Page 94 of The Arrogant's Redemption

"No. He remembers her shouting that she wanted me to suffer—and that she was going to Cape Cod to find me, certain that once I knew about the pregnancy, I would marry her."

"I can’t deny it sounds like she was deeply disturbed."

"She wasn’t just disturbed. She was truly unstable. Morrison told me she purposely drove into the truck."

I stare at him, not sure I heard right—but the pain etched in his face leaves no doubt.

"But she knew she was pregnant . . . I mean, even if she didn’t care about herself, the baby . . .”

"She told my cousin she wanted me to suffer. In the end, she got her wish."

I feel bile rising in my throat—for the first time, thinking not just about what I went through, but what he went through too. LJ hadn’t been able to protect his unborn child from a woman spiraling out of control. And I, on my end, had hidden Sedric from him out of pure pain.

Yes—because Mom was right. Just like she’d managed to get in touch with LJ when she needed him to agree to see me as a patient, I could have tried harder. I hated his sister for how she’d treated me—but I was just as guilty for keeping our son from him.

"I’ll never stop you from seeing him," I start, but LJ’s face, which had been relatively calm, tightens again. "Let me explain. I want you to be part of his life."

"That’s not good enough. I screwed up by not looking you in the eyes and explaining everything back then. But now I want a chance to fix it."

"We can’t get married. You said yourself, you don’t believe in the old-fashioned idea that kids have to be raised within marriage. And besides, we don’t love each other. I don’t . . .”

I’m about to sayI don't trust you—but then I realize he has no reason to trust me either. Why would he, after I hid Sedric’s existence for so long?

"I want, and will, marry you. But for now, I’ll settle for you moving into my apartment here on the island."

"What? No! Sedric’s too young. He’s already having trouble sleeping after being separated from me and with the move to Manhattan."

"I wouldn’t know, Alexis. I never had the chance to be a father," he says bitterly, and the blow hits hard.

"You can stay here for a few days," I offer. "Badger went back to Cape Cod this morning. It’s just me, Mom, and Sedric now."

"No. I’m not going to settle for a few days with my son. I’m moving in."

Alexis

CHAPTER FIFTY

"What did you just say?"

"I can’t see any other way to spend as much time as possible with Sedric. It’s time he gets used to having me in his life. I’m not going to risk him growing up without remembering me from his early childhood."

I open my mouth to protest, but guilt stops me.

LJ stands and comes toward me. Taking both my hands, he lifts me to my feet. "I want both of you."

"Because now your future is secured? You finally have the heir you always wanted?"

As if I’ve shocked him, he lets go of me—and I feel ashamed of myself. I cover my face with my hands. "I’m sorry," I say, for the first time taking the initiative to approach him. "What I said was awful, but I’m scared, LJ."

"I’m not giving up on you two, Alexis. You’re mine, the family I want—and it has nothing to do with any past plans. We both made mistakes, and I’ll never be able to show you how much I regret not looking for you before. But if we stay stuck in the past, it’ll hurt our son—and we’ll never have a real fresh start."

"How can we have a fresh start when we never really began?"

"Call it whatever you want, Alexis. Just know I’m not leaving your life again."

I could lie and say I don’t want him near us—but I’m done hurting both myself and him. "Moving in here doesn’t mean the two of us?—"

"Right now, I’m living one day at a time, Alexis. My focus is our new beginning, being close to you, to my son, and making sure you fully recover from surgery."

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