te Jenn

e' s grim-faced driver. I stared out at the glittering lights of New York, but saw nothing. My mind was a chaotic storm of betraya

e city skyline a dramatic backdrop to his distress. He had shed his jacket and ti

ed in, his eyes search

oor-to-ceiling windows and stared down at t

oice he used to close billion-dollar deals and charm skeptical investor

ice flat. "Don' t you dare talk

ottie! It' s everythi

holding you up when you were ready to quit. I was the one who believed in you when your own family called yo

ward me. "Harper is... she' s fragile. She has no one

carrying your child? Or does our baby not matter a

avy and poisonous. He flinche

before me, taking my hands in his. His touch felt alien, wrong. I didn' t pull away, my bod

the man I loved kneeling at my feet, an

finalized, everything will go back to normal. We' ll expose the truth, I promise. I' ll tell the world that you ar

son in secret, only to "adopt" him later, all to protect his public image and his company' s stock price.

ed, pulling my hands from his

other is already on board. Your parents, too. They all agree th

en me as an accessory to her son' s success. And my adoptive parents, the Jennings, who had taken me in as a child but never truly loved me, were soc

bling. "You discussed the fate of my chi

nage the cris

y voice cracked on the last word. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, a

rustration boiling over. "I am protecting hi

down my face. "He needs a father who will acknowledge him! A f

finally breaking. He looked cornered, desper

en he was trying to distance himself, to turn

" I said, the word

olutely not. A divorce right now is out o

your disaster, Gabe. Y

n painful. "You are not divorcing me. You are not leaving this apartme

in my own home. His home. He had the money,

ve sound that made us both jump. Ga

n overnight bag at her feet. Behind her stood Gabe' s mother, Eleanor, her face a mask of c

rrived. And the

ord to him, her icy gaze landing on

y hands. It was a business transaction