Chapter 137

I stare, aghast, at my smiling husband. “Chris!” I shout, leaning forward to smack him on the shoulder. “Don’t look so excited about that, you idiot!”

Christian bursts out laughing and leans forward, grabbing me and pulling me out of my chair, into his lap. “What? I can’t get excited at the prospect of our future children, Iris?”

“Chris!” I gasp, shaking my head and taking his face in my hands and staring into his face even as I let him wrap his arms around me. “Future is the only operative word there! If I were pregnant right now…”

I shake my head, staring at him, willing him to see the absolute disaster that would be.

“We’d work it out,” Christian murmurs, bringing his face to mine, a small smile on his lips. “It would be good.”

“Christian, we are on the brink of a war,” I whisper, still appalled and feeling more like Nico than I ever have. “Are you – are you seriously making me be the voice of reason here?”

“I love you, Iris,” Christian says, quite simply. “I…I never let myself think about kids before because I never let myself think – really – about being married to you before. But now that the latter is on the table? That it’s reality? I’m finding that I want the former…kind of badly. Do you…not want kids?”

I continue to stare at him, shocked at how quickly my life has turned. Am I seriously talking to Christian about our future children, when a few days ago he was dating Violetta and I was thinking seriously about what it would be like to kiss Frankie?

“What?” he says, giving me a little nudge, prompting me to talk. “You don’t?”

“I don’t know,” I say quietly, truthfully, stroking his face softly with one hand and letting the other slip around his neck. “I guess…I mean, I suppose I always saw kids in my future. But it was always a very vague wish – I definitely don’t feel ready to be a mom right now, not yet, and not with all of this chaos on the horizon. I mean…” I look around, baffled. “We can’t raise a kid in the penthouse…”

“Well, no,” Christian says, and I look back to see a little frown on his face. “We’ll move into the house by then.”

“The mansion?” I ask, my eyes going wide.

“It will be mine,” he says quite simply. “It’s beautiful, Iris – you’ll like it.”

I grimace a little. “But don’t…Bianca and Giana live there?”

Christian bursts out laughing. “We’ll kick them out.”

“Chris,” I sigh, stroking his face again and shaking my head.

“We’ll figure it out, Daisy,” he murmurs, leaning forward and pressing a little kiss to my mouth before glancing down at my stomach. “But…I mean, I know it’s way too early to know, but…could you? Be pregnant?”

Anxiety starts to turn in me at that. “Um,” I say, also looking down at my belly. “I haven’t been tracking my cycle – but I guess so. We…did not use protection. Which was stupid.”

“We can, if you want to,” Christian says quietly, and I again look back up into his face. He holds my eyes seriously. “But I also…wouldn’t mind if we didn’t. But it’s up to you, Iris. Whatever you want.”

“Condoms?” I ask, confused, glancing towards his room where I imagine they’d be.

“Or birth control. I can get you a prescription for that fast. Today.”

“How?” I ask, wrinkling my nose.

“Money,” he says, giving me a grin. “Doctors in my pocket. Pharmacists too.”

I roll my eyes a little, like I should have known, making Christian laugh. “Okay,” I say, nodding and thinking seriously about it. “Could you do that? I can just…have it on hand. And decide later. You can’t really start it immediately anyway.”

“Yes, I’ll make the call,” Christian says, giving me a sweet kiss on the cheek before shifting, indicating that he wants to get up. I stand too, wrapping him in a hug for a long moment, which he returns. “Don’t worry, Iris,” he murmurs, his lips against my hair. “This is all going to work out. Just…do your best to relax.”

I look up at him, raising an eyebrow that clearly indicates how impossible I think that is. But he just laughs, and tucks my hair back behind my ear, and kisses me on the forehead. “Go ahead and pack your things,” he says, giving my rear a little swat and turning me towards my room. “We have to hit the road.”

Dusk is falling a few hours later when I pull the car up to the beach house and flick off the old-school navigation system, completely separate from the new burner phone Chrisitian gave me and untraceable.

I heave a happy little sigh as I pull up to the secret little beach house, pleased to be here. I mean, the penthouse – I’ve lived there for longer, but it never really felt like home. I was so much more of a captive there. Here feels much more homey, much more mine.

I sit up a little straighter as I turn the car off and realize that it…well, I guess it is mine now. Or at least half mine, now that I’m married to its owner.

A little baffled by the thought, I turn my gaze to the little house and stare at it. My beach house. Mine. God, how fast the world changes.

I jump a little when the house’s door swings open and Nico comes out, peering at my car curiously, breaking my reverie. I smile at him – a gesture he doesn’t return, of course – and then climb out of the slightly shabby, nondescript car, heading around for the trunk.

“Will you help me?” I ask hopefully, popping the back lid and looking down at the suitcases I packed. Christian had laughed at me when I just came out with a small carry-on sized bag, telling me to bring more. So, I went a little crazy, and even packed up some of the spare spices and supplies from the kitchen.

“Of course I will, donna Romano,” Nico says, a little dry, coming around the car and easily lifting the two biggest bags out. I grin at him, taking a smaller bag and a box of kitchen supplies as I follow him into the house.

“Did you and Frankie have fun?” I ask, hopeful.

“Oh, we had a blast,” Nico replies as he pushes through the door to the house and moves into the living room. “We painted our nails and braided each other’s nails. It was amazing.”

“Correction,” Frankie calls seriously from the couch, looking up to hold my gaze. “I braided his hair. Nico didn’t return the favor because he is selfish.”

I laugh and, to my surprise, Nico smirks as he moves into the bedroom, wheeling my suitcases with him.

“It’s good to see you, Frankie,” I say with another happy sigh, taking the box of supplies into the kitchen and smiling at my friend.

“Glad you think so,” he says with a little laugh, smiling at me. “Because it’s just me and you, kid, for at least one night. You ready for that?”

I don’t answer immediately, a little spring of anxiety coiling in my stomach. Because…am I ready for that?

“Whether or not she’s ready,” Nico says, striding out of the bedroom and heading for the front door. “It’s happening – I’ve got to hit the road. Frank, get your ass up and get the rest of her bags out of the car.”

“The rest?” Frankie asks, raising an eyebrow at me. “What the hell did you bring, Bambs?”

“Only the essentials!” I protest breezily, even though it’s a lie.

“Anything information Christian passed on?” Nico asks, his hand on the door, clearly ready to get going.

“No,” I reply, still anxious, tucking my hands behind my back as I turn to Nico and Frankie does as he’s told, striding out of the front door and heading to my car.

Nico hesitates for a moment, glancing out after Frankie and then slowly returning his gaze to me. “Do I…need to remind you? To behave yourselves?”

I instantly break into a blush, my eyes dropping, remembering the way that night on the couch when Nico’s eyes moved from Christian’s hand around mine, to Frankie’s hand on my leg. Remembering that Nico knows everything.

“No, Nico,” I growl a bit through my teeth, raising my eyes to his. “You don’t.”

“Good, Iris,” Nico says, glaring at me evenly. “Because I don’t need to tell you just how much –“

“No,” I snap, glaring back now. “You don’t.”

“Good,” he says, shoulders straightening.

I just continue to glare.

“What…” Frankie says, coming back up the porch’s front steps with a bag and the final suitcase, looking between us. “What’s…going on here?”