She needed comfort, any form of comfort at all. That was how she found herself in the basement, hugging Ivan and letting droplets of tears stain his already bloodied shirt.

"Cora, are you sure you're okay"? He asked his voice laced with concern, he'd never seen her like this, not since the night Dimitri touched her, he wondered what might have gotten her to be like this

She sniffled before snuggling even closer to him "Just let me stay like this, a little bit longer" she muffled over his shoulder and he just hummed

After her little outburst with Dimitri, she just needed something to assure her that everything will be fine, but deep down she knew things will never be the same again.

Not when she was carrying Dimitri's child inside of her. A child he didn't even know of

She still hadn't told Ivan of his cousin's arrival here, or that they were working together to save him.

She let go of him and looked at his face, the bruises were still there, they had turned a dark shade purple, his lip still looked busted but overall, he looked better than he did a few weeks ago

"What happened"? He whispered looking at her, she just shrugged before letting her shoulders slump

"Nothing, I just really needed that" she voiced out playing with her fingers

He sighed out, he didn't want to talk about it, not while he was still locked up here Yes he wanted them to address the elephant in the room, but he wanted it to be under different circumstances

But he had no choice but to ask her the question that has been plaguing his mind Sooner or later, they needed to get it out of the way

"Is this about the pregnancy"? He asked gently making her look at him, her eyes held uncertainty and sadness

He wanted to assure her that everything was gonna be fine, but how will he do that when he himself isn't sure it will be

"I'm scared" she voices out, her voice nothing but a whisper, she really was scared. "I don't know what to do" she voiced out her fears

"Hey, Cora, it's going to be fine, we'll get through this, I don't know how but I know we'll get through this, you don't have to be scared, you're not alone" he tried to reassure her, or more like reassure himself that indeed everything was going to be fine

She sniffled and nodded her head He was right, she wasn't alone, she had him. Screw Dimitri, screw Cara, screw Enzo She had Ivan in her corner and that's all that mattered.

______________________________________

It's been days since they last saw each other, since her outburst at his in house gym. And now everything was awkward, not that it was any rosy before, but at least they both weren't so tensed around each other.

But now, the air was humid, the tension in the air could be cut by a knife. Dimitri was trying so hard not to look at her but he was finding it hard because she was sitting directly in front of him.

There was a lot of things about her that he was seeing now that he never noticed in the six months she was with him.

The fact that she couldn't hide her nervousness, the way she always let her hair down, the way her eyes was always darting around the room.

"Can you stop staring at me like that, you're making me uncomfortable" her voice cut through the silence of the room, she wasn't looking at him but she didn't need to, before she'd know he was staring at her

He'd been staring at her since she walked in and he didn't even bother to make it less subtle, like he didn't care if she knew he was staring at her.

"Why am I here"? She asked recalling how he had called her this morning asking to meet her, personally she didn't even want to be here, not after what happened a few days ago.

She didn't feel comfortable being around him, unless of course it was important to both of them

He cleared his throat and intertwined his fingers in front of his spread legs, there was something about his whole appearance that always got her hot, she always wanted to stare at him, especially those ring covered knuckles

"There's going to be a ball a week from now, a very good friend and business associate of Enzo is throwing the ball and as such he'll be attending" he paused and looked at her "I'm guessing he doesn't know I'm still here or even that we've been meeting, so he'll take as much security as he can, leaving the house a bit open" he explained to her

"I plan on breaking him out then" he finished and she just looked at him for a while, analyzing the whole thing

"And you're telling me this, why"? She asked with less interest in the conversation "I've done my part so it's up to you"

"I don't want you to be there when I come, as much as I don't want to hurt anyone if it's not needed, I can't help what's going to happen that day, and if you're anywhere close, I can't guarantee that it won't get to you" he said with an impassive look like always.

She scoffed "is that supposed to be a threat"? She asked giving him a hard glare but his composure didn't falter

"I'm not threatening you Cora, I'm just giving you a heads up" he muttered making her scoff again.

The audacity This is someone she was betraying her sister for? He was outrightly threatening her.

"So where am I supposed to go"? She grit out and he just got up

"I don't know, you figure it out принцесса" he muttered calling her that stupid name before walking off, leaving her there.

She couldn't believe this? She shook her head before walking out of the mansion

____________________________________

She was staring at the strange dark object in his hands as he cleaned it effortlessly. He knew every part of it like it was his body.

She'd never seen a gun this close, neither has she held one before. She'd never thought she'll have the need to hold one or even use it

"So what's the plan" she chirped, she was feeling rather high spirited today, she woke up like that.

Even Enzo, Cara and Ivan saw how chirpy and rather happy she was. She didn't know why tho but she liked the feeling.

He didn't say anything to her, he just focused on the task at hand, she found it rather rude as she scrunched her nose up and looked at him.

"Why are you suddenly grumpy, you should be happy, you're getting Ivan out in less than two days" she voiced out and he grunted still not saying anything.

She huffed "why do I even bother" she muttered to herself, he looked up slightly to see her frowning and a small pout on her lips, he couldn't stop the small smile on his face, she looked so cute.

He liked the fact that for once, she wasn't the one in a bad mood today, at least for once he could see a happy Cora and he was grateful for whatever was making her happy

She was right, he was supposed to be happy or maybe in a better mood, because in less than two days, he'd be breaking his cousin out, but he just felt off

Probably because it took him this long to save his cousin Anyway he focused back on cleaning the gun in his hands

He didn't want to tell her of his plan because he didn't want to get her involved in anything. That was why he'd make sure she wasn't in the mansion the day he'd attack

The last thing he wanted was to hurt her in any way He'd done a lot of that lately.

He didn't even call her over today, she just showed up at his house, quite early might he add One thing he noticed was she was never a morning person, but today was quite different.

He was focused on his gun when suddenly she raced past him and into the guest toilet, her hands covering her mouth.

He dropped his gun and went after her, he found her hunched over the toilet emptying her stomach, he held up her hair as he watched her throw up completely.

After a while she got up and washed her mouth, she looked pale and sick, a total opposite of what she was a few seconds before.

She brushed past him but his voice stopped her "Are you okay"? He asked and she just nodded not trusting her voice.

She hated these morning sickness, just when she thought they'd stop, they just show up out of the blue.

"Are you sure? Forget this I'm taking you to the hospital" he muttered reaching for his car keys but her small voice stopped him.

"I'm fine, it's nothing" she muttered looking anywhere but him, why was she suddenly acting weird, this wasn't her reacting before

He looked at her and for the millionth time since they started seeing each other, her hands was wrapped around her stomach, he noticed she'd been doing this a lot more than usual

"Does your stomach hurt? Are you okay"? He asked moving close to her but she flinched, that act alone hurt him but he didn't show, she was scared of him

"I said I'm fine" she snapped. She sounded protective, what was she protecting?

It took a milli second for everything to click, just like a Rubik cube, it all fell in place

She'd been glowing even only after leaving his house where he tortured her, her constant mood swings and emotional break downs, always rubbing her stomach on instinct even without knowing it, and now she was throwing up

He blinked twice and looked at her "You're pregnant"

He finally knows 😩😩😩