Page 189 of Nine Months to Love

One of the armed men leads us to the front door. He knocks twice, then pushes it open.

Natalia is waiting inside.

She looks different than she did at the hotel. Less polished, as if she’s fraying in some strange way from the inside out. Her hair is down, falling in soft waves around her shoulders. She’s wearing baggy mom jeans and a sweater with a ragged, unfinished hem.

“Olivia!” She crosses the room and pulls me into a hug. “Thank God you’re safe.”

I stand there, frozen, unsure how to react. Her arms are warm and her lavender perfume fills my nose. It should be comforting. But all I feel is numb.

She pulls back and cups my face in her hands. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

“No. I’m fine.”

She looks at my face for a moment longer, then nods. “Come. Sit. You must be exhausted.” She glances over my shoulder and some of the warmth leaves her voice. “Mikayla, go upstairs. Get some rest. We’ll talk later.”

She turns her back on Mikayla as if that’s the end of things and guides me to a worn leather couch. I sink into it. Mikayla clomps up the stairs and disappears.

Natalia pours me a glass of water from a pitcher on the coffee table. “Drink. You need to stay hydrated.”

I take the glass but don’t drink. “What is this place?”

“A safe house. One of many I keep for emergencies.”

“How long have you been planning this?”

She sits beside me. “A while. I knew I’d need somewhere to go once Stefan found out I was alive.”

“He knows now.”

“Yes. Which is why we need to act quickly.”

I set the glass down, then stand and walk to the window. My legs are weak and unsteady, but I feel too restless to sit. My skin buzzes with a strange sense of unease. Obviously, I’ve made irreversible choices, but it’s not that.

Well, notjustthat. Something else in my gut is screaming with wrongness.

“‘Act,’” I repeat. “What does that mean? What happens now?”

Natalia joins me at the window. “Now,” she says gently, “we make sure Stefan can’t hurt any of us anymore.”

I turn to her slowly. “What do you mean?”

She meets my gaze. “Come now, Olivia. You can’t be that naive. The man lied to you. He used you. He imprisoned Mikayla. He tried to kill me. We have to do something about him before he finishes the job on all of us.”

My blood runs cold. “He’s your son!”

“He ceased to be my son the day he tried to kill me.”

“No!” The word rips out of me. “You can’t kill him. I won’t allow it.”

Natalia’s gaze holds mine—endless, unblinking. The seconds stretch into an eternity.

Then something shifts in her face. The ice cracks. Her hardened lines melt into something that might pass for tenderness if I didn’t know better. “You really do love him, don’t you?”

“Please, Natalia, don’t do this. I’ll make him listen. He won’t hurt you if I ask him not to.”

“Olivia—”

“Please.” I grab her hands. “I know he’s done terrible things. I know he’s not perfect. But he’s still the father of my child. And I... I love him. I can’t lose him.”