Page 121 of Hidden Empire

I let out a shuddering breath. “O-okay. Maybe I should take another one?”

Head shaking from side to side, he tells me no without opening his mouth.

“It could be wrong,” I reason in a whisper.

A firmer shake of his head and one of his hands shifts down. He splays his fingers on the center of my stomach, holding me there. “It’s not wrong, Krasotka.”

I hold in a whimper. “How do you know?”

“I just know,” he states simply. “No second test, but we’ll take you to the doctor here that we trust. A lot needs to change very quickly, and we’ll need documentation.”

Is my dad going to find out?

I gulp. “W-we do?”

“Jade, love, you’re in physical classes. That will need to stop immediately. You can’t be hit in training, it’s not safe.”

Oh. Right.

“Everyone is going to find out?”

He tilts his head. “Do you wish to hide our child? Is there something I should know?”

“No, no,” I blurt quickly. “Nothing like that. I—you know how I feel about you. And I’m overwhelmed, but I’m happy. It’s just…”

“Your father?”

“I don’t exactly want to tell him about this in an email,” I admit, voice cracking. “Do you think he’ll be mad at me?”

He sent me here to become stronger, and I’ve ruined my chance at really training.

“He’ll likely be very mad at me,” he counters honestly. “From everything that you’ve told me, he loves you very much. He won’t be mad at you, baby.”

“I don’t want him to be mad at you either,” I pout.

Confidently, he replies, “I’ll win him over.”

“You think so?”

“Baby, when it comes to you, it’s not an option. I’ll win him over because there’s no fucking way I’m living this life without you and our child.”

I sniff, choking back emotion.

“I won’t steal you away from your family, but I won’t let them keep me away either, Krasotka. Everything will be okay.”

God, I really hope he means that.

Chapter 32

Jade

Acting normal for classes the next day is not easy. I feel like everyone is looking at me, and everyone knows my secret. Ivan helps me through it, showing up even more than usual to offer a supportive look when he can. The only thing that really gets me through is that Dmitri is taking me to a doctor tonight.

After Deception Class, Remo and I grab a quick snack before heading back to our rooms. Since Matteo informed all my brothers about my time of the month happening, none of them expect me to sleep over tonight. They don’t expect me to sneak out either, but it can’t exactly be helped this time.

I have to see a doctor, and it has to be soon. Today, I was able to just exercise for fight class, but I won’t be able to get away with that for long. Not to mention, I think there’s medicine I have to take now, isn’t there? Vitamins maybe.

Whether it’s because I’m likely pregnant or just because they know they can pull it off a different way, Dmitri and Ivan don’t have me go through the window this time. Instead, Ivan meets me on the floor below and walks me out to meet Dmitri. Ivan is better at going unnoticed in smaller spaces since he doesn’t tower over door frames or take up too much space in the halls.