Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 65054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
She looks down quickly and shakes her head. “A lot has happened, Dominic,” she says. “I had to make sure the time was right and—”
“How long have you known?”
She looks up carefully with guilty eyes. “Since the day after Vegas,” she admits.
The day her father stormed into my office and told me to fire her. Does she know about that? Did he do it because he found out she was pregnant with my baby? My head swirls with a million questions that probably will never get answers, so I start with the easiest one.
“Who else knows?”
She sighs. “No one else,” she promises me. “I haven’t even told Maya. I’ve been carrying this all alone, Dominic.”
“And whose fault was that?” I ask. “You could have told me any time in the last three weeks. Hell, you could have told me last night when we were trapped together in that stairwell.”
Her face hardens and I realize I’ve pushed too far.
“Between almost being attacked by intruders almost finding out you’re a crime lord?” she shoots back. “You can’t be mad at me for keeping this a secret when I literally had no idea who you really were until yesterday. Can you really blame me for being cautious?”
That stings and she must know it.
“Of course not.” I sigh. “Obviously, you had your reasons, Sofia, but can’t you understand why I’d be hurt?”
“I do,” she says softly, tears coming to her eyes. “As hurt as I felt last night learning the truth. But I still chose you, Dominic. Without judgment or fear. Are you going to extend me the same grace?”
That’s a hard pill to swallow. Sofia does keep showing up for me. She came back after we had sex for the first time. She came back after Vegas. She came back after my building was attacked. Yet none of it eases the hurt I’m feeling.
If anything, it makes it worse. Because she had so many chances to come clean. She could have chosen to trust me, but coming back to work isn’t the same, is it? She trusts me to sign her check, but not to know the most life-altering news of my life.
“You chose me?” The words come out colder than I intend. “You chose me, but you didn’t choose to trust me. You didn’t think I deserved to know I’m going to be a father.”
She flinches and it makes me hate myself, but I can’t quiet the anger inside of me.
“I was scared, Dominic,” she says in a whisper.
“If you’re scared of me, then what the hell are we even doing here?” I shoot back. “You invited me here to have sex with me, but you don’t trust me enough to tell me about my child?”
She stares at me incredulously for a moment before she looks down at my hands and realizes I’m still holding the vitamins. She snatches them from my hand and shoves them back into her purse.
“I was ready to build more trust,” she says firmly. “That’s what tonight was about.”
I shake my head. “You wanted to trust me without giving me the same courtesy. You had all the answers laid out in front of you and still chose to leave me in the dark. Trust goes both ways, Sofia.”
“Apart from this one thing, I haven’t given you any reason not to trust me,” she argues. “You, on the other hand…”
“It’s always going to come back to that, isn’t it?”
“Would you have been honest with me if you didn’t have to pull a gun on someone in front of me?” she hisses. “Or would you have kept me in the dark for the rest of my life?”
She’s got me there, and she knows it. I’m backed into a corner, and suddenly she’s in the right again, even though she lied to me. Fuck this.
“How long were you planning to keep the baby a secret?” I shoot back. “If I hadn’t found those vitamins, you could’ve kept up this lie for ages.”
“Believe it or not, Dominic, there is a time limit for hiding a pregnancy.”
I shake my head. “You would have found a way,” I accuse. “You’re always so damn cunning.”
She scoffs. “I’m the cunning one? You run an entire crime syndicate,” she whisper-hisses. “I was trying to protect my heart and make sure the baby was even healthy. I only went to the doctor a week ago.”
“You went to the doctor?” I ask. “So someone else besides me does know.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Yes, Dominic, a medical professional who’s bound by HIPAA laws.”
“You don’t understand how dangerous this can be,” I tell her, shaking my head. “This is more complicated now. It’s one thing to take an at-home test, but doctors can be bought. Information can easily be shared. You’ve put yourself and our child at risk now.”