‘You know how I feel about unsolicited communications from women,’ he said, his jaw clenched with the effort required to force out the words. ‘Delete it.’
Nicole hesitated again. ‘I think you should read it.’
Without waiting for his agreement, she laid the tablet on the glass-topped desk before him, and unease leapt in the pit of his stomach. Nicole, who he appreciated so greatly because she followed his every instruction to the smallest requirement, would only insist if it was serious, if there was something in the correspondence that heneededto know.
There were very few things that Serena could have to impart that would directly affect him, and none of them were good.
The unease morphed into a tempest of foreboding that swirled ominously as he lowered his eyes to the device, absorbing the words of the brief message once. And then again.
Atop the desk his hand curled into a fist as his heart pounded.Pregnant.
She was claiming that she was pregnant with his child!
Emotion pulsed at the crown of his head—a frenzied, frantic feeling—and there was so much breath backing up in his lungs that his chest puffed outwards so hard that the buttons of his shirt strained.
‘I take it that what she’s saying is possible?’ Nicole queried gently when he didn’t speak.
‘It’s not impossible,’ Caleb admitted with difficulty, his stomach turning over with the words. But exactly howprobablewas it, he questioned with the kind of cool and ruthless logic that reigned over all of his dealings.
He and Serena had only had sex once, and he had used protection. He always did, specifically to avoid a situation like this. So, the odds that she was actually pregnant, and if she was, that the child was his, were not favourable.
Suspicion buzzed loudly in his ears. Was she hoping to trap him into the type of relationship that he’d been explicit about not wanting? Had she researched him and realised the wonderful opportunity that he presented. He was socially astute enough to understand the powerful lure of his wealth and status. He knew others who’d been the target of similar abhorrent schemes. Serena had spoken about being boxed in, about her job not being her dream existence, he remembered with a burst of memory that was discomfortingly clear, so had she decided that he could be her ticket to a better life, a convenient escape from mundanity and responsibility?
Anger scorched its way along his veins, and yet part of him resisted the notion that the woman with alluringly amber eyes who had responded to him with such earnest eagerness could be capable of deceit.
And Caleb always heeded his instincts; they rarely steered him wrong. But he had already been wrong about who Serena was once, and this was not a matter that he could approach without question or caution. Not when there was such a high stake.Fatherhood.
Something he’d never sought. Something he wouldn’t be any good at.
Something he didn’t want to believe could be happening.
And he certainly wasn’t about to allow himself to became ensnared in a ploy that was as old as time itself. He couldn’t just take her word for it; he had to get to the truth of the matter himself, and if she was lying, well, he’d have no more trouble erasing her from his mind.
But if she is telling the truth? If she is pregnant with your child?
The questions were only a whisper in his head, but they were impossible to silence…
Serena was leaving work for the day when she heard her phone ringing and she dug into her pocket to snatch it up quickly in case it was either Kit or Alexis.
‘Hello?’ she asked, so eager to hear either of their voices that she failed to glance at the caller ID.
It had been ten days since she’d seen them, the longest they had ever gone without contact. The few video chats they had managed didn’t count, as they’d been brief and conducted in whispers to ensure Marcia didn’t overhear.
As Serena had feared, it hadn’t taken long for her ever-watchful stepmother to realise Serena’s stomach virus was in fact not a virus, and she had wasted no time in venting her disappointment and disapproval and banishing Serena from the house, much to the twins’ dismay. She hadn’t had any luck finding somewhere else to live that was close to the twins and within her budget, but fortunately, Evie had offered to let Serena stay with her. The separation from her siblings, however, was less easily fixed.
She was missing them and worrying about them desperately. Sensitive Kit had been distraught at the upheaval and the loss of Serena from the house, and even Alexis, who was normally the more placid and adaptable of the two, was struggling to accept the situation. And as much as Marcia doted on them, she was far too conservative to be able to offer much help with modern-day tween concerns. Serena was the one they turned to with those troubles, and it was killing her that she was shut out of being there should they need her, and that she was falling short of the promise she’d long ago made her to her mother to always remain close to them.
Each day that passed without that changing only deepened her feelings of failure and helplessness, but what made it even worse was that, buried beneath that anguish, was a buoyant relief that she was finally free from her stepmother’s clutches. Free to do what she wanted, go wherever she pleased, wear what she liked. Serena couldn’t enjoy it, not with so many uncertainties hovering over her and breeding anxiety in her heart, but just knowing that life was once more her own, and that most of what happened going forwards was in her sole and entire control, was like breathing fresh air after being stuck underground.
‘Serena.’
She froze mid step. The voice belonged to neither Kit or Alexis, but it was still far more familiar than it should be and sent a shock wave straight to her heart. ‘Caleb?’ she gasped, when she finally found her voice.
‘I’m in London.’ Her grip on her phone tightened, because those words were even more unexpected than the velvet familiarity of his voice and sent panic wheeling across her chest. ‘I want to meet up.’
‘Why?’
‘Why?’ he repeated in an astounded pitch. ‘Because we have something fairly important to discuss, don’t you think?’Did they?Everything she had wanted to say to him, she had said in her email and couldn’t imagine what would be weighing so heavily on his mind when she’d made it clear that she required nothing from him. Not his participation, his support, his money—not a single thing. Surely, that was the ideal outcome for him…so why on earth was he here? ‘Are you free right now?’
