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Annoyance ripples across her features but she quickly she smooths it out.
“Yeah, I spoke to Kiara about meddling. She shouldn’t have done that,” Elena mutters.
“Hmm. Want something to drink?”
She shake her head. “Just water.”
“Really?”
Her gaze narrows. “Roman, I have a baby.”
“So you keep saying,” I drawl. “Alright, go on. Tell me all about this baby. What happened? I’ll listen.”
She stares at me warily for a beat before launching into the story of how her life came to be what it is now. According to her, she found out she was pregnant a month after we had sex. But owing to the state of my family and the fact that we were in the middle of a gang war, she didn’t think it was a good idea to tell me about a baby she was carrying out of wedlock. She left for London to give birth away from home and prying eyes.
By the time she’s done, I’ve downed four more shots of whiskey and one shot of vodka. Elena’s jaw is clenched.
“So, you’re telling me you did all this for me? You kept a baby that’s supposedly mine away from me for a year because you thought you were doing the right thing?”
“Yes,” she replies smoothly.
“How can you be sure the child is mine?”
She’s visibly annoyed by the question. “Trust me, Roman. She’s yours. It’s pretty obvious. You’ll see when you meet her.”
I lean back, crossing my arms as I stare at her. Neither of us speak for a minute or two. The bar is mostly quiet, not a lot of patrons on a Wednesday night. Elena waits patiently for me to say something. When I finally do, my voice is cold, devoid of emotion. Like always, whenever I find myself close to a volatile emotive state, I shut down.
“I take it back,” I say finally.
She rears back, expression hesitant. “What?”
“When I told you I didn’t hate you. I lied.”
She sucks in a sharp breath, her face paling. “Roman…”
“No, I listened to you, now it’s your turn. You and your best friend don’t seem to be grasping the gravity of this situation, so I’ll lay it out for you. You got pregnant and instead of coming to me like a normal woman, you decided to take matters into your own hands. You left the country, you stayed hidden for a year, and you gave birth—and now you’re expecting to wheedle your way back into my life and ruin it.”
She flinches and I force myself to take a calming breath. Running my hands through my hair, I fix her with a pointed look.
“Regardless of the reasons you did it, I have every right to be angry. This is about a baby. A living, breathing baby whose life I haven’t been a part of until now. Whose existence I had no idea about. You had no right, Elena. I missed the entire pregnancy. I missed her birth. I missed the first three months of her life! What the hell do you expect me to do right now? How am I supposed to handle this?”
Her face falls when she realizes I actually want an answer, “I don’t know,” she says sadly. “How you handle it is up to you.”
I get to my feet, feeling anger start to burn beneath my skin. “You kept her away from me without informing me of the truth. And now you have to deal with the consequences,” I spit, and I don’t even care how harsh I sound.
After throwing some bills on the table to cover my drinks, I walk out of the bar. Elena follows me into the night. I hear her footsteps behind me. An exasperated chuckle escapes me before I turn to face her.
“How could you do this to me?”
Pain flashes in her green eyes. “I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry.”
“You’re sorry? I have a child, Elena. A baby! You kept it from me, my family, hell, even your family.” I groan. “This is so fucked up. What the hell are we going to do?”
Elena takes a step toward me “Roman, breathe.”
I glare at her. “Don’t fucking tell me what to do.”
I start walking to my car but she blocks my path.
