Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
I’ll learn for them. I have to.
17
KATYA
Two full days have crawled by, yet the doctor’s words keep spinning on an endless loop in my head. I’m pregnant. I. Am. Pregnant. A baby is already taking shape inside me, and in nine months I’ll be the one to bring it into the world. It’s the hardest, most gut-punching news I’ve ever received, even worse than the day my father announced I would marry Isaac.
I stare out the window of our bedroom with one knee drawn to my chest, a throw blanket slung loosely around my shoulders, and a pit in my stomach that hasn’t eased since I woke up.
Three weeks pregnant. That’s what the doctor said, which means that sometime shortly after our wedding, maybe even on the night itself, my body made a decision without consulting me. Now I’m sitting in the mansion of a man I barely knew a month ago, wearing his ring, carrying his child, and trying not to lose my grip on reality. It feels as if I boarded a train already hurtling too fast and never checked where it was headed.
I reach for my phone on the nightstand. My fingers tremble as I scroll through my contacts and land on the one person I can call without falling apart.
Evie.
She picks up on the second ring, her voice at once warm and wary.
“Hey, mama,” she teases. “I was wondering when you were going to call me.”
I close my eyes and sink deeper into the window seat.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
Her voice stays gentle. “You don’t have to. I can already guess. You’re spiraling.”
I press the heel of my hand to my forehead. “Is it that obvious?”
“I think you’re forgetting how well I know you.”
A weak, humorless laugh slips out.
“I’m pregnant, Evie,” I say, because even though she already knows, I need to hear the words myself.
“You were pregnant two days ago, too,” she points out, ever the sarcastic bitch.
“Yeah, but now it’s real,” I say, picking at a loose thread on the blanket. “I’ve had time to actually think about it, which was a huge mistake, by the way.”
“What are you thinking?”
I hesitate. The truth is tangled, messy, and hard to voice.
“I didn’t plan this. Any of it. Not the marriage. Not the baby. And now it’s all happening so fast, and I feel like I can’t breathe. Like I’m supposed to be excited or grateful or something. But all I can think is, this wasn’t part of my life plan.”
Evie doesn’t answer right away. I hear her shifting, maybe settling on the couch, maybe pouring coffee, giving me room to fall apart.
“And what was your plan?” she finally asks, her voice gentle.
“To open a gallery. To travel. To build a life that was mine. I spent so long trying to avoid this exact situation, and now here I am, pregnant with a Bratva heir.”
I say it like it’s some kind of punchline, but it doesn’t land. It just hangs there, bitter and bruised and undeniably real.
Evie exhales softly. “Okay. But is it the baby that’s scaring you? Or is it the timing?”
I fall silent.
Because the truth is, it’s not the baby. Not really. It’s everything else.
“I’m not angry about the baby,” I say after a long pause. “I just don’t know how to do this. I never grew up dreaming of motherhood, never pictured myself with a family. And now I’m married to the most powerful man I’ve ever met, carrying a child fated to inherit an empire I never asked to join.”
“That’s a lot,” she says quietly. “What are you going to do?”
I let her question settle. Some women might have choices, where they could end the pregnancy and move on as if nothing happened, but that’s not an option for me. This baby is the heir to the Bratva. As Isaac’s wife, my duty is to have our child and raise it.
However, even if duty weren’t part of it, I don’t think I could end the pregnancy. It’s only three weeks along, yet I already feel attached in some raw, primal way. I’m still terrified, but I know I’m having this baby, and I want it.
“I just need everything to slow down for a second. I feel swept up in someone else’s life, reacting to each wave instead of choosing the tide.”
“You didn’t choose the circumstances,” Evie says. “But you’re choosing what you do now.”
“I don’t want to give up my dreams.”
“Then don’t.”
“I’m not sure they fit in this life.”
She’s quiet again, and I can practically hear her thinking.
“I think you’re underestimating how much control you still have,” she says finally. “Yes, it’s complicated. Yes, the timing is crazy. But you’re still you. And from what I’ve seen, Isaac doesn’t want to erase that. He just wants to be a part of it.”