Page 18

I was furious.

Reeling, I fled that hallway and didn’t take in any of my surroundings while I went straight for the VIP section.

I needed to find the driver, and I needed to get out of there. I couldn’t stand it.

Tommaso’s words lingered in my mind, and try as I might to forget about them, I couldn’t. The implications sat heavily in my gut, and I wanted to be sick.

Reaching the driver, who looked vaguely alarmed as I approached, I went to open my mouth, but Val cut in, giving him a warning look that very much said ‘ stay out of it ’.

Obeying, he stepped to the side, allowing Val to usher me into the area tucked away from prying eyes.

Feeling his hands on the back of my arms would’ve sent a shiver down my spine any other time, but in that moment, it only made me want to pull away.

“Tia, please—”

“What was Tommaso talking about?” I demanded while turning on him, my gaze set on him. “And don’t lie to me.”

Val froze while he studied me, almost like he was running through every possible excuse in his mind.

I expected him to brush it off and find a way to flip it on me, but instead, his jaw flexed while he closed his eyes to brace himself, and his shoulders dropped.

When his eyes met mine again, they were swimming with hesitation. “Are you sure you want to know the details? I won’t be able to take it back.”

That only made my stomach sink more, and for a moment, I wondered if I really did want to know. If the truth would be worth whatever baggage that might come with it.

But the longer I thought about it, the more I knew I couldn’t let it slide.

We were married, and whatever he did affected us both.

“Yes, Val…I need to know.”

At that, he nodded stiffly, then gestured for me to sit.

As much as I didn’t want to be around him at that moment, I sat, making sure to put a healthy distance between us.

Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Val exhaled, visibly still struggling with what he was about to reveal to me.

“The truth is, what my family does is…above the law, you could say. Our business operates outside of it…”

Even if I had the feeling that what Tommaso implied went deeper than he let on, hearing that confirmation made it all hurt worse.

I could feel my heart nearly stopping as I put the rest of the pieces together.

Their wealth. The vague hints at what his work entailed. The drivers and guards…the arranged marriage serving as a business deal.

It was a lot darker than I wanted to consider, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to say.

“You’re a criminal?”

The words sounded more scathing than I intended them to, but it wasn’t undeserved, either.

Val’s expression fell at that, but unable to deny it, he sighed and nodded. “Yes…We deal in organized crime. That’s the basis of everything we do.”

My pulse quickened and my stomach turned at the idea.

My husband…I assumed was a businessman just like my dad. He was no better than a common criminal—if anything, he was worse.

I could feel the truth wrapping around my throat, barely able to get the words out. “Do you…traffic people?”

“Christ, no,” Val said immediately, not letting me think about it for even a moment. “Guns, drugs, and other items, yes. But never people. We have morals.”

While it was a slight relief, it still wasn’t enough to put me at ease.

“And what about this place?”

“It’s legitimate…which is why I partnered with your dad. But it’s also a cover—a front,” Val said, continuing with more than his fair share of reluctance. “When we make too much money under the table, we use places like this to ‘make it clean’…it’s a necessary part.”

“I know what money laundering is,” I snapped, feeling more irritated the more he shared with me. “I just can’t believe you hid this from me.”

Val rubbed a hand over his face, clearly not prepared for the conversation we were forced into. “I didn’t want you to know about all of this—at least not until I knew you’d be more open to it. I didn’t want to drag you into it.”

My brows furrowed at that, and I could feel myself physically pulling away from him.

“It’s a little late for that, no?” I countered, aware of my pulse pounding in my ears. “How could you drag my dad into this, too?”

The moment his eyes softened slightly, the knot in my stomach tightened further.

“Tia…I didn’t hide any of this from your dad. He’s well aware of what my family does,” he admitted with more remorse in his voice than I expected. He couldn’t look at me. “He knows what this place is, and he willingly took it on. This isn’t the first time, either.”

Everything around me went impossibly still, almost like the whole world stopped from those words alone.

I could only stare at him in disbelief, feeling like a knife had just gone through my heart. “…What?”

Val sighed. “Did you really think your dad got as rich as he is just from starting a few businesses?”

In all honesty, I did.

I didn’t know much about running businesses or anything having to do with the ones he owned specifically. In my mind, it checked out.

Averting my gaze, I felt as bile crept up my throat.

My dad…my own father was no better than Val or his family.

He had dirty dealings of his own. As much as I suspected something was up, I didn’t know the extent of it.

“Your father sticks to the business side of things, keeping what he can above board. But he works with families like mine, and it’s made him incredibly wealthy,” Val went on, allowing his guilt to show. “I had the feeling he never told you, which is why I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to bring your world crashing down like I am now. You never should’ve found out like this.”

Tears stung my eyes, and while I knew he was trying to mend the damage done, it was too late.

