Betrayed

☾Chapter Thirty-Five☽

Vladimira's P.O.V

Awkward. Tense. Hateful.

They're all words I can use to describe how Titus and my father being in the same room feel.

My father, no matter how ready to forgive me, refuses to forgive him. He's being silent, that's never a good sign.

Currently, we're in my father's office running over my birth plan before we drive into town to shop for the nursery.

I made the decision to sit Titus far away from my father.

"Our son isn't getting circumcised," Titus declares.

I put a large X over circumcision, completely in agreement with him. "Most of these things are decisions I need to make. I'm pretty sure I don't want to see the baby's head through a mirror," I reassure, somewhat disgusted with the idea. "Same goes for having the birth recorded."

My father clears his throat. "Have you made your decision on using epidural or not?" He wonders.

Shrugging, I write the word "undecided" by epidural. "No. I'll decide whenever I go into labor if the pain is something I need an epidural for," I state.

He looks at me uncertainly, his eyes begging me to be completely prepared for giving birth so it doesn't end like my mother's.

Ever since he showed me those memories, which was six days ago, I've been wondering what it would have been like if my mother would have survived.

Surely she would have stopped my father from making a majority of his mistakes with me.

"You're twenty-two weeks pregnant, Mira, and five weeks from giving birth. You have to be prepared," He scolds.

Titus watches the exchange between us as he relaxes on the couch in the office.

Pain sprouts from my abdomen when Strawberry not only kicks with all his might, but when he stretches out, seeking room inside my cramped belly.

I ignore the pain and frown at my father. "And I will be. I'm trying to make sure I have everything, but I don't know the first thing to expect," I confess.

My father laughs. "Don't expect. You might think you're prepared with a baby, but then you have to learn what each of their cries stand for. You have to distinguish hungry from angry, sleepy from seeking attention, pain from needing to be changed. It's complicated, and just when you think you have it down, something changes," He replies bluntly.

There's no doubt in my mind that he's right, that he learned this from experience while raising me.

Titus sighs which draws my father's attention him.

Abhorrence for Titus is clear in his eyes. All because he seduced me, mated with me, got me pregnant. Especially since he refuses to leave me alone—I don't want him to—and continues to have sex with me.

But, the fact that we're having sex isn't completely Titus's fault. Unlike our first time together, I initiated a lot of the sex we had while I was in Galveston.

A struggle will arise if we do that here in my father's home. It will be a replay of the morning after the Annual Ball.

"Are you ready, Titus? I refuse to have you playing around with my daughter's life," He growls.