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“No! I’m not!”
I realize I’m a fool. He’s not crazed. He’s… distraught. Eyes glazed over. Body shaking. Something is wrong. “What’s going on?”
His forehead pinches right at the center. “Leo.”
Two syllables I never thought would come out of his mouth, said so perfectly and beautifully you’d think he’d been saying Leo’s name since the second Leo came into this world.
“He’s almost five,” Rex says.
I stare at him. “How do you know that?”
“I don’t think that matters right now.”
We stare at each other.
“He’s mine. Isn’t he?” Rex asks in a voice so quiet, someone could say it was the wind.
I look around the parking lot. Empty. But there are other cars. And I know word has gotten out about Rex’s accident. The press is probably somewhere around here. “Rex, we can’t do this here.”
He takes a step toward me, enough to close the gap entirely. He looms, all six foot whatever of him. And I’m not in heels. I feel so small in his shadow. “Tell me the truth. You owe me the truth, Isabella.”
“Give me the keys to my car and we’ll talk about it inside,” I say through clenched teeth.
Rex pauses. His eyes narrow to slits, unsure if I’ll be true to my word.
“I don’t want people listening. Or seeing us together. Or any photos or –”
He shoves the fob into my hand and darts over to the passenger side door.
I unlock the car and we both climb inside. I stare straight ahead at the bumper of the car across from mine. Unsure where to start or what to say. He wasn’t supposed to know. Was never supposed to know.
“Yes,” I say simply.
I feel Rex’s stare pinned on me. Hard and painful, boring into my flesh. “Yes, what?”
“Leo is your son.”
The car fills with an unbearable silence. Rex’s posture shifts. Hard to soft. I peer at him out of the corner of my eye and… the poor man’s jaw is dropped. He runs a hand through his hair and tries to find the beginning of his next sentence. “Why – I mean – how—”
“Birth control is only ninety-nine percent effective.” And only if you use it perfectly. Plus, we didn’t use condoms because… well, it’s better that way. More intimate.
I was reckless. What can I say?
“But why didn’t you tell –”
“We had an agreement. One month. That was it. I didn’t want to get in the way of your career and I… didn’t want to be disappointed.” I didn’t even have a way to contact you.
“I had a right to know, Isabella.”
I nod. “That’s true.”
“You… kept him from me.”
“It was best for all of us.”
Rex starts shaking his head. “It wasn’t best for me. It wasn’t best for Leo.”
“Don’t say his name like –”
