Page 27 of Wicked Refusal

“No, you don’t,” I interrupt. “You’re done playing spy. That’smychild you’re carrying. And with Desya Bogdanov back from the dead, you’re not letting it out of my sight ever again.”

Her face hardens like I’ve slapped her. “I’m more than a fucking incubator,” she says. “And I won’t trade one master for another. Not again.”

“I don’t care how you think of it. It’s happening.”

“Are you even listening?” She pushes me off, squares her shoulders like she’s rearing for a fight. “I’m not going back into a cage. I need to earn my freedom and Eli’s. And unless Brad’s taken off the board?—”

“That can be arranged.”

Horror fills her face, then fury. “I won’t have himmurdered. How—how could you even think that?”

“Then what exactly are you proposing?” I ask. “You go back to him, act like nothing’s happened, and keep collecting bruises? Wait until he decides to give you a homebrewed abortion with his fucking fists? Until he puts a gun to Eli’s head again?”

Her lips press into a tight line. I can tell she’s aware of the risks. She’s no fool; she realizes she might not make it out alive. But she’s determined to do this anyway.

Fuck that.

“You’re coming with me,” I repeat with finality. “You and Eli. You’ll have the baby under my protection. I’m the only one who can keep you safe from Desya and Prizrak. Now that they know it’s my heir you’re carrying, the target is on your back, too.”

“How awfully convenient for you,” she mutters.

“If you think having my family’s murderer coming after my child is convenient for me, then you don’t know me at all.”

Guilt paints her face, but only for a second. “And afterwards?” she presses. “After the baby’s born and Desya’s dead, what happens to me?”

I clench my fists and silence the darkness inside me, the one that’s screaming Mia belongs to me. That she can never be anyone else’s. If there’s a surefire way to lose her, it’s by locking her up again.

Maksim’s words echo in my head.Sometimes, the best thing we can do for the people we love is to let them go.

Fine. So be it.

“After that,” I growl, “you can decide where to go. I’ll provide for all of you.”

Mia blinks. “You’d let me go? Just like that?”

“I’ll expect to be a part of my child’s life,” I say, a note of possessiveness escaping me despite my best efforts to stay cool.“But I won’t make you my prisoner. Whatever you may think of me, I’m not Brad.”

She purses her lips, considering. Calculating. “What makes you think I’ll go for it?”

For once, the answer’s easy. “Because you love your children,” I say. “Even if you don’t love me, I’ll never doubt you love them.”

Mia’s expression twists with hurt. With sadness, so deep and rooted I can’t help looking away. “I did love you, you know,” she whispers.

So did I.

I bury that thought as deep as it’ll go. “I’ll send a car to get Eli,” I say. “Then?—”

“No.”

“‘No’?”

“I’ll do it.” Her gaze hardens, a soldier’s look. “I’ll get my son back. For good, this time.”

There’s no talking her out of this. I can see it on her face, plain as day. This isherfight.

But she’s carrying my child, too, and that makes it ours.

“Fine. But I’m coming with you.”