Page 52 of Forbidden Daddy
"Roman." Her voice was small, uncertain.
I pulled the chair closer to her bed, but didn’t sit. Couldn’t sit. The space between us felt charged with everything unsaid, everything hidden.
"When were you going to tell me?" The words came out colder than I’d intended, but I couldn’t stop them. Couldn’t stop the rage building in my chest like pressure behind a dam.
She flinched as if I’d struck her. "I was going to?—"
"When? After the child was born? After you’d figured out how to use it against me?"
"Use it—" Her eyes flashed with anger, and for a moment, I saw the steel that had drawn me to her in the first place. "How dare you?—"
"How dare I what? Expect honesty from the woman who’s supposed to be my partner? The woman carrying my heir?" I leaned forward, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "You sat in strategy meetings. You listened to me talk about loyalty,about trust, about the importance of family. And the entire time, you were keeping this from me."
Tears gathered in her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. "I was scared."
"Of what? Of me?"
"Of this." She gestured between us, her voice breaking. "Of everything happening too fast. Of not being ready to bring a child into your world. Of not understanding what it would mean for us."
"Us." I laughed, the sound bitter and sharp. "There is no us, Cassie. There’s me, and there’s the business, and there are people who try to use one to destroy the other. Which category do you fall into?"
She stared at me like I’d slapped her. "You really believe that? That I would?—"
"I don’t know what to believe anymore." The admission tasted like ash in my mouth. "Everyone I’ve ever trusted has lied to me eventually. My mother. Anton. And now you."
"I’m not them."
"Aren’t you?" I straightened, putting distance between us. "You’ve been living in my house, sharing my bed, pretending to be my partner, all while hiding the most important secret of all. How is that different?"
The monitor beside her bed beeped faster, her heart rate spiking with distress. A part of me—the part that had held her through nightmares, that had watched her stand up to my most dangerous men without flinching—wanted to take it back. Wanted to hold her until the fear left her eyes.
But the larger part, the part that had survived betrayal after betrayal, couldn’t let it go.
"Get some rest," I said, my voice carefully controlled. "We’ll discuss this when you’re feeling better."
I was almost at the door when her voice stopped me.
"I love you."
The words hit me like bullets, each one finding its target with devastating precision. I stood frozen in the doorway, my hand on the handle, my heart hammering against my ribs.
I didn’t turn around. Couldn’t. Because if I looked at her—if I saw the truth in her eyes, the vulnerability she was offering me—I might break completely.
"Love is a luxury neither of us can afford," I mumbled, and walked out.
The hallway felt colder than before, the fluorescent lights harsher. I made it to the elevator before the shaking started, my hands trembling as I jabbed the button for the ground floor.
Everyone I love lies.
The thought circled in my head like a predator as I stepped outside into the cool night air. I pulled out my phone and dialed without thinking.
"Roman?" Declan’s voice was sleep-rough but immediately alert. "How is she?"
"She’s pregnant." The words felt foreign on my tongue.
Silence stretched between us, long enough that I wondered if the call had dropped. Then: "Congratulations. That’s... unexpected."
"She kept it from me." I leaned against the brick wall of the hospital, suddenly exhausted. "The entire time, Declan. She knew, and she said nothing."
