Siena narrowed her eyes at him. “I can’t believe you. You have no right . . .”

He leaned so close her breath caught in her lungs and her angry retort caught in her throat. His mouth skimmed her ear. “I have every right. Every right, Siena. You’re mine. Your leopard accepted me. You gave yourself to me. You have my child growing inside of you. Believe me, baby, you belong to me. I don’t give up what’s mine. So move past the bullshit and let’s deal with what we’ve got going on now.”

She stared at him, feeling another body blow. A hard one. You have my child growing inside of you. Did he just say that? Did she hear him right? She opened her mouth but the only sound that emerged was a soft cry of anguish. She closed her eyes, jammed her fist back in her mouth and bit down hard. It didn’t help. Tears started. Once they did, she couldn’t stop them.

She cried silently, a storm that couldn’t possibly be held back. She wept for the men who had died after she’d distracted them, allowing a hit man to get into place. She wept for her grandfather who she loved more than anyone on earth. She wept for the fact that her beloved grandfather had used her to do something that vile. She wept because she’d given herself to Elijah Lospostos and he’d thrown her out his front door naked.

“Baby, enough,” Elijah soothed, his hand back in her hair. “We’ll work this all out. No one can get to you. We’ve got the team in place . . .”

She couldn’t stop the tears. There was that awful first time. The only time. The worst he’d ever had, and now there were consequences because she had been so out of control and burning up for him that she hadn’t thought about what could happen. A child. Elijah’s child. If Paolo or Alonzo found out they’d move heaven and earth to get to her. They’d do something terrible.

She lost sight of Elijah and then felt his weight on the bed. He actually stretched out beside her, careful of her back, but his arm went around her waist and his breath was on the nape of her neck.

“Baby. Go ahead and cry, then. Let it go. All of it.”

“Go away, Elijah.” It came out muffled and teary because of her fist. She also sounded a little desperate.

“You need to cry, then cry, but you’re going to do it in my arms.”