Page 18 of The Pakhan's Secret Baby

I watch through the window as Rashid slinks across the campus lawn toward the parking lot, and a sick feeling of dread knots in my belly.

If he saw me with Lex, he's going to kill me.

Or worse.

He'll let me live, but he'll take my son and make me live the rest of my life knowing I can never see him again.

6

RASHID

I climb into the back of the black Mercedes and slam the door. The driver looks up at me in the rearview mirror, obviously catching the hint that I’m upset. “Home,” I growl, and the car rolls forward before I even fully settle in.

My blood still hums from the sight of Emory, three years older, still impossibly beautiful, and now carrying a secret that changes everything.

My jaw is clenched tight as I play out the image in my head again, pinching the bridge of my nose as I try not to think about how she kissed that baby on the head and played with his hair.

Too familiar to be a friend or distant family member.

My gut is screaming, and red flags wave around me like a parade banner.

Devid sits across from me in silence, watching the city slide past the tinted windows, but I feel his eyes on me when he finally speaks. “Rashid, you need to keep your head on the Gusevs. Thatshipment is gone. Farid is dead. This is not the time to chase a woman.”

If this man only knew half the story, which he doesn't, he'd understand I’m not chasing a woman.

I'm hunting a lead, which I thought would be something to make this fight for retribution simpler.

The image burns behind my eyes.

No stranger receives touches like that. No casual acquaintance makes a woman’s eyes go soft and bright the way hers did.

That boy is hers.

He has to be.

And that friend of hers, the same one from that club that night, she must be the nanny or something.

The thoughts nag at me until I'm fully convinced that boy is mine and Emory has kept him from me.

I could be generous and allow myself a bit of indulgence to think the child could be the friend's.

But the adrenaline in my veins at the shock of what I saw won't allow it.

My mind has been made up.

I just have to wait for confirmation, now.

“She has a child,” I growl, scowling at him with all the anger I can muster. I'm fuming, unable to think rationally at all. My logical mind says that it could be someone else's kid. She could'vehad another one-night stand or for fuck's sake, it could be the friend's. I just can't shake it.

Devid exhales through his nose. “I saw. Cute kid. But he's not your problem right now. Gusev is carving out your routes, man. You don't have time to get pissed off about that. You're gonna lose money fast, and no one can stop it if you don’t get your head in this game."

I turn my head and pin him with a look that would make most men piss themselves. Devid only lifts an eyebrow.

He's worked for me long enough I know he's probably right, even when it pisses me off.

“I saw how she looked at him,” I continue, ignoring his warning. “I'll make her regret every single breath she took without telling me.”

Devid rubs a hand over his face. “Listen to me. We lost seventeen million rubles. If Gusev takes the southern corridor, we lose the rest of that route and our suppliers in Afghanistan. You can't afford to be distracted by a woman and a kid right now. This is bigger than one night three years ago.”