Page 91 of Mile High Baby

“I’m not asking for anything. You don’t have to do anything.”

He smirked, or what I thought might be a smirk in his bruised and battered face. “I can’t do anything anyway, Victoria.”

I let out a breath. “I’m pregnant.”

His breath hitched, but I still couldn’t tell how the news impacted him.

“I know this isn’t what you want, and it’s okay. I can raise the child—”

“Did Henry tell you to keep it away from me?”

“What? No. My father doesn’t know.”

His jaw tightened. “Will he hate it because it’s mine?”

What? “No. My father is angry.” He was beyond angry, but I knew he’d come around. He was hurt and betrayed, but he was a good man. “He’ll be so happy to be a grandfather.”

Alex turned his head away, looking off. I wondered what was going on in his mind.

Finally, he turned back. “I’ll provide whatever you need.”

It was what he told my father he’d do. My heart burst in my chest, proving I’d been unable to protect myself from his rejection.

“I don’t need anything,” I said harshly, covering up my agony with anger. Knowing I was about to weep and not wanting him to see it as it would likely anger him since I brought all this on myself, I turned, reaching for the door.

“It wouldn’t have worked.”

I stopped and looked at him over my shoulder. “I guess we’ll never know.” I pulled open the door and strode out of Alex Sterling’s life.

31

Alex

When I told Henry I’d support a woman who got pregnant by me, I had no expectation that it would ever really happen.

I’m pregnant.

The words continued to reverberate in my head. Shock was my first response, followed by longing. A wish that things could be different. But they couldn’t.

Was I a bad person for forfeiting my rights as a father? Detestable. Worse than my own father. But if Victoria and the child were to be happy, truly happy, I had to be out of the picture. Her life was with Henry. They were a real and true family. I couldn’t come between that.

As long as Henry would love the child, then they would be fine. More than fine. Henry, unlike me, was capable of love. Oh, sure, I believe I felt it, but was that enough for Victoria to stake her life on? To risk losing her father over? No.

As I watched her exit my room, my breath, my very life, was leaving with her.

My cheeks felt damp. Using my uninjured hand, I wiped away tears. Jesus, I was crying.

My door opened, and I quickly brushed away the evidence of my emotional collapse.

Elliott entered. “Do you feel as bad as you look?”

“Worse.” I prepared to be fired. Dax might have gotten away with sleeping with a client, but I doubted I would. Henry would hound Elliott or Archer until I was gone.

He sighed. “I never thought anyone would get one up on you.”

I shrugged, then winced at the shot of pain. “Yeah, well, my head wasn’t in the right place.”

He came to stand next to my bed. “Because of the woman?”