Page 29 of Rectify

Her anger deflated. This was her fault. Not his. “Yes,” she whispered. “But I can’t change what happened. I only slept with him that once. But you know what they say, once is enough.”

“You got pregnant.”

She nodded.

She saw his fury drain away, leaving him looking exhausted. “When I got your message, I thought something terrible had happened. I was ready to storm down there myself and get you, but Rogan convinced me to send someone to check on you first. Christ, if I’d gone there myself, it might have changed everything. I would have paid the debt, Natalya.”

“You didn’t have that kind of money, not back then. It was before you hit the big time. I knew you’d try to find it, and I couldn’t land you in that sort of debt. Plus, I was worried about how you would try to come up with that sort of cash.”

“You thought I’d do something illegal?”

She nodded. “Wouldn’t you have?”

“You should have given me the option, Natalya.”

“I thought I was doing the right thing, and you know what I’m like when I think I’m right.”

“Stubborn as hell.”

She grinned wryly.

“You were in the wrong, Natalya. You still should have told me, no matter how you thought I would react.”

“I know. But you were going places. You were going to become somebody. A famous movie star. I couldn’t drag you down into the gutter with me. Can you honestly tell me that you’d have done any different if the tables had been reversed? Wouldn’t you have protected me, even if it meant losing me?”

Aedan went quiet, just watching her. Then he nodded. “Yeah, I guess I would have. I still don’t agree with what you did. You should have told me. But I will try to put it in the past. Staying mad at you won’t help anyone, least of all Mateo.”

“Really?” she asked hopefully, hardly daring to believe it. “You’ll forgive me?”

“I’ll try.”

That was all she could hope for.

Her arms and legs felt like lead weights, and a wave of dizziness washed over her.

“Whoa, Natalya? Are you okay?”

Aedan grabbed her by the shoulders and held her steady.

“I’m fine. I just need to sit down.”

“You need to sleep,” he countered, sweeping her into his arms and carrying her over to the bed. “I’m putting you to bed. You’re going to stay there and sleep.”

“Aedan, I’m no longer your responsibility.”

“You sought me out,” he replied. “I said I would help you.”

“To find Mateo. Nothing else.”

He stared down at her. “Seems that’s already covered by Stanton and his team. They can focus on looking for Mateo. Right now, you need my help more.”

“Why help me?” she asked as he set her down on the bed.

“I don’t know.” He looked confused. “I shouldn’t care. I should let you grind yourself into the ground. But I can’t stand to watch you disintegrate in front of my eyes. I’ve been angry at you for so long, and there is a part of me that still is. But I want to try and put that behind me. We need to find some peace between us if we’re going to work together to find your son.”

She blinked back tears. “I wish I had done things differently. And yet, if I could go back, I’d do the same thing over.”

“What?”

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