Page 86 of Brutal Crown

“Lia.”

She takes a step back, and her breath catches. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

She wraps her arms around herself, and that is when I take in the white silk robe she’s wearing. I grit my teeth, taking in her soft curves and supple skin.

“You knew I would be here,” she whispers, her eyes narrowing.

I chuckle painfully. “I told you I always watch you. I see you, even when you pretend I don’t exist, even when you’re by his side?—”

“You have to stop,” she says firmly. “If we get seen together?—”

“No. You don’t get to tell me that.” I take another step toward her. “You’re carryingourchild but wearinghisring. You think that’s easy for me to just accept?”

An unreadable look crossed her eyes as she takes a step back.

“You think I wanted this?” she hisses suddenly, her eyes flashing. “You think I don’t lie awake every night asking myself how the hell I ended up in this… fucked-up situation?”

“So you’re just going to play along?”

“I have to! Because I’m carrying a Romano child, and I’m trapped in this fucking game you people play! This is my only chance at survival!”

We are both breathing heavily now. I’m still angry, still broken, but I can see the turmoil in her eyes as well.

The air between us shifts. It becomes heated, almost to the point where I can’t breathe.

She seems to feel it too, because she turns her back on me, gripping the stone wall in front of her. I walk up behind her. Slowly. When I press my hands against the stone wall, boxing her in, she stiffens… but she doesn’t pull away.

“I’m losing my mind,” I whisper, my breath brushing her neck. “I’m slowly going crazy. I wish I weren’t so fucking powerless…”

“Francesco…”

I blow out a heavy breath.

“Do you know how gutting it is for me?” My voice cracks. “How painful it is, watching you walk past me like I’m nothing? Watching him touch you, claim you, like I wasn’t your first?”

Her breath hitches.

“Don’t say that,” she whispers, turning to look at me. “I belong to Marco now.”

My hand finds her stomach, and she lets out a shaky breath when I run my hands over the smooth skin. “This says otherwise.”

She grabs my hand to pull it away.

“You don’t get to claim me just because I’m carrying your child,” she says in a low hiss.

“And he doesn’t get to claim you just because you’re wearing his rock on your finger.”

She glares at me through narrowed eyes, but her back arches slightly off the wall when I use both hands to grab her waist and press my body to hers.

“We can’t,” she gasps when I start to pepper kisses on her neck.

I burrow my face into her hair and inhale deeply.

“Just… let me feel you. Let me hold you for a few seconds.”

I can hear her heart beating fast, but the rest of her remains perfectly still as I bury my face in her soft curls, breathing in her scent. I drag my hands over the soft curve of her waist, over thesilk material covering her skin. Her head falls back against the wall when I drag my hands up to the sides of her breasts. I run my thumbs over the exposed skin close to her armpits, and she bites her lower lip.