I scoffed and shook my head. “You could’ve told me at any point on your terms, but instead, you withheld all of this from me. About you, your family, and now my dad…”

Like the knife had been twisted, it felt like utter betrayal. A piece of me I’d never get back again.

Not only did my dad lie to me about his less-than-honest work, but my own husband knew and participated himself. Neither of them let me in on it for even a moment.

It suddenly felt like I didn’t know anything, and I certainly didn’t know who to trust.

I felt more alone than I ever had before.

“There was no easy way to say it…”

“Easy? Of course not,” I muttered, struggling to fight against the numbness moving through my body. “But it was still necessary!”

“Do you think this is what I wanted? For you to find out the truth?” Val returned as his irritation bubbled up, mingling with a sense of helplessness I had never seen from him before. “I wanted to protect you, Tia. I wanted to shield you from all of the dark shit because I know how dangerous it is. I want to give you everything, but to do that, you have to accept how I make my money.”

More of that anger flared within me. “I never wanted your dirty money, Val. I just wanted honesty. This arrangement has been hard enough, but now I know the truth of it. You lied to me…my dad lied to me. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”

Val had nothing to say at first, while he seemed to struggle between wanting to argue and wanting to patch things over. Then he sighed and shook his head. “Look, I’m sorry, Tia. I never wanted you to get involved.”

“That doesn’t make it any better.”

“I know that—”

With my patience thinning, I stood with my arms crossed. “I don’t want to hear it, Val…”

The weight of everything felt suffocating, and a sense of exhaustion filtered into my body. Between the heavy truth, the loud music around us, and how sick I felt, it was all too much.

“I want to go home,” I uttered, looking at him directly to let him know I meant it. I wanted to be anywhere but there.

Val’s face looked riddled with apprehension at first, but with a resigned sigh, he relented. “Okay, we’ll go.”

Not saying another word, I left the VIP section and didn’t stop for anything until the valet pulled the vehicle up.

Sitting in the back of the SUV didn’t feel any better than being in the club while an awkward, almost crushing tension lingered between the two of us.

I could feel his eyes on me occasionally, but I never looked back at him.

I couldn’t…not with how angry and heartbroken I felt.

Stuck within those painful thoughts, I had no idea who I could trust anymore. It seemed like those I expected to be honest with me were anything but.

And to my complete horror, my husband was a criminal.

Regardless of his attempts to hide it, I was in on it now, once and for all, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

I was thrown into an impossible position, and no part of me wanted to stay for the fallout.

***

At first, I couldn’t tell if it was a stomach bug, the stress of everything, or something much worse, but that discomfort still lingered even days later.

I expected to sleep it off, but it persisted.

Instead, my energy dropped to next to nothing, nothing was appetizing, and I was struggling to sleep at night.

Worst of all, I realized something while standing in the bathroom after taking a shower: my period never started.

My panic was immediate, and I knew I couldn’t say anything to anyone before finding out if that sneaking suspicion of mine was the reason for the delay.

It was terrifying, but I needed to know.

Before I could fixate on it and lose my mind, I was able to get one of the drivers to take me to the pharmacy.

As a small consolation, Val wasn’t as strict as he could have, which meant slipping out of the house wasn’t too much of a challenge. So long as the driver stayed with me, I was fine.

That was how I found myself walking through the pharmacy with a few different products in my hands to cover up the test. All the while, my pulse was in my ears as I paid for the items before heading out.

I hadn’t said a word to the driver, and I certainly didn’t on the way back home.

Every second leading up to me locking myself in the bathroom was pure agony. My chest ached in anticipation while I did what needed to be done, and I could only stand there while I waited for the results.

Then, almost like a cruel joke to add to everything else, that second line appeared.

It was positive.

I was pregnant.

Standing there in the bathroom alone, I was moments away from hitting the floor if it hadn’t been for my iron grip on the countertop.

My skin went cold as that damning realization hit me in waves.

Not only was I married to Val, but that positive test only further cemented me to him.

Pulling in deep breaths, I tried to focus on the fact that he had been acting differently lately, like he was trying to be better in some ways.

Even if he was still smug and most certainly a criminal, there seemed to be a more genuine touch to our interactions. Being near him had been easier to bear before he dropped that bombshell on me, but with that new knowledge, I had no idea what to think.

He could be the nicest man in the world, but knowing his affiliations made it feel impossible to accept him completely.

I didn’t want to be tied to a criminal, and I certainly didn’t want to raise a baby in that world.

But while I stared down at those lines on the test, I couldn’t help but see a mental image of my parents.

How my mom had been so emotionally distant ever since I was a little girl, like she never wanted me in the first place.

I didn’t want my child to feel the same way, and I certainly didn’t want to be like her, either.

Regardless, the reality was so much harder to swallow than I was capable of, and I was terrified.