Page 53 of Sweet Deception

“But if I do find proof...” Her gaze darkened. “He will be blood-eagled.”

A chill raced down my spine.

Blood eagling.

I had read about it, an execution where a person’s ribs are broken from their spine, their lungs pulled out to form “wings.” Left to die slowly as his own body betrayed him.

I swallowed hard.

It was a death more horrific than anything anyone could ever imagine.

And they were willing to do it to their own blood?

I shifted uncomfortably, my legs aching. I had only started walking again yesterday, and now I had been standing for nearly an hour. My muscles trembled, weakness creeping in.

I stole a glance at Gleb.

He didn’t move. Didn’t acknowledge me. But then, his fingers twitched. A small, imperceptible movement. A signal.

I understood.

If I showed weakness, they would see me as prey.

I clenched my fists and forced myself to stay upright.

The grandmother exhaled. “We will wait for Antonio to wake and speak for himself. Until then, this conversation is over.”

She turned to me.

“I assume you are not pregnant yet.”

I hesitated.Nervous

Gleb watches her, then casually exhales.

“She was going to tell you herself. Weren’t you, Anna?”

The room shifts. His grandmother’s gaze moves between us, sharp as a blade.

My head snapped toward him.

What?

She just found out.” His tone was absolute. Unquestionable. “That’s why she looks sick.”

His grandmother raised a skeptical brow. “Is that so?”

A long silence stretched between them.

Then, finally, his grandmother exhaled. so thick I could barely breathe through it. Then, she smiled, slow and deliberate. But her eyes... her eyes stayed cold.

“How wonderful,” she murmured, her voice smooth as silk. She leaned forward, resting her elbow on the armrest as her nails tapped against the wood. “A doctor will visit in a few weeks,” she continued, tilting her head slightly. “We must be sure, of course.”

The tension in the room didn’t disappear, but it shifted. The hostility toward me dulled slightly, because if I was carrying Gleb’s heir, I was useful.

But I knew one thing for certain.

If they found out I wasn’t pregnant, I wouldn’t leave this house alive.