Page 136 of The Viper's Wife

She smiles at Lacey before swiveling her attention toward me, tugging down her sunglasses to peer at me over the top. Her eyes flick down to my belly, and I stiffen.

“So,” she says, “are you pregnant yet?”

Behind her, Lacey’s eyes go wide, flicking between the two of us.

“No. I’m on birth control,” I say carefully. My heart kickstarts into a gallop. Who sent her? Nico, or his dad?

“Youwereon birth control,” Alessia says. “Until I swapped your pills for placebo.”

I freeze, waiting for Alessia to tell us she’s joking. But the moment never comes.

Lacey takes a step toward her, hands curled into fists. “You bitch.”

Completely at ease, Alessia turns toward her, one perfect eyebrow raised above her sunglasses. “A bitch who’s trying to keep her future sister-in-law alive.”

“You mean who is trying to make sure they have a pawn to keep Nico in line,” I say over the sound of my heart hammering in my chest. “It didn’t work. He left anyway and told me never to talk to him again. I’m leaving Chicago soon. Your dad won.”

Alessia rolls her lips together and pushes her sunglasses into her hair.

“Despite what my well-meaning brother told you, he’s a hopeless wreck without you, and even Ottavio Matassa isn’t that evil.” She pulls a little white box with the words “EarlyDetection Pregnancy Test” on the outside and sets it directly on top of my collage with the baby figurine. “Nico is bringing Giorgia to Don Salvatore’s home next Saturday. Our father will be there. You bring a positive pregnancy test, and you get your man back. Our father will change his tune. He understands the importance of family.”

I look between the pregnancy test, to Lacey’s pale face, to Alessia’s decidedly more confident one. “And if he doesn’t?”

“Trust me,” Alessia says, reaching for her sunglasses. “You show him you have his grandchild in your belly, you’ll have the entire force of the Matassa Family behind you. Nico will have no choice but to marry you.”

My heart catches in my throat. “What about Giorgia?”

Alessia scoffs, looking exactly like Nico for a moment. “She’ll survive. Nico hasn’t spared her a glance since they made the announcement.” She sighs. “She’s just not you, Val.”

My heart flutters with something like hope. “Meaning what?”

She smiles. “She’s not soft like you are. And Nico needs that, because deep,deepdown, he’s soft too.”

I take the pregnancy tests in hand. ”I’ve never even met your father.”

“Then you better make a damn good first impression.”

29

VALERIA

“Having second thoughts?”Annetta asks as her husband drives us down the long road to Don Salvatore’s house. She reaches over and grabs my hand. “We can turn back, if you want.”

The black silk of my dress glides over my belly as I turn to her, my stomach wringing itself into knots.

Her husband, Dom, hums along to the pop music playing on the radio, an odd contrast to his wild exterior.

“No.” I squeeze her hand back. “Thank you for taking me.”

“I’m here for you,” she says. In a hesitant tone, she adds, “And Nico. If you’re really sure.”

“Sometimes love surprises you.” I glance pointedly at her massive, scary husband, her complete opposite in every way.

She follows my gaze and smiles gently. “Point taken.”

Dom pulls up to Don Salvatore’s house. “Here we are.”

Annetta gives me one last reassuring smile before we all step out and weave through the other cars parked in the gravel lot.