"I'm not lying."
"You've got too much of a belly to be only three months."
"What do you know about it?"
"I have three girl cousins who have all been pregnant this year. All they talk about is every little detail, including making us look at their bellies when they start to show." He said it like he was disgusted with it. “All of them were your size and at least four, maybe five months pregnant."
Considering how he seemed to feel about it, it was shocking that he retained that tidbit of information.
"That’s not the case in every pregnancy."
He watched me for a moment. I got the feeling he was trying to decide how to approach me. Was he going to go with anger and threaten me? Or was he going to try to win me over?
His features softened, and I knew he was going to go with the gentle approach. "Remember the last time we fucked. It was just before Thanksgiving, in the guest bathroom at your parents’ house. We’d decided to elope, remember? I bet you that’s when we made the baby." He reached out to touch me, but I inched away. "We're having a baby, Reyna.” He smiled, but it didn’t look sincere. “Our parents will be thrilled.”
I shook my head.
He let out a frustrated growl. “I made a mistake, and I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you. Come on. I want to make the vows to you. I want to love you, for better or for worse, sickness and health, for as long as I live. And I plan to live forever." There was a time I would've loved to hear those words. Actually, that time was now, but the wrong man was saying them.
"No.”
"Don't be like this, Reyna.” The tone of his voice changed, turning darker. “We can go on from here being happy, or you’re going to force me and our families to do something drastic."
My brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
His face morphed into smugness, the smugness I saw the night I found him with Caryn. "Maybe we'll tell the world that you have taken my child from me? Or maybe we'll let your husband know that this baby isn’t his, because you and I know that it's not." His gaze scanned down to my belly.
I opened my mouth to kick him out...
“Get the fuck out of my house."
My head jerked to James standing in the kitchen doorway. He was the epitome of if looks could kill.
Dean was unaffected. In fact, he smirked and turned his attention to me. "Oops. Cat’s out of the bag. Even so, you need to come to your senses, Reyna."
James stepped forward, grabbing Dean and shoving him out of the kitchen. "I'll kick your ass out if I have to."
Dean held his hands up in surrender. "I'm gone." He gave me one more look over his shoulder. "Once your husband kicks you out too, come and find me." He called out the name of the hotel he was staying in.
When my husband kicks me out?Why would he do that? He couldn’t really believe Dean was the father of the baby, could he?
I looked at James, who stared at me with such disdain, it made my breath stall in my chest.
"So that’s why you decided to marry me. You thought you could pass the kid off as mine.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
James
I was such a fucking idiot. How was it that I hadn't figured out by now that women couldn't be trusted? There was something about me that attracted women who wanted something from me, but not me. Allison had wanted money and an easy life. And now Reyna wanted to trap me with a child that it turned out wasn't even mine.
That Dean character didn't seem like a winner, but considering what I just learned, he and Reyna were made for each other. I didn’t think he wanted the baby, but he was willing to do what I wasn't—commit to her.
My stomach roiled at the thought of Dean and Reyna building a life together. I told myself I felt sorry for the child they had created. If it were lucky, it would turn out like Amelia and rise above the selfish greed of his parents.
I watched Reyna, surprised that she was looking back at me with shock and fear. After all, the jig was up. She'd been found out.
"The baby is yours." Her voice was so low, it was almost as if she could hardly speak. It might have made me second-guess myself, but I knew how good of an actress she was. I had watched her for the last several weeks pretend like I was the love of her life.