Page 75 of Beyond Enemy Vows

"Did you tell them? About you and Niko? About the baby? Do they know anything?"

I shake my head. "No. God, no. They'd—I don't even know what they'd do."

"Does Niko know? About the baby?"

"No. I was going to tell him in Rome, but then Dimitri called and..." I pause and shake my head. "I just left."

Keira runs a hand through her hair, her face flushed with anger. "So this ends with Stavros dead," she says coldly.

"What?"

"Just him," she clarifies, her green eyes flashing. "Not Niko. Just Stavros. I'll figure out something, Cal. Even if I have to drag my brothers into this."

"Keira, no. It's too dangerous," I protest, shaking my head. "You can't get involved."

"Dangerous is letting your brothers make the wrong move." She stops and sits down, leaning toward the camera. "Listen to me, Calli. Your brothers want revenge for your father's murder. I get that. But if Niko isn't responsible for what Stavros did. Shit, you think I'm going to stand by while they kill the man you love? The father of your kid? Not happening."

Her fierce loyalty breaks something in me. Fresh tears well up. "I don't know what to do," I say. "I left Rome determined to fix things, to change their minds, but I haven't even been back five hours, and I'm already losing control."

"That's okay. You don't have to know right now," she says, reassuring me.

"But what kind of plan could possibly fix this?"

"I don't know yet. But I do know one thing." She stops. "Your brothers don't know what we know. They don't know about the baby. They don't know how you feel about Niko. And they sure as hell don't know what I'm capable of when someone I love is in danger."

A strange calm settles over me. This is Keira, my best friend since childhood. The girl who taught me so much, who held my hair back the first time I got drunk, who knows all my secrets. Of course she'd burn down the world for me. And I'd do the same for her.

"I'm scared, Keira," I admit.

"I know. But you're not alone in this." She pauses. "You do love him, right?"

"Yes." I try not to cry. "I do."

"Then we fight for him. Simple as that." She straightens her shoulders. "I've gotta go make some calls. You take care of yourself and that baby. Eat something. Rest. And call me if you learn anything."

I nod, feeling a shred lighter, though the fear is still there, coiled tight in my chest.

"Love you, Cal. We've got this."

"Love you too."

The screen goes dark, and I'm alone again. But not really. Not anymore.

I place my hand on my stomach, thinking of the tiny life growing inside me. Niko's child. My child. Our child.

If my brothers thought they could decide who lives and dies while I just sit idly by, they're about to learn otherwise. I refuse to be their obedient little sister anymore.

24

NIKO

Ipace the marble floors of the Roman suite like a trapped animal. I barely register anything. All I see is her face when she left, that blank, hollow look that wasn't Calli at all.

I check my phone again. Still nothing. No response. No missed calls. Nothing from her.

"Fuck," I say, scrolling back through our messages.

There's the photo she sent the night before our trip here. It's her reflection in the bathroom mirror, wearing nothing but a towel, wet hair over her right shoulder, smiling.One more day,she'd written.