Page 192 of Syndicate of Sin Bundle

After peeing in the cup, I returned to my room, where Sage sat on the bed alone, crying. When she saw me, she threw her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered over and over. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“What’re you sorry for?” I asked, tucking some hair behind her ear. “You did so amazing tonight. We should be the ones apologizing for putting you in that situation. You should’ve never been in harm’s way.”

“I-i-it’s not that,” she said, snotting.

Handing her a tissue, I took her face in my hands. “Then, what is it?”

“I don’t know how to say this,” Sage whispered, tears trembling in her eyes. “But I need to tell you because I can’t …” She bit back a sob. “I don’t know if I can handle this anymore, Laila. I’m not … I’m not really pregnant.”

My eyes widened slowly. “Wh-what?”

They had … both been lying to me? Constantino had lied so I’d kill Bethany?

Sage dropped to her knees. “Please don’t be angry with Constantino. He has only ever looked out for you and wants the best for your relationship. I’m so sorry that I went along with his lie, but I need you to know before our test results come back, i-in case they can tell. Forgive me.”

“I-it’s okay, Sage,” I stuttered.

But they had lied to me. How would that ever be okay? How could I trust them?

“No,” Sage sobbed, shaking her head. “It’s not. I’m so sorry.”

After a couple of moments, Constantino walked back into the room. “Laila—”

“You lied,” I said blankly.

“What?”

“About Sage being pregnant.”

Constantino frowned, but didn’t look at Sage in an attempt to blame her for telling me, which was one of the reasons why I loved that man. But still … he had lied to me about this. He had … given me false information in order for me to kill Bethany.

And, fuck, I needed to get over it already.

If I didn’t want this to seem like it had all been for the baby—because it hadn’t been—then I would leave it as it was. I didn’t care that Sage wasn’t pregnant. Sure, I wished that she could officially become part of the family, but if we had to wait for that, then we would wait.

Lying though?

“If I had told you the truth, you would’ve let me kill Sage,” he said, his words a slap in the fucking face. He pressed his lips together and cut his gaze away. “It doesn’t matter at this moment. Let’s not get into it now. We’ll talk later.”

And while I wanted to hash it out now, he was right. I had been tortured for the past twenty-four hours straight. I would say something stupid that I didn’t mean at all. I would hurt him more than I already had.

Dr. Lin returned and gently shut the door behind herself, nervously chewing on her inner lip. She held a clipboard against her chest and swallowed hard. “It looks like neither of the girls was drugged. But …”

“But what?” Constantino asked.

Dr. Lin turned to me. “Laila,” she whispered, “you’re pregnant.”

72

sage

“Wh-what?” Laila whispered, confusion etched on her face.

“You’re pregnant,” Dr. Lin repeated.

Laila collapsed onto her knees and sobbed, shaking her head. “No. No, you’re lying.”

---