Page 121 of Betraying Family Vows

His fingers brush against mine as he hands them to me, and for a moment, I let myself remember how this all started when he showed up in Ireland. How I'd never laughed so much with anyone before.

"Will you tell me what's really going on?" he asks. "I've never seen you like this."

I pause, clutching my toiletry bag, everything in me wanting to talk about it.

"I can't," I say, not turning around. "I just have to go."

Then his footsteps cross the room, and I feel his heat at my back, his hands gentle on my shoulders as he turns me to face him.

"Callista."

Dammit, no one says my name like he does, like it's something precious. I make the mistake of looking up into his eyes.

"I've never seen you like this," he says. "Not even when you almost missed your flight to Chicago and thought your brothers would figure everything out."

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do," I say, lying.

His thumb traces my lower lip, a familiar gesture that usually makes me melt. "I disagree. We've been together long enough to know when something's really wrong."

I step back, breaking contact. "I have to go."

"It's your family, right? So what did they say to you?"

"Does it matter?"

"It might," he says. "I fucking..." He pauses. "I fucking love you, Calli."

"What?" I stop packing and look at him.

"Yeah, I, uh..." He stops and rubs his forehead. "I was going to tell you tonight at dinner before the opera, but since you're ditching me."

My throat closes. I almost tell him everything right then. The call from Dimitri, the threats, the truth, but the words won't come.

Instead, I want to throw up and scream at the same time.

I just stare at him, taking him in properly, memorizing the lines of his face, the shape of his mouth, knowing this is the last time I'll allow myself this pleasure.

"I'm sorry, Niko. This won't work. Goodbye," I say, the word final as a coffin lid closing.

I grab my suitcase and walk to the door. My heart hammers against my ribs, my thoughts breaking me like glass, and I feel tears about to fall at any moment.

"Calli, wait," Niko says, but I don't stop. I can't.

I open the door and walk to the elevator. Once I'm inside, my suitcase drops and I start crying.

Why have I been cursed?

To love the son of the man who destroyed my family.

And the worst part? I planned on telling him something at dinner tonight, too.

I shake my head and look up, tears sliding down my face.

Not only was I in love with Niko Petrou, but I was pregnant with his baby.

One deadly secret. One final betrayal.

A mafia princess.

A forbidden lover.

A secret that could burn both empires to the ground.

Calli Kastaris thought she could keep her heart separate from her family's war.

But now she's carrying the child of the man her brothers have vowed to destroy.