Chapter 5 - An Offer She Can’t Refuse|
Julianna stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen, trembling with sheer humiliation and rage.
“You are choosing a pregnant maid over me?” she hissed, tears of fury smudging her expensive mascara.
“My father will crush you for this, Diego! The wedding is in two months!”
Diego adjusted the cuffs of his tailored shirt with meticulous calm.
“There will be no wedding, Julianna,” he said evenly.
The silence that followed was deafening.
“The alliance is dead,” Diego added, not even looking at her as he spoke.
“Give the ring back to my assistant in the morning.”
Julianna choked on a sob of pure disbelief before spinning around and running through the swinging doors into the dining room.
The restaurant staff remained glued to the walls, terrified to make a sound or even breathe too loudly.
Diego turned his full attention back to Nelia.
He reached out and gently slid the apron over her head, letting the fabric drop to the floor.
She wore a simple, faded white cotton shirt underneath that stretched tightly over her round, high belly.
Seeing her so clearly broke something behind his stoic eyes.
“You’re coming home with me,” Diego said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Home?” Nelia countered, her voice shaking with righteous anger.
“That penthouse was never a home, Diego; it was a gilded cage where I had to watch bodyguards check my groceries for poison!”
She stepped around him, heading toward the staff lockers to retrieve her worn purse and jacket.
“I don’t want your money, and I certainly don’t want your charity.”
Diego followed her into the small locker room, shutting the door behind them to shut out prying eyes.
The small room smelled of damp laundry and locker metal.
“This isn't charity, Nelia,” he said, blocking the exit with his wide shoulders.
“You are carrying my child.”
“You don’t know that!” she lied boldly, looking straight into his dark eyes.
Diego’s lips curved into a bitter, knowing smile.
“You have never touched another man in your entire life, and you never will.”
The arrogance in his voice made her blood boil, but the terrifying truth was that he was completely right.
She had never loved anyone else.
Even after seven months of exhaustion, cold dinners, and aching feet, her heart still recognized him as its master.
“Even if it is yours,” Nelia whispered, tears finally escaping down her pale cheeks, “I won’t raise a child in that world.”
“I won't let my baby grow up waiting for a car bomb to go off, or wondering if their father will come home alive!”
Diego’s expression tightened with a flash of genuine pain.
“The syndicate war is over, Nelia.”
“It’s never over!” she cried out.
“There’s always another rival, another politician, another threat!”
Diego stepped forward, closing the space between them until his chest touched her forehead.
He gently lifted her chin with his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look into his dark eyes.
“I spent seven months tearing this city apart trying to find you,” he murmured, his voice thick with uncharacteristic grief.
May you like
“Every night without you felt like burning alive.”
“I will burn the entire city to the ground before I let you walk away from me again.”
