Chapter 3: Pregnant

Ciara’s POV

Muffled voices dragged me up from the dark and they sounded angry and clashing.

I opened my eyes to bright lights and antiseptic stink, yeah, I was in the hospital room. There were machines beeping slowly.

I tried to move, but hands were already on me, doctors, nurses, people speaking too fast. The room was crowded. Faces I recognized and faces I didn’t, all watching me like I was evidence laid out on a table.

My mother pushed through first. Her face usually ice-cold and control was cracked open with rage and tears. She grabbed my hand hard enough to bruise.

“How could you do this to us?” she hissed, voice shaking, and eyes blazing. “To our family? To everything we built? You stupid, reckless girl!”

I blinked, head foggy. “Mom… what...”

Before I could understand what she meant, a doctor cleared his throat and spoke words that felt unreal, like they belonged to someone else’s life “Miss Dagon… the tests confirm it. You’re approximately five weeks pregnant.”

The words hit so hard I thought I'll pass out again,

Pregnant?

One night. One drunken, filthy mistake. And now this.

The room exploded into more murmurs.

My side of the family looked at me in shock, then shame flooded their faces. My father’s jaw locked so tight I thought it would break. Uncles muttered curses under breath and aunts turned away, disgusted.

But Jasper’s family... my new family went feral.

His mother, cold, elegant Donna Blackthorne lunged forward, face twisted in angerq. “This is an insult! A direct slap to our bloodline! You Dagons think you can pass off some bastard whore as pure? You deceived us! Lied! We demand blood for this betrayal!”

Jasper’s uncle roared, slamming a fist on the bed rail. “Fucking liars! The alliance is dead! We’ll burn your houses to the ground for this disgrace!”

My father stepped up, voice low and lethal. “Watch your tongue in front of my daughter, or I’ll cut it out.”

“Cut it out?” Jasper’s cousin spat. “Your precious princess spread her legs for some idiot and shamed us all! Who’s the father, huh? Some rival? A setup to weaken us?”

Accusations flew like bullets. Italian curses. English threats. “Puttana!” “Traditori!” “We’ll bury you all!”

“You deceived us,” one of his uncles barked, pointing at my mother. “You sold us a damaged bride.”

I shrank into the bed, horrified, and lost. My chest crushed under the weight. One night, one reckless, body-shattering night and now this? They’d kill me. Disown me. Worse. Mafia didn’t forgive stains on honor. I could already feel the noose of shame tightening.

My mother turned back to me, shaking me hard, tears streaming but voice steel. “Who, Ciara? Who did this to you? When? How? Tell me now!”

I couldn’t speak, I just cried hot, silent tears. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

“Sorry?” Donna Blackthorne sneered. “You think sorry fixes this? You’ve dirtied our name! Jasper deserves purity, not some used-up...”

“Enough!” Jasper snapped, but his eyes on me were dark, furious, and betrayed.

They pressured harder, crowded closer and voices overlapping while my whole being was literally begging for an escape.

“Name him!” his uncle growled. “We’ll gut the bastard slowly. Make an example.”

“Who is it?” my mother begged, gripping my arm until it hurt. “A lover? Someone you hid? Tell us!”

I shook my head, sobbing harder. Terrified and overwhelmed and the room spun again.

“It was… a one-night thing,” I whispered finally, voice breaking. “I don’t know who he was. I was drunk… it just happened. I don’t know his name. I swear.”

Silence dropped and then the rage doubled.

Jasper’s mother laughed cold. “A nameless cock? You expect us to believe that filth?”

My father’s face went stone. Shame, fury and disappointment so deep it cut worse than any scream.

Jasper stared at me like I was a stranger. Like I’d stabbed him myself.

I curled into the bed, small and broken, crying into the pillow.

One mistake and now my life is over.

They’d never forgive me... no one would.

“I don’t know him,” I cried, shaking. “I really don’t.” I kept mumbling, tears streaming down but i know words were useless

Around me, powerful families argued over bloodlines, honor, and punishment. Over what should be done with me.

I lay there, small and exposed, realizing something too late.

This wasn’t about love or even betrayal.

I had become a problem and in this world, problems were erased.

I looked at Jasper but his face twisted into something monstrous, the charming mask shattering.

