Page 379 of The Sinner: James

My eyes linger on his face, observing the smile glowing over his face as he looks down again and stares blankly at his glass.

I’m jealous of him for a moment.

“How did she take it?”

He drags his gaze up and looks at me.

“She was surprised, scared... And she panicked at first,” he says.

A chuckle falls from his lips.

“She was an emotional mess... She’d been like that even when she’d visited me here, but I thought it was some weird change, the stress created by a new place. I never thought it was her being pregnant, and she didn’t, either. It wasn’t planned, as I said before. It was an accident. A happy one if you wish.”

I lean back.

“And you? How did you take the news?”

His smile withers away as he muses.

“I never thought about having a kid before I met her, and it wasn’t only that. Things felt different after I made that trip to Vegas. I guess it all came to me at the right time. It was fate, as I said before.”

“So, what’s the plan now?”

His expression shifts swiftly.

He inhales deeply before speaking again.

“For now, she’s still in Turkey. She’ll go home when the semester ends, a few weeks from now, and I want to go back with her. I told her she wouldn’t be alone, and that’s why I needed to talk to you.”

I gesture at him.

“No need to worry.”

He seems surprised by my reaction.

“I’ll take over your work,” I say.

“Are you sure?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“It’s a lot to cover. I can surely work back home, but I can no longer travel. Aside from an aunt and a cousin, she has no family left, and it’s not only that. I don’t want her to be alone. She needs to go to school, and when the baby arrives, she’ll still be a student.”

“I hear you. You do what you need to do. She’s your family now. I’ll set up the Singapore branch and finish your work here. Once it’s all done, I’ll have someone oversee everything in case I don’t want to do it myself. But for now, it won’t be a problem.”

He studies me for a moment.

“Is Rain going to be okay with it?”

“I’ll tell her tonight. You break the news at the dinner table, and I’ll handle everything else. It’s a temporary arrangement anyway, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

I pause for a second.

“When are you going to tell Lex?” I ask.

“I’ll call him,” he says, rising to his feet.

“Any plans for the wedding?” I toss at him, pushing out of my chair.

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