I nodded toward the swell of her belly. "He's right. You're too far along for it to be mine."
She shook her head and looked at me in desperation. "No."
"Amelia didn't show until she was practically five months. I can do math, Reyna."
Tears streamed down her cheeks, and I tamped down on the urge to be swayed by them.
"There's a reason I’m bigger."
I held up my hand to stop her. "I'm tired of being lied to and deceived by women. Why are you still here, anyway? Your ex is back and willing to give you everything the two of you had once planned."
She stared at me for a long moment. "I don't want everything that I planned with him. I want you." She let out a shuddering breath. "I love you, James."
Her words filled me with rage. I felt like my heart was a mouse and she was the cat toying with it. "Bullshit. You can fool the rest of the world with your fake devotion to me, but I know the truth."
She wiped her tears, closing her eyes for a moment. When they opened, I saw the hollowness that I had been seeing for the last several weeks. See? It was all an act.
She gave a curt nod. "I don't know why you're so angry. Considering you don't want me or this baby, I would think you'd be popping open champagne and celebrating."
She walked out of the kitchen. I considered telling her I had a change of heart before I walked in on her and her ex. But what good would that do? She was right. I should be glad. I’d dodged a bullet.
I went to the bar and poured myself a double-shot of whiskey, not to celebrate but to dull the burn in my gut. How did my life become such a shit show?
Reyna emerged a few minutes later carrying the single duffel bag that she had arrived with just after Christmas.
My gut clenched. "Where are you going?"
"Considering what's going on, I think it's best that we end this agreement."
"We have a deal." Why couldn’t I let her go? I wanted her to go. I wanted to be done with disappointment and heartache. Of course, her leaving would cause problems at work. I wasn’t quite where I wanted to be in feeling secure about my passion. How would the board take it when Reyna and I divorced, especially when was pregnant?
Then again, the baby issue had just resolved itself. I did everything to show that I was a devoted husband, but it turned out I'd married a woman who’d lied to me. George might try to use it against me, but I was sure the outside world would take pity that my heart had been broken. That was the answer. As soon as I completed my quest in securing leadership of the company, Reyna and I could divorce using her deception about the baby as the cause. In that case, she needed to stick around a little longer.
"If you leave, you leave with nothing,” I said.
"It's not exactly true. I won't have your money, but to be honest, at this point, I couldn't stomach taking it. I'm leaving with what I showed up with and this baby. Everything else, including the rings, is in the bedroom."
"You’re going to walk away from five million dollars? Or did lover boy offer you more?”
“I don’t want anything from you. I may be broke financially, but I won't be personally. I'm leaving here with my dignity."
I scoffed. "I forgot how good you are at acting." It made me wonder if there was some loophole in the prenup she had seen and thought she could take advantage of. She'd been a law student, after all.
But that was okay. She was leaving me after deceiving me, so I was sure I could come out of this unscathed.
She picked up her bag, hoisting it over her shoulder. "There is one thing I'd like from you."
I laughed derisively. "Of course, there is. You can keep everything in the account that I've already paid as an allowance. I'm not completely heartless. In case your ex doesn’t take you back, you’ll have a little bit of money to tide you over."
She shook her head. "That's not what I want. What I want is for you to sign papers relinquishing your right to the baby."
I flinched, not expecting her to say that. My chest seized, but I reminded myself that she was a deceptive woman. "The kid isn’t mine, so there's no reason."
She kept her steely gaze on me. "First, I’m telling you that you’re the father. Second, we’re married, so legally, you would be the presumptive father. I'm not exactly sure about Nevada laws, but I suspect you can sign papers that say you don’t believe you’re the father, but if you are, you relinquish your rights. If you don't want this baby, I will accept that, but then I want you completely out of our lives. You will have no rights to the baby, but you also won't have any responsibility."
Was this some kind of joke? It was like we were playing poker and she was bluffing or trying to trick me somehow.
I realized I still had the glass of whiskey in my hand, a hand that was shaking as I lifted it and drank the entire contents of the glass. The whiskey went down, but it did nothing to settle whatever the fuck was wrong inside me. "That won't be a problem."