Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“They advised her to terminate the baby to undergo treatment. I think… I think she was going to try to use the baby to blackmail you into marrying her, but the illness progressed faster than she expected.
“Trying to trap you became less important. I… I just thought you needed to know the truth. She knew you were on to her. You knew something wasn’t right. She feared you would figure it out on your own.
“You never slept with Addison that night to make Chloe. She drugged you in the bar and took you up to your room where you passed out.” She finishes looking back and forth between the two of us. “Even your decision to take her on the trip was orchestrated by her. She manipulated it all.”
“And you came to tell him this now. Over two months later,” I say.
My face is burning with anger. I don’t know who I’m angrier with. Addison for her scheming, Emma for waiting until now to come clean, or Gregor for putting himself in this position to begin with.
“I don’t know why. I just couldn’t return home without telling you this. It didn’t seem right. It’s been weighing on me heavily. She should have told you, but I just couldn’t… I stood outside that hospital room door praying she would tell you before she took her last breath,” she says.
“I want you to go,” Gregor says, the word barely escaping his lips.
His head drops into his palms. I can feel his pain rolling off him. Emma stands, looking like a lost little mess. I nod for the butler to see her out.
“I’m so sorry,” she murmurs before she leaves.
My attention turns to Gregor. When I see his shoulders start to shake, I feel for him. He’s the victim in all of this.
I can’t even wrap my head around someone stealing your sperm to blackmail you. It’s the sickest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot. Here this man thought his donation was destroyed, but she manipulated a truly vulnerable situation.
I place a hand on his back and start to rub. He lifts his head to look at me. His eyes are red. I reach to thumb away the tears that start to escape.
“In the beginning, I felt so guilty for not wanting to believe Chloe was mine. I knew what the facts said, but something was still off. It took me so long to get involved and start to build that bond.” He gives a bitter-sounding snort.
“Do you know how she really ended up with your name?”
My brows crease and I nod for him to continue. He reaches to brush a hand over my hair, palming my face as he looks into my eyes. He’s searching, but I just don’t know for what.
“When I first saw her, I thought of you. Your name slipped from my lips as the pain of you not holding my child seared through me. Addison thought I was naming our little girl. Now… as I think of the sinister grin on her lips, I think she knew.
“I went along with naming her after you, because for the first time—since walking away from you—as I looked down at that little girl, I felt like I had… hope.
“But in the back of my mind… something always felt so… wrong about the situation. I think that’s why I never told my family. I just knew.” His words come out brokenly.
“I… I don’t even know what to say. This is… it’s.” I can’t even find the words.
“It’s what I deserve,” he says and stands. “Thank you for sitting through this with me. I….”
He shakes his head and leaves. He stumbles forward like a drunken man. I sit staring after him with my mouth open and my heart breaking.
I don’t want to hurt for him, but I can’t help being human—because what that woman did… it wasn’t human at all. Karma was truly swift with dealing out her punishment.
“I overheard.” I turn to face Eileen as her voice fills the silence Gregor left behind.
I blink and realize my lashes are wet. Eileen comes and takes the seat next to me. She looks as if her legs barely carry her to the seat. She reaches for my hand and squeezes it.
I see the tears in her eyes as her lips purse. Her cheeks are red as her nose starts to turn as well. I can see the deep hurt of a mother for her son.
“I don’t know what to say.” I shake my head.
“Cee, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
I’ve grown fond of Eileen. She and Chloe have made my time here more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Although, I have seen that Eileen watches me and Gregor when we’re around each other.
“How does all of this make you feel?”
“I… I feel for him,” I say, looking down into my lap. “I just don’t understand how you do something like that to someone.”