pregnant while on birth-control. I'm just one of those unlucky, rare cases.”
Broderick exhaled a long, harsh breath. “Do you want to have his baby, Olivia?”
I swallowed hard, instinctively wrapping my arms around my middle and realizing there was a tiny creature growing inside me. Regardless of the way in which it came to be, this baby was pure and it was innocent of any wrongdoings. The innocence Alessandro could destroy in a heartbeat.
“It's not his baby,” I asserted in a decisive voice. “It's mine.”
“But he's the father,” Broderick pointed out.
“I know,” I said with a sense of horror, shaking my head. “I don't know how to tell him. I don't know what he's going to do when he finds out. I'm so scared...”
“Hey, hey...look at me.” Broderick tilted my chin, willing me to cease my nervous rambling. “He doesn't have to find out.”
“What do you mean?” I was dumbfounded by his suggestion. “How am I supposed to hide it?”
“You don't have to hide anything.” Broderick shrugged. “Just don't tell him.”
I shook my head, feeling even more confused. “You're not making any sense. Alessandro is not an idiot. He'll know the moment my belly starts showing. And even if he doesn't, it won't make it go away. If I wait until he figures it out, it will only make him more angry. I have to tell him...”
“No, you don't,” Broderick insisted. “You don't have to do anything. He won't find out because I'll help you get rid of the problem, okay?”
I gasped in shock, disappointed at his suggestion, as this new powerful feeling I had never known bubbled inside me. “Broderick, I’m keeping this baby.” My voice was as hard as steel.
He shook his head. “Olivia, I wouldn't...that's not what I meant.”
“You know I can't leave,” I reminded him.
“I know,” he confirmed softly.
“So, what's left?” I was perplexed. “How on earth could you possibly help me?”
He shrugged. “It doesn't matter how. All that matters is that I can. I'll get rid of the problem so you don't have to run away from it...or hide things from it.”
I parted my lips in shock as realization swept over me. “Broderick...you can't. You don't really mean it.”
“Yes, I do,” he stressed the words, and then softened his tone. “Don't worry. I'll leave you out of it. Nobody will suspect a thing.”
I couldn't believe the lengths this man was willing to go to protect me. The only logical explanation was that he wasn't aware of the risk. “Broderick, don't do anything stupid,” I warned him. “If a hair goes missing from Alessandro's head, they’re going to hunt you down and kill you like an animal.”
To my surprise, Broderick didn't seem even slightly intimidated by the possibility. “Who said anything about killing?” he asked nonchalantly.
“You just said you were going to get rid of the problem?” I reminded him.
“Yes, but brute force or weapons don't have to play a part in it,” he explained. “There are...other ways.”
“What ways?” I asked, stressing once again how dangerous this would be. “You can't hurt him without leaving a trail that would eventually lead to your capture.”
Broderick smirked. “I'm not going to hurt him.”
Get rid of him without hurting him? Impossible. “I don't understand,” I admitted. “Are you playing games with me?”
“I would never play games with you, Olivia,” he said softly. “Believe me when I say that it can be done.”
“But how?” I still couldn't begin to fathom he was telling the truth.
Broderick’s hard gaze held mine. “Mr. Damiani is going to have an accident.”
“An accident?” I asked incredulously and he nodded. “What kind of an accident?”
He shrugged. “The most common kind. A head on collision.”
“A head on collision?” I repeated in disbelief.
“It can be arranged in a heartbeat,” he explained. “All you have to do is say the word.”
Broderick made it sound so easy, but I couldn't forget that he tried to convince me to take part in betrayal against Alessandro. The memories from the last time I had put my trust into somebody came back to haunt me, and Alessandro's voice rang in my mind as a poisonous warning. I don't care how many corpses I have to pile up to get it through to your head that I will never let you go, but if you try this again, I will go on a killing rampage and destroy everything and everyone you hold dear...
“Broderick, do you realize what you’re talking about? There is no way you can harm him and get away with it,” I reasoned.