Concede (The Diamond Empire Book 1) by Kathy Coopmans (bts book recommendations .TXT) 📕

“I love you, Victoria. You call me if you need anything and don’t you dare worry about the bakery. I’ve worked there plenty. It’ll be there when you are ready to return.”

“Thank you, Alina. I love you too.” Victoria winces, looking up at me after the door closes quietly, and places her hand over her stomach as those painstakingly beautiful eyes search mine so deep. They imprint on my soul.

My hands clench. Sweat breaking out on the back of my neck. Victoria is fracturing, splitting in two. There’s no mistaking the question in her eyes, though. She’s begging me to get her out of here. Silently screaming, she’s close to rupturing and doesn’t want to do it here. Not in front of her family. She doesn’t want to burden them with more than what is already weighing on their shoulders. She’s been through hell, and here she is still protecting them from dealing with more.

This woman’s strength and care for others are undefeatable.

“I’ll do whatever you need me to do. You can trust me.”

Victoria sighs. More of that old grief radiates from her, bouncing off the walls.

“I know I can. I’ve known it all along. Before we got together, I was too caught up in thinking I hated you to realize it. I’ve never hated you, Seth. Quite the opposite, actually.”

We hold gazes for a beat, something changing between us at this moment. A never-ending bond building on her words and that trust I wanted so bad. It sucks I’m getting one of the most important things in a relationship when she’s falling apart. I’ll take it and hold onto it as if my life depends on it. Because, in truth, it does.

“I miscarried. It was yours.” The words come out so low I couldn’t have possibly heard her right.

But I did.

No.

Goddamn no. This can’t be happening to us.

To her.

Victoria was pregnant with my baby, and now it’s gone. Someone tell me this is some kind of sick and twisted joke. That the son of a bitch did not make death come knocking on Victoria’s door again. Only this time, this time, they killed a life that we created.

A part of her and me.

“I didn’t know I was pregnant. I swear I didn’t. I haven’t had my period since before leaving Houston. I guess with everything that’s happened. I didn’t think about it. I wasn’t on the pill. I’m so sorry, Seth.”

Tears streak down her face, and when Victoria places her hand over my heart, it feels like her hand sinks under my flesh and takes hold of it. “I’m afraid of death and—”

“Shh,” I cut her off. “Not here. Let’s get you out of here so you can rest. We’ll get through this. All of it. Just you and me.” I run my knuckles down the side of her face and hook my finger under her chin, needing to look deep into those liquid, trusting eyes.

Agony. It burns hot inside of me. Charring and whipping in intensity to decimate.

To kill and mutilate.

Hurt and pain. A physical ache, as I’ve never known before, squeezes my insides, doing its best to drop me to my knees. Thoughts of a child we’d never get to hold, to watch grow, to get to know and raise and love crush me.

I swallow and wrap my arms around Victoria gently, focusing on her. It’s the only thing I can do to show her that I have her. That I’ll do whatever she needs to get her through this. That if I could, I’d smash her misery into unfixable pieces so it would never assault her again.

I look toward the ceiling, squeezing my eyes closed, still rubbing her back as I try reining in the fierce storm thundering through me. The strength of it seeping into my bloodstream. All the blood drains from my face. Queasiness churns my stomach. A burn clogs my nose. My throat is tightening. I open my mouth to catch my breath as tears well in my eyes. I might be a bad man, but I’m not immune to pain, especially over something as devastating as this.

Maxim might not have been the one to touch her, but he’s responsible for killing our unborn child. Ambushing at her family’s grave, graves of people he helped kill is cold and heartless, but this. Not giving our child a chance to be born, to thrive, it’s my revenge to repay. To settle a debt. To assure our child rests.

“Please get me out of here. I’d like to go to my parents’ home upstate just for a couple of days. Please.”

Her shoulders slump. She’s wiped and worn out. Fraying and barely hanging on by a thread.

“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

Dropping my hands, I grab her boots, slide them onto her feet, and grab her coat from the chair, wrapping it around her frail body. Carefully, I slide a hand under her knees, the other around her back, lifting to cradle her in my arms. Leaving the room, I carry her down the hall, whispering I got you, over and over.

Plan on telling her that for the rest of her life.

Torment lights up the waiting room when we enter. There’s no missing the unease, the worry, dripping from Dray as he stares softly at his sister. But it’s the darkness behind it, I recognize in his eyes. They burn with a vengeance that matches mine.

“Oh, God, Victoria,” Cara Levy, Dilan’s daughter, and Victoria’s good friend calls out in an agonizing tone as everyone rushes toward us. Including Amber, who reaches out and places her hand on Victoria’s cheek. I’m shocked to see her after what Victoria confided in me about their visit. Glad she’s here, though. It’ll ease Victoria’s worry.

“I’m so sorry, Victoria. You call me if you need anything,” Amber tells her.

“I know, thank you,” Victoria answers quietly. Eyelids are drooping as she starts to drift.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry. The thought of losing you. Fuck, Victoria. Tell me you’re alright?”