“Okay what?”
“If you say you’re clear, then you’re clear.”
She studied me for a long moment, her eyes searching my face for the uncertainty I wasn’t sure I wanted her to find.
“You don’t believe me,” she said finally.
I didn’t answer right away.
Because the truth was, I didn’t.
I could see the way her face softened when she talked about him. Could see the way she checked her phone periodically, like she was waiting for a text. Could see the way she’d defended him without even realizing she was doing it.
Truth Renois was falling for the man who’d hired her to carry his baby.
And Amai—whether he knew it or not—was falling right back. But there’s no way I’d let them walk off into the sunset with my child without a fight. If Truth was going to be with anyone, it’d be me.
“I believe,” I said slowly, “that you think you’re clear. But I also think it’s easy to tell yourself something’s just business when your heart is starting to get involved.”
Her eyes flashed. “My heart’s not involved.”
“Okay.”
“It’s not.”
“I said okay, Truth.”
She looked away, her jaw still tight, her fingers wrapped around her wine glass like she was holding on for dear life.
The waiter appeared with our food, breaking the tension. We ate in relative silence for a few minutes, the conversation shifting to safer topics—the food, the restaurant, the neighborhood.
But I kept watching her.
Kept seeing the way she defended him.
This wasn’t just a contract anymore.
Maybe it never had been.
And when it all came crashing down—when Truth discovered who I really was, when Amai found out I’d been circling his surrogate, when the truth about the dual sperm came out—it was going to be a bloodbath.
But, for now, I sat across from Truth Renois in a restaurant in the Warehouse District, watching her try to convince herself she wasn’t falling for a man who was already halfway gone. Amai was selfish and cared about his image more than he’d ever admit. That’s why he was with that professor. Anyone with eyes could tell he was not into that woman the way she was into him. Amai was starting a lot of fires, and it was only a matter of time before they consumed him. The biggest spark was buried in hispast, but something told me she was about to set all this shit on fire if she ever returned.
And I wondered how long it would take before everything exploded.
Chapter 17
AMAI
Ipulled up to Delphine’s house at exactly nine o’clock, the way I’d promised. The morning was already warm, the kind of heat that settled into your bones and reminded you that New Orleans didn’t do seasons the way other cities did. Summer here was a living thing—thick, humid, relentless.
Truth was waiting on the porch when I arrived, wearing a simple sundress and sandals. Her hair was pulled back from her face, and she looked nervous.
She climbed into the passenger seat without waiting for me to open her door, and I noticed the way her hands were shaking slightly as she buckled her seatbelt.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah.” She nodded quickly. “Just nervous.”
