“No.” she gasped.
It hit her like a ton of bricks. Why hadn’t she seen the signs earlier?
Wait. Maybe she was wrong. She was jumping to conclusions. As recently witnessed with the whole box-at-Markus’-house thing, she tended to do that.
She needed to be sure before she made assumptions.
Sneaking back into the hotel lobby, she passed the conference room and took the elevator to her room, where she got her purse and ordered a cab. A few minutes later, she was en-route to the nearest drugstore.
“That’s a lot of pregnancy tests,” the teenage girl who checked her out said. “Isn’t one enough?”
“No.”
Viv went to chew on her thumbnail but stopped herself. She’d broken that habit years ago.
Five pregnancy tests, in three different brands, seemed right. As she was out of town, there was no running off to her doctor, and she wouldn’t be able to sleep that night without knowing for sure.
She’d asked the driver to wait in the parking lot for her. The trip back to the hotel, she sat on the edge of her seat, fighting the urge to chew down each and every one of her fingernails. Finally, they were there.
Plastic bag in hand, Viv darted into the hotel—and right into someone.
“Oh!” she yelped.
The man made a noise of surprise. Viv stumbled back, tripping over her feet. The man reached for her, and as he did, Viv caught a flash of the handgun in a holster under his suit’s jacket.
“Vivian. Are you okay?”
He took hold of her elbow right in time, preventing her from hitting the floor.
It wasn’t just any man, though. It was Mr. Romano.
Viv blinked, processing. Mr. Romano wasn’t alone. He stood in the lobby near the doors, with two men. Although the men also wore suits, they didn’t look familiar. Viv knew most of the people who came to these conferences, and she thought she would have recognized the surly looks these two wore.
Mr. Romano’s eyebrows were raised, his hand still on her arm.
“I’m okay. Thank you.” She groped for her plastic bag, relieved it hadn’t come open and revealed her nearly half a dozen pregnancy tests.
One of the strangers, a particularly tall and muscular one, frowned at Viv.
Mr. Romano cleared his throat and retracted his arm. “Good. I’ll see you later, Viv.”
“See you later,” she mumbled, dashing away.
If she didn’t have her own things to worry about, she might have wondered if Mr. Romano always carried a gun, or if she had only just noticed it then. Even though she wasn’t anti-gun, like with Markus, the circumstances surrounding it were intriguing.
Like, why bring one to a pharma conference?
She didn’t spend long wondering. The elevator arrived at her floor, and she exited it so fast she almost hit the doors before they slid fully open.
In her hotel room, she dumped the contents of the shopping bag on the bathroom counter and ripped open the first box.
Since each test would take a few minutes to show results, she went ahead and took all five of them.
And then, she paced.
What if the results were mixed? Two positive, three negative? Vice versa?
She didn’t know how she could sleep through the night not knowing. And what if she was pregnant? What next?
Stopping to sit on the edge of the bed, she realized exactly how much at a loss she was. She’d yearned for a family for years.
Not like this, though. Even though she liked Markus—actually, if she were being honest, she had already fallen in love with him—a child needed to be planned for.
Still. If she was pregnant, she wanted it. Regardless of how Markus felt.
The timer on her phone went off, signaling that three minutes had passed since she’d taken the last test. Jumping to standing, she rushed back into the bathroom.
The pregnancy tests were set in a line on the counter. And they were all positive. Every single one of them.
“Oh my God,” she said, picking up one.
She needed to tell Markus. Needed to make an appointment with her doctor. Needed to reevaluate everything about her life.
Or not.
Her head spinning, she got her cell phone from her purse. As her fingers swept it though, she stilled.
Asking Markus about the gun, phone, and cash in his kitchen while on the phone had been out of the question. She certainly didn’t want to share the pregnancy news that way, either.
No. She’d simply have to wait until tomorrow, when they saw each other in person. They had plans for dinner at her place, and she would tell him then.
Chomping on her bottom lip, Viv sat on the bed. Or should she ask him about that box first? Get an answer before deciding whether or not she wanted to raise a child with him.
She loved him. She knew that much. But loving a person didn’t make them a viable parent.
Chapter 14
Markus
The alarm clock shrieked at three in the morning, and Markus reached over and hit it barely two seconds later. He’d gone to bed several hours before, knowing he needed to get some rest before the morning’s operation.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t slept a wink. He’d only laid there, eyes closed, working the plan over and over in his head.
A warehouse off Highway Ten. One guard. Possible witnesses from the trailer park that butted up against the building.
The plan was to break in while it was still dark. They’d be in and out before the sun even rose. Assuming all went well.
The things going well part was what had kept him awake. He didn’t know if it was because this was his last job, or because he had something—someone—who counted on him to be the best version of himself, but things weren’t sitting right. A bad feeling had taken up residence in his gut.
The sooner they got this job done with, the better. He’d already been casually looking at houses online, wondering which ones Viv would like.
Most people would say it was too early to ask her to move in with him, but he’d never been shy when it came to things he knew he wanted. Also, it wasn’t often he was wrong.
The two of them had a special connection. He would be an idiot to let that slip away.
Rolling from the bed, he jumped into a cold shower to shock his senses awake, then dressed in all black. Pulling on a pair of leather gloves and a baseball cap, he took the emergency stairs out of the apartment building and drove to Ryder’s house.
“Good morning,” Ryder said from his spot at the kitchen counter. “Coffee?”
Markus shook his head, but Ryder poured him a cup anyway. Picking it up, Markus took a careful sip. The warm liquid curdled his already sour stomach.
“Want to go over the steps?” Ryder asked.
“Only if you need to.”
“Nope.”
He sipped his coffee, the epitome of calm.
Ryder had this way about him. He wasn’t easily fazed. Depending on the day, this either calmed Markus or drove him crazy.
This morning, it drove him crazy.
Putting down the coffee, he checked his Glock and walkie-talkie to make sure both were in working order. Ryder would be carrying a semi-automatic along with his handgun, but Markus liked to keep things simple.
Simple tools meant faster motion.
If all went according to plan, not a shot would need to be fired. First, they’d take care of the guard by subduing and tying him up, and then Ryder would watch the road and exits while Markus went into the warehouse and grabbed the goods.