Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
“And has plenty of fucking problems too, considering how many different places it’s been.”
He laughs as I pour myself another drink. “What’s going on?”
“I fucked up.” The whiskey feels good as it warms my throat and belly. “And I’m going to fuck up even worse.”
He stares at me. Tigran’s confident smile fades. “I don’t like that. What happened?”
I tell him about Lena. About meeting her for the first time and sleeping together. Usually, he’d make some joke but it must be pretty obvious where this is going. “She took two pregnancy tests earlier tonight.”
“Ah, fuck,” he says and leans back against the counter. He shakes his head and sips his drink. “I guess you’re too good for condoms?”
“Obviously, I wasn’t thinking.”
“Couldn’t have asked about birth control? Maybe just pulled out and finished in her mouth or on her tits or something?”
“Tigran. This isn’t a joke?”
“I’m aware,” he says, glaring at me. “You know how many girls I’ve knocked up? My pull-out game is immaculate.”
“I don’t want to hear about my brother’s pull-out game.”
“Then you shouldn’t have knocked up some random girl. Who the hell is she, anyway?”
“Just a girl.” I grimace slightly and look away. “Actually, you met her the night we killed Saro.”
“I don’t think I met any—” Then it clicks for him and his jaw drops. “What the fuck?”
“I know. It’s bad.”
“You fucked her? You were supposed to kill her.”
“We slept together before she saw the hit. When I realized it was her—”
“You were supposed to take care of her.” The hurt and betrayal stings a little bit, and I can’t even blame him. But this is going to get so much worse, and I have to steel myself.
“She’s the mother of my child,” I tell him, throwing back my drink. The last of the liquid courage. I put the glass back down on the counter. I need to be somewhat sober for what’s coming tonight. “And I’m going to marry her.”
He stares at me. His face twists into a frown. “Now I’m pretty sure you’re joking.”
“I know what’s going to happen. Garen’s going to be very pissed.”
“Very pissed? Garen’s going to try to murder us. Forget about making peace. He’s going to burn the whole fucking city down.”
“I know that, but it doesn’t change anything. Tigran, she’s carrying my baby. If I don’t marry her and someone finds out I’ve got a child running around, they’ll murder her. You know the head of the Brotherhood can’t have any bastards.”
“Then let me do what you can’t,” he says, expression burning with rage. “This is fucking crazy. If you marry this random fucking girl all because you knocked her up, it’s going to ruin everything. People are going to die.”
“I know that.”
“Then sacrifice her for the greater good. For the Brotherhood.” He grabs my arm and holds it tight. “Do your fucking duty.”
I twist from his grip and shove him away. He snarls at me, barely holding himself back. I stand my ground and practically beg him to come at me. Right now, I’d welcome the pain of his fist driving into my jaw.
Because he’s right. I should kill her and be done with it. She’s a liability, and breaking my agreement with Garen is absolutely psychotic.
I’m going to get both of us killed with this.
But if she dies, my child dies too, and I won’t do that.
“Remember when I was thirteen?” I ask, hand shaking as I clutch at the kitchen counter. “Remember when Dad decided that I should be able to do a hundred pushups without stopping?”
“What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”
“I was a kid. I could barely do fifty, let alone a hundred. I worked at it for a week, but that wasn’t enough time. When I failed at sixty-three, Dad sent one of his thugs over to stomp on my fingers until I begged for him to stop. Do you remember that?”
Tigran grimaces and looks away. “Your pinky finger’s still got a bump on it from that.”
“Dad thought hurting me was the best way to mold me into the person he wanted me to become, but he never cared enough to hurt me himself. He always had his fucking cronies do it for him. We were never enough for him. Dad saw his family as a tool to further his power and his prestige. He never saw us as people.” I step up and get in my brother’s face. I’m seething with rage. “I won’t be like that. Lena’s pregnant with my child. With my child. I know what it means to break the truce with Garen, but I don’t fucking care. I’ll offer him something else. I’ll fucking beg and plead if I have to. But I will marry Lena, and I will raise my kid like Dad never raised me.”