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The heavy slam of the door had Alyssa and Landra both surging to their feet as Courtney and Marty moved quickly in front of Alyssa.
“Sebastian?” Courtney questioned him as she remained where she was beside Marty, trying to block his view of Alyssa. “Now is not the time for this. She is in no shape to battle with you.”
“Don’t, Courtney.” There was no doubt of their familiarity, even if Alyssa hadn’t already known they were friends. “Leave. Now. All of you get the fuck out of here and let me talk to her.”
“It’s not going to happen like that, Sebastian.” Marty sounded just a bit confrontational.
“Stop this.” Alyssa moved away from them, glaring at Sebastian, at Courtney and Marty. “He’s not going to beat me, for God’s sake. He just wants to see how many of his lies I can stomach.”
She didn’t need their protection; they should know that. She was perfectly competent in other areas of her life. Everywhere but where Sebastian and his cousin had completely destroyed it.
“Sebastian, this is enough.” Landra sounded less than pleased with him now. “You swore you would not upset her. Look at her. The child is shaking like a leaf, disheveled, and obviously upset.”
“Disheveled” wasn’t a good way to describe it, Alyssa thought with a sigh. And she wasn’t disheveled; she was furious. There was a difference. Yet so was he. And he had no right to be angry at all.
“Courtney, if you and Marty will allow us a few moments of privacy,” Landra asked of the other two women firmly. “And please inform Davis it may be a few moments before I return. Do not tell him who I am with. That is my prerogative alone.”
Courtney all but pouted while Marty gave a little roll of her eyes.
“Unlike Khalid, I know when to butt out,” Marty informed Landra. “But don’t expect me to cover for something like this again, Landra. I won’t do it.”
Whatever “this” was, Alyssa thought with bitter amusement.
“Just go.” Alyssa lent her own firmly voiced demand. “I don’t need protection from him. And there are no weapons present, so he doesn’t need protection from me.”
“Oh dear,” Landra murmured before breathing in deeply and turning to Courtney and Marty. “Go on. I promise I’ll handle this.”
Landra would handle it. Alyssa had to force back bitter laughter at the thought. No doubt her father would learn everything before the night was out. What did it matter, though? The whole sordid tale would no doubt be revealed far too soon anyway.
Stomping to the bar as the two women left, Sebastian poured himself a whisky, tossed it back, then poured another and repeated the action.
Standing with his back to Alyssa, he seemed to be considering a third before he slowly released the glass and decanter.
“Tell me, Landra.” He sounded tortured. “Did you know she lost our baby? That she was pregnant when she returned from Barcelona?”
Landra gasped in shock and seemed to sway as she gripped the back of the chair she was standing next to, her gaze swinging back to Alyssa.
“That was why you were so ill after you returned from Barcelona?” she asked, shocked, paling as she stared at Alyssa with tears in her eyes. “My God, you would have been at least—”
“Nearly five months,” she whispered. “I became pregnant the first month I was in Barcelona. I was eighteen weeks pregnant when someone managed to slip a drug into me that aborted my baby. My personal physician became suspicious…” She had to breathe, just for a moment as agony lanced her. “The baby was fine during my checkup the week before. He ran tests after…” She couldn’t go on.
She’d been able to hold her baby, as tiny as he’d been. Touch perfect fingers, thick golden-tipped black hair. She’d felt him move before she’d lost him. Felt his little foot against her palm as it lay on her stomach.
And she wasn’t throwing any of this up at Sebastian. Why? Why wasn’t she trying to hurt him as she’d been hurt?
Sebastian poured another drink that he finished quickly. A second later the glass shattered from where he’d thrown it to impact on the wall across from him.
“Sebastian,” Landra whispered his name, tears filling her eyes as Alyssa watched. She turned then, a tear falling as she stared at Alyssa. “I am so sorry. So sorry.”
“Why would Landra know?” Alyssa asked Sebastian rather than commenting on Landra’s sympathy. “It’s not as though she was part of our lives at the time.”
Sebastian’s lips thinned, but instead of speaking he pushed his fingers through his hair before his gaze settled on Alyssa again.
“I am Sebastian and Shane’s aunt, Alyssa,” Landra told her, her voice low. “Sebastian’s father is my brother. Shane’s mother my sister. Once you returned from Barcelona, I tried to watch out for you, but Margot rather blocked allowing others around for a while.”
Yes, her mother had become incredibly protective after Alyssa had lost the baby. Only a few people had known of her pregnancy. Alyssa hadn’t gone out in public, the pregnancy wasn’t announced, yet someone had found out and managed to poison her child.
“That’s w
