"Have you told Kade about the baby yet?" Wren asked quietly.
I dropped my hands and looked at her. "Are you serious right now?"
"I'm serious." She crossed her arms. "Because this is going to explode, hon. You know that, right? The media's already digging. What if they find out you're pregnant? What if they connect the dots?"
"I can't think about that right now." I shook my head and started tearing at the apron. My mind was reeling and my heart felt like it could explode.
"Babe, Kade's a playboy with money and power and connections..." Now she looked concerned. My little sister, worried about me.
I didn't want to hear it, but I had to ask. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying what if he takes the baby?" She looked at me with fear in her eyes. "What if he uses his money and his lawyers to take your child away from you?"
My stomach twisted and bile rose in my throat. "He wouldn't do that." The apron fell off in a heap as I turned toward the sink to wash my hands, thinking the cold water might help shock me out of this anxiety attack.
"You don't know what he'd do." Wren's expression softened. "I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm trying to protect you. You're my sister and I love you... I just?—"
"Stop." I grabbed my purse and headed for the back door. "I need air." My hands dripped as I clung to my purse and stomped away.
"Lainey—"
"Can you finish up please? Lock up?" I pushed through the door and into the alley behind the bakery. The cool night air was refreshing but did nothing to stop the anxiety attack. I had to talk to him and find out if he knew about that. I didn’t think for a second he’d set me up, but he knew better than I would ever know how to stop something like this in its tracks. Maybe he knew a reporter or something.
My phone was in my hand before I realized I'd pulled it out. I scrolled to Kade's number and hit call. It rang a few times before a woman answered.
"Hello?" The voice was cold and clipped and definitely not Kade.
I swallowed hard but managed to squeak out, "I'm sorry, I was trying to reach Kade Kingston."
"This is his mother." Her words were like ice. "And you must be the little gold digger my son's been wasting his time with."
My breath caught. "I'm not?—"
"I don't care what you think you are." Her voice cut through my protest. "I know exactly what you are. You're a nobody from nowhere who saw an opportunity and took it. Well, let me make something very clear. Keep your grubby paws off my son or I'll make your life a living nightmare."
"Where's Kade?" I managed to ask in a shaking voice.
But instead of answering my question she continued harping at me. "I suggest you pretend you never met my boy, sweetheart. We have lawyers who eat girls like you for breakfast."
Then the line went dead before I got another word out. I knew it was useless to try calling him again. I didn't know how his mother got his phone, and I couldn’t even ask him.
I felt devastated and paralyzed. I stumbled to my car and climbed in, locking the door. It was dark enough no one could see me, though Wren would assume I was still here since my car was still here. But I knew I was in no shape to drive yet.
The shock of seeing that on the television had wrecked my mood entirely, and not just my cloud-nine feeling of being on the same page with Kade finally. It ruined everything I thought about what it meant to be part of Kade's life.
Wren's comment about Kade being so upset he'd take the baby hadn't helped.
He wouldn’t do that to me, would he? And if he did, the judge would never allow him to cut me out of my child's life. Would they?
My head spun and my chest hurt. I felt like I was on a roller-coaster of horrible emotions. One minute the world was fine, and the next everything was falling apart again. This was the way things were around Kade. I'd seen the tabloids light up his life with drama over and over just by following him on social media. Was this what I really wanted from my life?
It didn't seem fair at all.
The thing I wanted most in my life seemed unattainable in any healthy way. And the thing life was offering me seemed so toxic.
All I could do was cry. For myself and for my unborn baby, and for my future.
Maybe having anything to do with Kade Kingston really was a very bad idea.
