AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I thought your last name was a coincidence.” Mason’s gaze hardened. “He’s white and you’re . . .”
“What does my race have to do with this?”
“You said you were Puerto Rican,” he growled, staring down at her, anger bleeding from him.
Confusion spun inside her mind. None of this made sense. “I’m mixed; I told you. My mother was from Puerto Rico. What does that have to do with anything?”
Mason clenched his fists at his side. His jaw ticced.
Pippa looked towards her father, who kept his gaze pointed at the floor.
“Someone better tell me what the fuck is going on!” Pippa snapped.
“Your father killed my wife.”
What? His accusation knocked the air from her lungs. Sophia gasped, protesting in a flurry of Spanish.
“No.” Pippa shook her head. “You have to be mistaken. You said your wife was in a drunk-driving accident. My papi doesn’t drink like that.” She swallowed. Could it be true? No. “Tell him he has the wrong person, Papi. Tell him!”
Her father met her gaze, and what she found there made her knees buckle. She dropped to the floor. Pain erupted in her knees. Mason reached for her but pulled back as if he didn’t even want to touch her.
No. Nononono. This isn’t happening.
“Mason?” Don’t go.
The man she fell in love with had been replaced by a hard, unreadable, stoic imposter. He turned and walked towards the door.
Pippa scrambled to her feet and touched his arm. He flinched, not looking at her. Instead, he stared towards the door. “Don’t, Pippa . . . just don’t.”
Pippa. Not Beauty. Not love. Would she ever hear those endearments from him again?
“Don’t shut me out,” she pleaded. I’m having your baby!
His shoulders tensed. He turned back to her. Love had been replaced by anger with pain swirling in his gaze. “I can’t . . . do this.”
Pippa’s jaw dropped open, hope leaving her body in a cascade of disbelief as he walked away. She was carrying his child, damn it. He’d promised her . . .
She raced out the door and down the stairs, yelling at him, not caring who was around to hear. “Mason Wright!”
He froze mid-step.
“If you need to leave to calm down, fine. But don’t shut me out. Let’s figure this out. Please. I need you,” she choked out, confessing her worst fear.
He stayed silent. One minute turned into two. He turned around slowly, and her heart skipped a beat. An ember of hope glowed in her chest. Surely this wouldn’t be the end. He’d promised.
His gaze softened, glittering with unshed tears. He still loved her. They would work through this. They had to.
Mason’s mouth opened and closed. His chest puffed out like he was taking a deep breath. “I can’t see a way through this. It’s too much . . . I can’t get over . . . Your father killed my wife . . . Aspen’s mother.”
Not once in their entire relationship had she felt like his wife’s ghost was between them until now.
“I don’t want this to be the end. But I need some space and time,” Mason’s voice was raw, as if he were holding back a torrent of emotions.
She shook her head. “We should figure this out together. I thought you loved me.”
“I do. But I can’t . . . Christ, Pippa. How can I be with you when there’s so much getting between us?”
She shook her head. Something in her chest snapped. Anger quickly blended with the pain. “But it was just words. Because whenever something hard happens, you disappear. You’re a coward.”
He flinched as if her words were a physical blow.
“It was all just pretty promises from you. I was wrong. I don’t need you.” We don’t need you.
Pippa turned and walked up the steps without looking back. How could she have believed this time would be any different? So much for the Disney ending of their fairy tale. So much for forever.
