That was the plan. We found her and we killed her. Clean and simple, with no questions asked. Without her Dad, no one would look for her. What I hadn’t banked on was the tsunami of emotions that hit me when I saw her again. It had thrown all my plans off kilter. I almost willed her to show her face, to make another mistake so that I could reaffirm all the fatal thoughts I had. So I could drown out the need to feel her against me again.
“I assume you’ll want to wait until after she gives birth to the child.” The sentence cut straight through my thoughts and this time I couldn’t keep my face under control. “Oh,” Xavier said, reading my expression. “You weren’t aware.” It was hard not to notice the smug tone that wrapped around the words.
My heart had stopped, and the room swayed. When I’d seen her at Dante’s I hadn’t noticed any visible sign of a pregnancy. She’d drowned herself in clothes too large for her frame, and Dante had placed himself between us like a guard dog. He’d known. He must have known. It wasn’t just an act to protect her, but the child she was carrying.
“We’ll need to ensure the child is yours once it’s born,” he said slowly.
But if Dante had known, why wouldn’t he have told me? Why hadn’t Mia breathed a word of it?
“Pregnant with a child, she left you, and when she returns, she’s playing house with Gabriel. That’s bound to raise some questions, but once we know for certain, you can file for custody. She won’t be able to fight you.”
The tests had read negative, and I remembered how deflated I’d felt, lying in bed, holding her against me. The chance of being a father had sparked something inside me that I thought I would never feel; however, with Mia, that was no surprise. She had changed my mind on so many things, like monogamy and marriage. If I were to ever have children, they would be with this woman, a perfect combination of us both. As far as I knew, no one else knew of those tests. The possibility that Xavier prattled on about, that the child was anyone’s but my own, was an impossibility depending on how far along she was. But even Dante wouldn’t have been stupid enough to bring her back here carrying another man’s child.
“I need to go,” I said, reaching past him and placing the glass on the desk. I needed answers and, still not trusting myself to be in close proximity to Mia, there was only one other person I could rely on for them.
“Lucas, we really should discuss this.”
Turning away from him, I left the room, calling over my shoulder, “There’s nothing to discuss.” Not with Xavier. Not right now. My head reeled with the news and what to do with it.
“Lucas, wait.” Xavier followed me back through the house.
I turned on my heel and looked at him. Xavier had been so intent on finding her and ending her life. He didn’t have the same history with Mia as I did. He didn’t understand that this woman had turned my world on its head in ways I didn’t believe possible. Just because you couldn’t see the sun, didn’t mean you stopped orbiting it, didn’t stop everything from depending on it. “I’ll be in touch,” I told him curtly, wanting this conversation to be over so I could find out the full story.
Once again, I turned away from him and reached for the door. As I pulled it open, I felt Xavier’s hand on my shoulder. “Keep your head. You have your reputation to protect. Your father’s name to honor.”
Shrugging his hand off my shoulder, I left without another word.
Chapter Sixteen
Dante
“She should have been able to come to us,” Lydia said, nursing a cup of tea at my kitchen table. She hadn’t taken more than a sip, more than likely due to the extra teaspoon of sugar I’d added to the black liquid. She’d refused milk. “She should never have had to deal with all of that alone.” I hadn’t explained the whole situation to Lydia. No one else needed to know all the messy details that resulted in Mia leaving, but she did know Mia had returned and with a plus one.
“Technically, she wasn’t alone,” I said to her with a shrug, stacking meals Lydia had made me in the fridge. It was a small comfort to know that Carmen had taken care of her when we couldn’t. We’d be forever indebted to the Diaz family for their kindness.
“DANTE!”
My name boomed through the house, preceded by the slamming of my front door. Good to know that Luc felt familiar enough with me again that he could walk into the house unannounced. It had been a while since he’d treated the place like his second home, and I wasn’t sure if this was a good sign or if I was about to have my ass handed to me for a second time this week. If I’d had enough sense, I’d have changed the locks after him trying to gain the upper hand while I was unarmed.
“I should get going.” Lydia looked like she was about to drain the cup but thought better of it and placed it back on the table.
“Don’t leave on his account. This isn’t his house so he can’t do shit.”
“I don’t want to cause any more problems between the both of you.”
“You’re not the one who’s causing the problems,” I muttered.
“DANTE!”
“God gifted you legs, use them!” I bit my tongue before I could addyou dumb fuckto the end of the sentence. I wasn’t about to go running after the stunt he’d pulled. This wasn’t business, which meant I didn’t need to keep face.
Moments later, Luc stormed into the kitchen, hair disheveled and red in the face. He opened his mouth to speak before he clocked Lydia at the table. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “You don’t work for me anymore.”
“This isn’t your house,” I reminded him, irritated at his backseat management of my life.
Lydia had been with the Foster family for as long as I could remember. She was stern and fair and always expected you to wash your hands before you sat to dinner, no matter how hungry you were. She never flinched at the business that came through the door, and I’d have bet my left kidney, maybe even my right, that she was made of stronger stuff than some of the men that I knew.
“You want to be careful, Lucas,” Lydia said, standing up from her seat and pulling on her coat. “Or you’ll burn every bridge and be left all alone on an island with no one to blame but yourself.”
