Thin Lives (Donati Bloodlines #3) Read Online Free PDF

be canceled. Why not do a meet-and-greet after the baby is born, before he’s been Christened, and all of that? Have a dinner and a party to show him off, and allow people to say hello. That sort of thing.”
    Affonso leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. “How soon after my boy is born?”
    Emma barely held back her flinch at his casual use of “my boy” like the son she carried actually belonged to him, when he knew damn well the baby was Calisto’s. The sudden flood of anger rushing through her bloodstream heated her up, but she pushed it back down.
    Getting into some spat with Affonso would do her no good. That’s exactly what he probably wanted. Just one single reason to end her life, and her child’s.
    Even if he did want the baby.
    “As soon as you would like,” Emma forced herself to say sweetly, and with a fake smile.
    It damn near killed her to give him those things—her politeness and smiles, and to put his wants and needs above her own. She despised this man with every single fiber of her being. She had hated him from the moment she met him, and it had only grown worse over time.
    The very thought of allowing people into her home soon after the birth of her son to fawn over him and his pseudo-father sickened her to her very core; to have those people congratulate Affonso like he created the baby’s life and deserved the praise for it tore her soul apart.
    But her baby …
    Calisto’s baby needed to live.
    She needed to live.
    No matter how dire things seemed the longer she waited for Calisto to start remembering, or even for him to begin putting the pieces left behind back together, she wouldn’t give up hope.
    They weren’t hopeless.
    Not yet.
    “I’ll want him Christened soon after, before two weeks,” Affonso said, more to himself than to her. “Ray would make a good godfather for him, don’t you think?”
    Emma’s head snapped up at that statement.
    No .
    Absolutely not.
    She might as well have been screaming it.
    Affonso caught her eye, a slow smile growing. “I can see it in your face, donna , that you disagree. Say it, just this once. I’ll let you have it.”
    Emma willed the dryness in her throat away. “Let Calisto be his godfather. Please give him that at least. Not just Cal, but the baby, too.”
    “Hmm.”
    She waited, silent and frozen, as Affonso drummed his fingers against his arm like he was actually considering what she had said.
    “You do remember what I told you that day in your closet, right?” Affonso asked.
    Emma nodded.
    He would kill her and the child if she ever told Calisto the truth.
    “I won’t tell him the truth about the baby and the affair. I haven’t even tried, Affonso. I have done everything you’ve asked of me since that day, so please let him have this. He doesn’t even know. He didn’t know before the accident.”
    Affonso’s brow lifted slightly. “You never told me that.”
    Shit.
    “I didn’t get the chance to tell him.”
    That seemed to please her husband.
    Emma would take whatever she could get from the man, whatever she could use.
    Finally, after a long silence stretched between the husband and wife, Affonso waved a hand as if to dismiss her and the entire conversation. “Fine, I’ll have Cal be the godfather to the baby. Better it is him, anyway. Even if he doesn’t know the truth about everything that’s happened, I have a feeling there’s a part of Calisto that does … know . Maybe he just feels it, but he knows. And should something ever happen to you or I, the boy will be in good hands with Cal, I’m sure.”
    “Thank you.”
    Affonso shrugged like it didn’t make a difference. “Just remember that your life has a clause now, Emma.”
    She sucked in a sharp breath.
    “And if you fail me again,” Affonso continued, still as cold as ever, “I will happily bring the clause into effect and end your life as I see fit.”
    “I did what you wanted,” she repeated. “I’ve not done anything