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I looked down to my hands, unable to stand the raw pain that was radiating out of him. When I finally had the courage to look back up the betrayal I saw there was almost my undoing. But I had no choice but to be strong. This baby didn’t ask to be born and I was going to do my best to give him or her the best life I could.
When I’d met Max and went home with him I wasn’t intending for it to be anything other than that. Even when he’d given me his number the next day I had never planned to use it. But he’d stepped up when I’d told him I was pregnant and was in agreement with me that we had to find a way to make it work.
Borrowing all the courage I had inside I looked up at Dom and steeled myself. “I’m pregnant and the father and I are going to be married.”
His jaw hung open, but he said nothing.
“I wanted you to hear it from me and not someone else. I haven’t even told my parents yet, but I’m going to after I leave here.” I stood from the couch.
My movement seemed to pull Dom from his stupor, and he reached out and held me by the shoulders. “You can’t marry him. You don’t have to marry him. I’ll find a way to take care of you.”
I wasn’t able to help the tear that slipped from my eye. There was nothing I’d love more than to let Dom do what he’d offered.
“This baby deserves to have both parents in its life. I have to try to make it work for the baby’s sake.”
“No, you don’t.” His fingertips pressed harder into my skin.
I looked at him with a sad smile. “You could never raise another man’s baby, Dominic. I think we both know that. Eventually it would come between us.”
I had no doubt that he would try, but Dom was a proud man, and at some point the fact that I’d gone and gotten pregnant by another man would eat away at the foundation of our relationship until there was nothing to salvage.
He stared at me hard. “Don’t do this, Valentina. We can figure out a way to make it work. Don’t commit your life to someone else. The two of us were supposed to end up together. I’d give you a beautiful life.”
I choked back a sob. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I have to go.”
I raced out of the apartment and down the stairs, not willing to wait for the elevator in case Dom would try to come after me.
He didn’t.
“We were wondering if you could help us with something,” ma says.
Ma’s voice drags me from my thoughts of the past. She sounds hesitant, so I put down my silverware. “What is it?”
“Now that you’re not married to Dominic anymore and the two of you are well and truly over, we need to get a loan.”
“A loan? Why, and what does that have to do with Dom?” I ask, glancing at Ryder, but he’s on his phone. Figures.
“Oh, we figured he told you.” Ma seems genuinely surprised that I don’t know what she’s talking about.
I tilt my head. “Told me what?”
“Do you remember back when the store wasn’t doing well? Anna suggested that we meet with Dom. Said he might have some contacts or some advice to offer us about getting a loan to get us through the tough times.”
My forehead crinkles. “When was this?”
Ma looks at my dad. “Maybe ten years ago?”
“Okay. And?”
“We met with Dom and he ended up giving us the loan.”
“I’m sorry?”
Ma looks at my dad again, seeming unsure if she should continue.
Oh, she’s continuing.
“He told us that a bank would charge us a high-interest rate and make paying it back difficult. He gave us the money interest-free and he’s been letting us pay him back slowly as we can afford it. But now that you two have been married and divorced—or annulled, I guess—it doesn’t seem right.”
