Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 154728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 619(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
It took everything inside me to hand the small black and white photo over to Brax. My hands had clutched it even harder once his manicured fingers had fastened around it.
Silly.
It wasn’t even of anything. Barely a speck.
But it had a heartbeat.
That speck.
Our child.
A beating heart. Already.
That little piece of paper was suddenly the most precious thing I owned. Tangible proof of something that felt utterly surreal, terrifying and sacred all at the same time.
I hadn’t even been sure I wanted it until that moment.
Brax pulled harder to get the ultrasound photo into his meaty paws.
He didn’t handle it with care, causing it to crinkle.
I suppressed a growl.
Brax’s eyes lowered to the picture without emotion. “I’ll ensure he gets this, and I’ll be in touch.”
He tossed the photo on the desk like it was nothing more than a receipt.
His blatant disregard for my situation was like poison darts, hitting their mark. I wanted to do more. Demand more. But I was totally powerless at that moment.
I wasn’t Kane’s wife. I had no claim to him. Had no other way of getting in contact with him.
Knox was my only other connection with him, the only person I truly trusted to get this information to him.
But he was ‘in the wind,’ Kane had said when I’d told him I couldn’t reach him.
And I had the impression ‘in the wind’ meant he wasn’t going to be found unless he wanted to be.
But he must’ve known about Kane. Though I knew the two had a complicated relationship, Knox wouldn’t willingly abandon Kane like this.
He’d turn up. Even if I couldn’t trust Brax, I could wait for that.
That's all I could do.
I was completely powerless.
The realization made me wobbly on my feet, but fuck if this asshole was going to see me as weak. So I kept my chin high and my gaze on his when I told him, “I’ll be expecting to hear from you. Soon.”
The grin remained. That knowing grin. That taunting grin. “Of course,” he replied placidly. “You have a good day. Take care of yourself. Be careful. I know that this city can be dangerous at the best of times, especially with someone in your … condition.”
A threat. I didn’t know why or really how, but it felt like a threat.
I didn’t balk.
“I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can,” he said sarcastically.
I turned my back, my step not faltering until I got home.
Brax was true to his word, something I hadn’t expected.
I did hear from him promptly.
The next day.
I’d expected him to fuck with me. Make me wait, even if he did get in touch with Kane as soon as he could.
He was a small man who wanted power. And this was the most he’d ever had. I’d seen him watch Kane, seen him covet what Kane had. I’d trusted Kane’s judgment, thought that there was a reason Brax was around, although I never trusted him.
I had to hold on to that trust in Kane, although it was hanging by a thread.
I didn’t let any of my unease show on my face as I went back to Brax’s offices. Didn’t let him see evidence of the sleepless night I’d had, the worry and fear churning in my stomach.
His words had bounced around my brain all night. Had made me question everything. As if I hadn’t already been questioning everything.
I wouldn’t say I had many plans for my life outside of running my own kitchen, owning my own restaurant one day. Well, that was the plan. The main and only plan.
There hadn’t been dreams of a man, a wedding, and most definitely not of a white picket fence. No plan to create a new family. I had a complicated enough relationship with my family as it was. No way was I going to try to make one of my own. I wasn’t capable of that.
Then again, I hadn’t thought I was capable of falling in love.
Yet I’d fallen hard and brutally for Kane.
I’d avoided feelings because I knew the power of them. Knew that losing love could ruin you. No way would I give away that power.
Then came Kane.
He made me feel safe. He made me feel like I wasn’t going to lose him. That he wasn’t going to ruin me.
Then there was the arrest. The trial, which was bad enough. The blame I carried around with me was almost devastating. It had caused me to be constantly sick to my stomach, throwing up everything I ate. Or at least I had thought it was the guilt.
In a million years, I wouldn’t have thought that it might be a baby.
Our baby.
We were careful.
Not that careful, obviously.
Kane hadn’t wanted a barrier between us. And nor had I. I wanted that intimacy. I was on birth control, and I trusted science even though I knew that nothing was 100 percent effective. Plus, I was over thirty—a woman’s chances of conceiving at my age were less than 20 percent per month.