Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 109716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
I shook my head, refusing to believe what I was hearing. “Maddie, you can’t mean that.”
She gave me a small broken smile. “Yes, I lost my baby. I will never get that chance again, but I got you back. I gave Alessio his Angel. It’s not something I will ever regret.”
Her fingers caressed my rounded belly. “And I saved Princess too. I couldn’t save my baby, but I saved her. We lost one but we gained another.”
“Maddie…”
“You wanted the truth. This is the truth, Ayla.”
My shoulders sagged in defeat, and I stared at her hand, the one that was resting on my stomach. “I’m sorry.”
Maddie shook her head and wrapped her arms around me for a hug. “It’s not your fault, and I don’t want you to be sorry for me. It’s hard. It hurts so much sometimes, Ayla. Sometimes, I can’t sleep. All I do is cry. It’s hard to close my eyes. It’s hard to continue moving on, but I have to do it. My heart will always hurt with my loss, but I know…eventually the pain will be less.”
She pulled away and sent me a wink. “I have a princess too. She will make the pain less.” Maddie paused and then smiled. “What am I saying? She already makes my heart overflow with love.”
Maddie bent down and placed a sweet kiss over my belly. “I will never regret this.”
I was in awe with this woman. How she managed to be this strong…I didn’t know.
“Maddie,” I started saying, but she shushed me.
“Promise me we won’t ever speak of this again. You wanted to know so I told you, but I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I want to bury it behind me and move on. Please, Ayla. Promise me.”
I couldn’t do anything but nod. We hugged, our hold tight on each other.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“Love you too, babe. We got this.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Just promise me though. Don’t hurt yourself by keeping it inside. When it gets too much, talk to me. I will be there for you. Sometimes just talking makes everything easier.”
“I promise,” she said, pulling away.
We gave each other a tearful smile, our hands holding my baby bump.
“What’s going on here?”
A loud, angry growl caused my head to snap up in surprise. I met Alessio’s eyes as he stalked toward us.
“Why are you on the floor?” he demanded, coming to stand beside me. He towered over us, his face angry but worried.
His eyes raked over me protectively. “Are you hurt? Shit. Are you in pain?” He started to panic.
Alessio bent down and grabbed my arm. Maddie went to stand up, holding my other arm. They both helped me up, and Alessio pulled me into his embrace.
His hands whispered over my body, looking for any type of injury. “Ayla, are you hurt? Answer me!” he snapped.
I shook my head. “No. I’m not hurt. Calm down, Alessio.”
“Then what were you doing on the floor?” he questioned, his accusing eyes going to Maddie.
“We were talking,” she retorted, crossing her arms.
“On the floor?” Viktor jumped in. He was leaning against the doorway, watching all of us. “Your eyes are red. You were both crying.”
Great. He just added fuel to the fire.
Alessio’s eyes turned to slits. Placing my hand over his chest, I tried to calm him down. “I’m fine. Really. We were talking. It got emotional, that’s it. Now stop growling.”
He sighed, his shoulders sagging in relief. “You are not hurt.”
Alessio didn’t pose the sentence as a question. It was mostly a relieved statement.
Giving him a sweet smile, I placed a kiss on his lips. It was instinct…I couldn’t stop myself.
He kissed me back. More than what I had planned. When I heard a groan behind me, I pulled back, feeling a deep red blush make its way to my cheeks.
“You need to be in bed. Promise me you’ll rest while I’m gone,” Alessio said in my ear, his arms a band of steel around my waist.
“Okay. I promise,” I readily agreed. I knew there was no point arguing with Alessio. He would just carry me upstairs himself and put several guards at my door to stop me from leaving.
Alessio gave me a fierce stare. “Have you eaten yet?”
I nodded toward the food. “I was going to.”
His lips were feather-light on my forehead. Placing a kiss there, he pulled away. “Good. I’m leaving now, but I’ll be back tonight.”
I hummed into his chest before stepping out of his embrace. He nodded at Maddie before turning around to leave. Viktor gave me a smile before following Alessio.
From the corner of the doorway, I saw Isaak. His hands were in his pockets as he stood there watching me. He had a strange look on his face. It wasn’t the first time I noticed him watching me from afar.
When he caught my stare, I saw him swallowing hard before quickly leaving. A strange feeling went through me at the encounter, but I didn’t have a chance to think about it before Maddie was breaking into my thoughts.