Page 48 of The Pakhan's Secret Baby

I need Lex in my arms to know he's safe.

I don't think Rashid would hurt him, but I wouldn't put it past him.

"No—"

"He's my son." I start toward the door, ready to search this whole place room by room if I have to, but he stops me.

"He might be my son too, and you kept that from me!" The shout is paralyzing. I turn to look at his angry face. "So you don't get to walk in here and make demands."

My knees give out and I go down on the floor hard, catching myself with both hands. I'm sobbing and I can't breathe. "Aleksandr!" I scream. I'm so raw and desperate. "Lex, baby, Mama's here!"

Rashid stands over me and his hand closes around my arm, yanking me to my feet without giving me time to react.

He stomps down a hallway, dragging me along, and I stumble to keep up.

Outside of those assholes the other day, no one has ever been so aggressive with me. It's shocking, and I almost piss myself in fear.

He stops at a door near the end of the hall and pushes it open. Inside there's a woman sitting in an armchair with Lex asleep against her chest.

She's older, with sharp features and silver hair pinned back, though she's rocking him gently at least.

She looks like Rashid, only feminine and older.

She looks up when the door opens and her eyes shoot to Rashid, then to me, then back to Rashid.

She doesn't look surprised. She looks like she's been waiting for this.

I pull free from Rashid's grip and race across the room.

Lex stirs when I reach for him and his eyes open halfway.

He sees me and his face crumples instantly, reaching for me as sobs erupt.

I take him from the woman's arms and pull him against me, and he buries his face in my wet coat.

"It's okay, baby. Mama's here. I'm here." I cry into his hair, rocking him. Never in his little life have I felt so relieved to have him back in my arms. No mother should ever have to feel the way I've felt for the past half an hour.

I spin around with Lex pressed against me and face Rashid, who's standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. "You had no right to do this," I snarl, now ready to tear his head off. I have my boy and now he's going to hear what I think. "You're a fucking monster. Do you know that?"

"Careful," he says gruffly, like he's trying to warn me.

"I'm taking my son home, you piece of shit." I start for the door, but he steps in my way.

"And where is home, Emory?" Rashid's eyes track down his nose to glare at me. "Because I'm sure those Gusev men know… yet I've been kept in the dark. Should I ask them?"

"It's none of your business."

"Everything about your life is my business now." When his arms cross over his chest and his shoulders square, I know he's sending a message that he's not budging.

"Get out of my way, Rashid," I snip, side-stepping him, but he moves with me, almost like we're dancing. Then he nods at the sofa across the room.

"Sit down, Emory," he says smoothly now, but I'm seething. We are not friends, and I don't want to sit in his house for a single second.

"I'm not sitting down. I'm leaving." Again I try to move, but he blocks my path and now I'm starting to feel frantic.

"You're not leaving with that boy until I have answers." He looks past me at the woman in the chair. "Mother, this is the woman I told you about."

The woman stands up slowly and brushes the front of her dress. She glares at me with hostility. "She's soaking wet, Rashid. The child's going to catch cold breathing in that moisture."