling like I want to vomit. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Abella, you’re pregnant.”

My legs nearly buckle, and now I understand why she told me to sit. She helps me into a chair, and this time, I listen to what she has to say.

“It was confirmed with the blood test and ultrasound.” She removes the results from the folder and shows them to me. “Have a look.”

I try, but my eyes are too blurry. “But it won’t be viable, right? That’s what they told me. They said even if I did get pregnant, I wouldn’t be able to carry to term.”

Mariella crouches in front of me, sadness etched in her features. “Abella, I don’t know how to tell you this, but those doctors lied to you.”

“I don’t understand.” I stare through her, feeling like I’m in a dream.

“Matteo made your father an offer behind Angelo’s back. One million dollars for a marriage contract, plus additional payments to convince you that you were infertile. They knew that was the only way to sever your ties to Angelo. The two of them paid those doctors to lie to you.”

My stomach revolts, and the room spins around me as I sit there, trying to process what she’s telling me. I think back on every conversation I had with those doctors. The sympathy on their faces. The softness in their voices as they delivered the news.

I don’t know what’s worse. The fact that they were willing to ruin someone’s life for a price, or that my own father berated me for the situation they had created.

He told me I was useless. A disappointment.

That I couldn’t do the one fucking thing required of me.

And the entire time, Matteo sat there in silence, waiting for me to walk right into the trap they’d set for me.

They tore Angelo and me apart. For six years, I grieved that loss as Matteo tried to comfort me for the suffering he’d created.

How many times had he told me I had to move on? How many times did my father pressure me to set a date with the man who had destroyed my life—all so he could fuck me and impregnate me himself.

My skin crawls as a wave of nausea churns my gut, and I bolt upright, running to the bathroom. I barely make it to the toilet in time to empty the contents of my stomach.

Mariella appears beside me, helping me up off the floor.

“Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.” She leads me to the bench along the wall and returns a moment later with a cool cloth and a cup of water.

As I sit there, processing my shock, disbelief, and then, eventually, anger—I get a taste for the same bloodthirst that runs hot in Angelo’s veins. If he hadn’t already murdered my father and Matteo, I would have wanted to do it myself.

Now, I can only take comfort in the knowledge that they suffered, but even that isn’t enough. I didn’t feel vengeance when they died. I grieved the loss of Matteo as a friend, and I can’t take those moments back.

How much has he stolen from me? From Angelo? From his own family?

When I glance up at Mariella, she understands exactly what I’m thinking.

“I know,” she says. “We can’t undo all the pain they caused.”

“I need to see it for myself,” I tell her. The paper results aren’t enough. I need tangible proof in my hands.

“I thought you might.” She opens a drawer and pulls out five pregnancy tests, handing them all to me. “You want some privacy?”

“No.” I nearly panic at the thought of being left alone right now. “Will you stay?”

“Of course,” she answers softly. “Go do your business. I’ll grab you a spare toothbrush while we wait.”

I nod, and a few minutes later, I’m brushing my teeth at the sink while all five tests develop on the counter. In the span of that time, reluctant hope springs up inside me, followed by every worst-case scenario.

What if I lost the baby already?

I try to think back on the last two months, recalling whether I bled or not, but I can’t. I wasn’t taking very good care of myself—eating sporadically, not sleeping enough, and stressing far more than I should.

As I rinse my mouth out, I’m still running through a long list of all the things I wish I’d done differently when Mariella nudges me.

“Hey, look,” she says.

I glance at the tests, noting all five positive results, and I nearly collapse. I can’t speak. I can hardly even think as I close my eyes and press a hand against my belly.

For a while, I just let myself be in this moment that I’ve dreamed about. It’s a moment I thought I would never get to have.

Slowly, some of my anger ebbs away, replaced by the warmth that floods my veins when I consider what Angelo and I have created.

We’re having a baby.

There’s still so much to process, but right now, all I want to do is tell him.

That’s when it hits me.

I open my eyes, uncertainty settling over me. Is this why he came?

Mariella seems to sense my thoughts and quickly rushes to reassure me. “He doesn’t know yet. I didn’t tell him anything. I wouldn’t do that.”

I nod, accepting that makes the most sense. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be with Ares right now.

“Oh, God,” I blurt as it dawns on me. “We have to go.”

“Go where?” she asks.

“Angelo has an entire army on the island,” I tell her. “He’s with Ares right now, trying to renegotiate the treaty.”

“Oh fuck.” Her eyes widen. “We really have to go.”

When we arrive at the Stavros compound, I’m expecting an argument from the guards. But as soon as Mariella demands to be let in, they grant her request. I give her a sidelong glance, but she shakes her head. Now isn’t the time to get into her history with Ares.

The head guard leads us straight to Ares’s den, and when he opens the door, both he and Angelo swing their gazes to us. An air of tension fills the room, and in the interest of preventing a war, I just go ahead and blurt it right out.

“I’m pregnant.”

Ares smirks and plucks a signed piece of paper from his desk. “Well, that’s unfortunate timing.”

“Angelo.” Mariella glances between the two of them. “What did you do?”

He doesn’t hear her, because he’s looking at me. After the initial shock wears off, he rises to his feet and pulls me against him.

“You’re pregnant?” he repeats.

I nod through my tears, and he searches my eyes, holding back his own emotion.

“It’s okay.” I force the words from my raw throat. “We’re having a baby. We can be excited.”

He kisses me right there in front of his enemy, as if nothing else exists beyond this moment. That is, until Ares opens his big mouth again.

“As happy as I am for the two of you, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that our deal still stands.”

“What did you do?” Mariella pins Ares with a glare.

“I agreed to amend the treaty,” Ares says, as if it were a philanthropic gesture.

“And what did you offer in return?” Mariella turns to Angelo.

“We’ll keep that between us,” Ares supplies.

“You’re an asshole,” she bites out.

He shrugs, letting the insult bounce right off him. “You had the opportunity to tell your brother before he came here. You chose not to. I’m an opportunist, Mariella. You should know that by now.”

“Mariella?” Angelo glances at her in question.

“He had the chart notes from the doctors Matteo paid off,” Mariella tells us. “He knew all along.”

“I like to keep myself apprised of the goings-on around this island,” Ares says. “Don’t act like you aren’t keeping tabs on my family as well.”

“How did you find out?” I scowl at him.

“I had Matteo followed, and I paid off the same dirty doctors he did. Simple.”

“ Vaffanculo ,” Angelo mutters.

“You can escort my guests out now,” Ares tells his guards. “Thank you for the visit. It’s been a pleasure as always.”

Angelo shoves the guard who tries to touch him and presses a hand to my lower back as he guides me from the room.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he says. “Before I murder this prick.”