Page 54 of Snowed In with the Bosses

“I don’t want to cause a scene.” Clara moved toward the door. “‘We’re in the middle of the mall for God’s sake. Can we go somewhere else?”

“We can talk in the car.” Ethan offered the suggestion with a worried line pinching his brows together.

Clara hesitated and took us all in with a frown. “Probably would be better if we had a space big enough to move around.”

So this would not be an easy conversation. “It’s true, though.” I eased into the beginning of the conversation we were bound to have. “You’re pregnant,” I spoke so low she had to lean in to hear, and her face paled to that ghastly gray color again.

“Not here.” She remained resolute despite the evidence.

I respected her ability to hold up against the question. And I give Alexander a hell of a wide perimeter on my way past him. The man was ready to explode, audience be damned.

“Liam?” Alexander snapped my name with a crack that split the air.

I knew that tone and my phone practically jumped into my hand. “On it. I’ll have the bar clear by the time we get there.” I tapped the most called contact in my phone and barked out my demands as soon as Nick answered. He replied with a grunt of assent and hung up. One thing about owning the bar was having my orders obeyed without question. Mom and Dad were busy with other projects. They’d never even think to question why I cleared it in the middle of the afternoon, right before peak drinking hour.

We left the jewelry store almost at a jog. Clara’s eyes flared briefly with anger before she caught up. I slowed to a quick walk.

“Alexander.” Ethan fell back to join us.

Our fearless leader barreled through the mall like a man possessed. His powerful strides carried him ahead of us. He skipped steps on his way down the escalator and barely paused at the elevator, stopping then because he finally realized we were not with him. An annoyed look passed over his face before he smoothed it.

We made it to the bar in one piece, though by the time I stepped through the doors and breathed in the familiar smell of beer and oak worn smooth by time and thousands of hours of polishing, my bones felt fragile as glass. I held up a single finger, silently warning them to wait, and made my way over to the office to turn off the inside security cameras we kept going day and night. Alexander gave me a nod of thanks when I returned and we all sank into the closest booth.

Silence became a shroud of punishment. Clara picked at a napkin, tearing it into strips, then tiny, confetti-sized pieces.One breath lifted her shoulders, and at the exhale, she spoke. “I’m pregnant. I found out the day of the food poisoning incident.”

I recalled the day without hesitation. That was when things started feeling odd between all of us.

Alexander’s posture stiffened so abruptly I waited for his jacket to shred as he hulked out. Ice blue eyes pierced Clara. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

The fact that one of us was about to be a father seemed to elude him as he sought answers. I held my tongue, curious to hear Clara’s explanation.

“Because you don’t listen to me.” She held up a hand. “Let me clarify. When I brought Allan to your attention, you brushed off my concern. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?” She scoffed. “Of course, you don’t. You’re men. You’ve never had to tell a man no, then fight him off as he tries to pressure you into changing your mind, wondering if he’ll listen or if he’ll be waiting for you in the parking lot when you leave work.”

My knuckles popped from the force of my hands clenching. All around the table, eyes and jaws hardened.

“This has happened?” Ethan’s voice was a lethal thing, but it was less frightening than the blaze of pure death scorching from Alexander with every blink.

“Allan is a dirtbag who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. You look at his work history and have the nerve to tell me he’s harmless.” She cupped both hands over her stomach. “I won’t let my child grow up in a situation where they feel unsafe or unloved.”

Unloved? That was how she felt, like we would not protect her or love her?

“It’s not just that.” Clara steeled herself, her chin jutting out in a familiar way I’d noticed her doing when she made a point during a meeting. “What happens to our jobs when this comesout? I wasn’t sure you’d even want to know. I mean, I can hide it for a while, but at some point, everyone is going to know I’m pregnant.”

“We deserve to know.” Alexander stabbed a finger into the table.

I stood and poured each of us a shot of whiskey, then grabbed a bottle of water for Clara.

The hard lines of her face softened when she took it from me. “I was trying to figure out the best way forward.”

“The best way forward is to tell us so we can work together. This is not a one man show. Or a one woman show.” Ethan downed his whiskey without even a hint of a grimace. “I’d been keeping tabs on Allan.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She shot the question back at him with the same amount of venom used against her. “Let me guess. You didn’t want to worry me. Well, how’s it feel when it happens to you? Hmm?” Her low, throaty scoff twisted a knife into my heart.

Alexander’s hands flexed on the tabletop.

“We’ve been ignorant and unreceptive to your fears.” I swirled my whiskey around in the glass, eyeing the amber liquid. “We made a mistake. A potential stalker in the office is never something to be taken lightly, and we should have told you that we were taking you seriously.”

The low hum of electricity wound into the spaces between us when we fell silent. Clara turned her bottle of water around and around in her hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you myself.” A self-deprecating laugh tinged her cheeks with pink. “I didn’t want you to think I was trying to force you into a relationship.”

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