Electra looks at me for the first time. “Do you? Tell me everything? Because I feel like I’m in the dark half the time. I didn’t know you were dating Ransome until after the fact. I didn’t know you were leaving; you just left. And then I didn’t know you were pregnant until you came back. What else are you hiding, Amara? Because I think it’s safe to assume you’re still keeping secrets.”
I take in a deep breath and let it halfway out. Then I sit down on a bench as a few runners and a girl on roller blades with a dog pass us.
I can’t tell her everything. It’s not safe. Or believable, for that matter.
But I have to tell her something.
“The reason things are complicated is because of Ransome’s family,” I murmur. “They’re… loyal to a fault.”
“They’re also rich and high society,” she says, and I giggle.
“Yeah. That’s definitely true. I mean, he is the CEO of Apex. But that kind of power doesn’t come without enemies.” I rub my belly and choose my next words carefully. “There’s another family that they don’t get along with, and there’s a lot of bad blood there. It’s messy and… complicated.”
“How complicated?” she asks with a glimmer in her eye. Even now, Electra loves gossip.
“Complicated enough that he was forced into an arranged marriage.”
Electra’s mouth drops open enough to draw stares. “Stop. You’re telling me thatRansome,as in your boyfriend or situationship or whatever he is?—”
“Yep, him.”
“The man whose child you’re carrying like a fucking bowling ball?—”
“Hey! He’s not that heavy.”
“—ismarried?” Electra is kind enough to whisper the last words.
I bite my lips and nod.
“Holy shit,” she lets out. Then she raises her voice and says it again. “Holy. Fucking. Shit. So like… how does that work? And how are you okay with it? And does she know about you?”
“So, here’s the thing. They don’t love each other. Hell, I don’t think they even like each other. This morning he came into the estate?—”
“The one you’re living at. Which I assume is different from the one his wife lives at.”
“Yes.”
“Jesus. Okay, I’m on track. Keep going.”
“He had a stack of papers with him…”
Electra is practically dancing on the park bench. “What kind of papers?”
“Divorce papers.” I mouth the words and Electra nearly hops to her feet.
Then she sits back down. “So he’s leaving his wife for you and your baby?! Oh my fucking God!”
I smile because I can’t help it. I can still hardly believe it myself.
“I have an idea,” I say. “Let’s go to dinner. I feel like every time we’ve gotten together recently it’s been a workout. Let’s do something fun. I could really go for Mexican food, and even a virgin marg sounds pretty good right now.”
Electra opens her mouth to answer but stops. Her phone is vibrating. Again.
“I’d love to, but I can’t,” she says.
“Let me guess. Sean doesn’t approve of you eating food where other people are present?” I ask flatly.
“Actually, he wants to see me,” she says with a smile I can’t quite read. “He’s taking me to dinner.”