He lunged at me, his hand clamping around my arm and yanking me up from the bed so hard my shoulder screamed.

“You fucking whore,” he snarled, voice low and venomous, shaking me like a rag doll. “You’re protecting him, aren’t you? Some bastard lover from your past? That schoolboy you snuck around with? Or was it someone you’ve been spreading for in secret, risking everything because you love his cock that much?”

I sobbed, tears blurring the room, my body limp in his grip. “No, Jasper… please… I swear, it wasn’t like that. It meant nothing. I don’t know him. Forgive me… it was a mistake, just one stupid mistake. Please, I’m sorry, so sorry…” My voice broke into pathetic whimpers, my suppressed wild side screaming inside, screaming at me to bite back, to claw his eyes out but the timid girl they’d molded me into won, curling small and begging, hating myself for it.

He raged and cussed and I begged. I don't want this to escalate, I don't want to implicate Inara, I will do anything to end this here.

Jasper’s rage flickered, eyes softening just a crack at my tears. He pulled me close, patting my back like I was a child, his touch rough but steadying. “Shh, calm down, baby. Calm down...”

His voice dropped, calculated, always the boss thinking three moves ahead. He turned to the room, still holding me. “The marriage stands. It’s done... She's Mrs. Blackthorne now. Valid as blood. But on one condition.”

I pulled back, sniffling, voice tiny. “What condition?”

He looked down at me, eyes cold and I immediately had a feeling that this wouldn't be good.

“The brat in your womb gets aborted. And we hunt the fucker who knocked you up. Execute him slowly, make him scream for touching what’s mine. A warning to every dog out there that nothing of Blackthorne’s gets defiled without paying in guts.”

I froze, horror flooding me, abort my child? My hand flew to my belly instinctively, protective fire sparking deep inside, that wild side roaring no, fuck no but I whispered, “Jasper… no, please. I can’t… it’s a life. My life. Give me time to think...”

Someone yanked me away from him and I heard my mom cussing as her hand cracked across my face, sharp and stinging, her ring drawing blood. “Zitta, stupida puttana!” (Shut up, stupid whore!)“Behave, or you’ll pay with your life. This family doesn’t tolerate your filth!”

"But mom... this is a life... I..."

The groom’s family erupted cutting me in, voices overlapping in savage Italian and English,

“Troia sporca! You dirty slut, spreading like a street dog!” Jasper’s mother spat, face contorted. “Puttana incinta di un bastardo(pregnant whore with a bastard seed! You think you can disgrace us? We’ll cut it out of you ourselves!)”

“Figlia di puttana!” another aunt snarled. (Daughter of a bitch! “You’ve soiled our name, you cum-guzzling tramp! Abort it now, or we’ll drag you to the alley and do it with a knife!”

I crumpled, crying harder, the room spinning in their venom. My life was never mine, always decided, always caged, always crushed under their boots. One night of freedom, one wild, body-shattering fuck, and now this? They’d rip my child from me like garbage, hunt a stranger like prey. I was nothing now but a mistake.

“Doctor!” Jasper barked, restoring his family’s control with a wave. “Drag her in. Abort it now. End this shit.”

I fought, weak, timid kicks and pleas. “No! Please, give me time… just a few hours… I beg you!”

Jasper grabbed me rough, hauling me away, his fingers bruising my arms. “Time’s up, you stupid bitch. I was showing you grace and you think you can make demands. This ends...”

The door slammed open without a knock and the room froze dead immediately, still whimpering and struggling, I looked up

Jasper stiffened, letting go of me so fast I dropped to the floor, crying. He bowed low, voice tight with respect and fear. “Father. So happy you could make it”

The man however ignored him, he ignored everyone's greetings and bow and strode in, presence like a black hole sucking the light, his authority radiating danger, and death in every step. He's tall, with piercing eyes.

He walked straight to me on the floor and something inside me twisted violently, familiar, and terrifying... he looks familiar, smells familiar and... I stared hard at him, tears still flowing freely.

He stopped in front of me and slowly crouched, his eyes flashed gold and my dream flashed in my memories.

Confusion crossed his face as he reached toward my stomach, hovering just above it and then he inhaled sharply as he looked me dead cold in the eyes,

“Why,” he asked quietly, dangerously, “do I smell my pup in you?”