“‘Okay?’ What do you mean, ‘okay’? That’s all you’ve got to say?”
“Yep. Because I know you’re not going to do that.”
“If it means I can get rid of this damned tracker, prepare to be surprised.”
“Who said that’s the only one?”
He chuckled again.
He. Chuckled. Again.
I took a deep breath to stop myself from screaming in frustration. “Where is the other tracker, Dante?” I asked, forcing a pleasant tone into my voice.
“None of your business, Rachel,” he said, his tone equally pleasant.
“What type of tracker is it?”
“Excuse me?”
“What type of tracker is it?” I repeated. “Can you hear my conversations?” A feeling of dread was settling into my stomach.
“No,” he scoffed, and had the nerve to sound offended. “I’m keeping you safe. I’m notspyingon you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
I was going to tell him about the pregnancy, but I wanted to be the one to do it. And I was beginning to think it might be best to wait until next week when I had the ultrasound and confirmed everything was okay. There was no point in getting his hopes up if the bleeding turned out to be something more serious.
Dante would be annoyed that I kept it from him, but he’d soon get over it once he realised there was going to be another baby. He had made no secret of the fact that he wanted more children – it was one of the main reasons for kidnapping me in the first place. Dante wouldn’t stay mad at the future mother of his child to be.
“And all you can do is see my little dot on a map telling you where I am?” I asked, going back to our conversation.
“Yes, Rachel, that’s all I can see.”
“Right. Well. As trackers go, I suppose that isn’t that bad.”
And there it was. Justifying his weird behaviour again.
“That was easy. I’m glad you’re being reasonable about all of this. And since you were so reasonable, I won’t bite your head off for making me ask a fourth time. What happened at the hospital?”
“Nothing much,” I said, crossing my fingers behind my back. I was not a superstitious person, but I would need all the luck I could get if I was going to hide this from him for an entire week. “They said my iron levels were low and that Iwould need to come back in a week to pick up some tablets and discuss a diet plan.”
“They couldn’t give you iron tablets there and then?” He asked, sounding suspicious. “This seems a lot of back and forth and delays for something that was supposed to be routine blood work.”
Fuck.
Dante was a sharp man. It wouldn’t take him long to put things together. Luckily, the mini-pill I used as contraceptive had stopped my period – as well as stopped working altogether. But it meant that he wouldn’t be suspicious about me not having had a period in the nearly two months I had been with him.
“You scared the shit out of him, Dante,” I said with a fake laugh that sounded hollow to my own ears. “I’m getting the VIP treatment. He’s shitting himself that he’ll send me home, and it’ll turn out to be something more than low iron levels. He’s making sure he does nothing to incur your wrath.”
He was silent.
Don’t be fucking silent. Don’t be trying to piece this together.
“Hurry home. Bee is waiting for you.”
The breath that left my body reeked of relief.
“I’ll be home soon. I’m just going to head into town and get some bits that I need. Feel free to follow me and send one of your bodyguards.”
