Page 18 of Unveiled

“Miss. Ayala.” He sighed, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to me. “Don’t cry. You’re going to ruin your makeup on your birthday.”

“Well, you gave me bad news on my birthday and thankfully it’s waterproof.”

“I only told you what I did earlier, so you did not let your guard down with her upon meeting her. My job is to keep you safe. I’m going to do that regardless of if anything I say hurts your feelings. I’ll always be real with you.” He touched his earpiece.Yeah, I’ve got her right here. She’s getting some air. He turned his attention back to me. “Listen, I’ll figure this out but, in the meantime, I need to ask you to keep this to yourself.”

“You want me to lie to my fiancé?” I erupted into tears, holding the cloth to my eyes. “Forget I asked that, since he’s clearly lying to me.”

“I don’t think he’s lying to you.” He lifted his hand to his chin. “I just think there’s something he’s not telling you.”

Frozen, I stood before Noah in complete disbelief. Valentino had shown no sign of knowing who she was, but it was interesting how Joseph found her so quickly. Normally, he performed background checks and interviews with people before hiring them. It was usually an extensive hiring process.

I was wholly perplexed, and now I had no choice but to put my faith into Noah. I knew I could trust him, at least Ihopedso. He had at least gone through the proper steps to get hired on, and he did not seem extremely interested in harming me. He was blunt and arrogant at times, but I think that was because of the job he had before he came to work for us.

Unfortunately, I had been in too many situations where women threw themselves at my man while we have been together, and I was sure it would not stop after we married. Tears continued to roll down my cheeks, and I tried to catch them before they eventually streaked my face through my waterproof makeup.

“You have birthday candles you have to go blow out.” He lifted his shoe off the ground, pointing at me with his toe. “So maybe you should go inside now?”

I nodded. “I supposed I should get this over with so I can go to bed.” I meandered toward the house.

He followed about a step behind me. “I’ll find out how, when, and why for you as soon as possible. Don’t worry. I got this.”

Without verbally replying, I only offered a nod as I stepped in through the back door. I searched the living room and saw no sign of Valentino. I filed through the crowd, deciding to check his office. Just as I stepped into the hallway, Noah stopped me.

“Hey, I‘ll go get him for you.”

I spun around, arching a brow. “Okay, thank you. I’m going to go check my makeup really quick anyway.

Motionless and mouth agape, I stood behind my desk, staring at the headline on my laptop screen. Joseph and Lindsay waited silently in front of me.

“This is unbelievable! I literally just found out moments ago!” I lifted my gaze to Lindsay. “What’s in your hand?”

“Well,” she cleared her throat, handing me a newspaper, “I heard you prefer paper news.”

“Newspapers.” I corrected her as I took it, staring at the headline on the front page. “Why is my fiancée’s pregnancy front page newsworthy? Where did they even get that photo?” I glared down at the headline.

Joseph brought his hand to his chin. “Is Miss Ayala pregnant?”

I nodded, tossing the newspaper on my desk, then slamming my laptop closed. Lifting a hand to my mouth, I covered it with my palm, mumbling. “This will fucking destroy her.”

“Congratsdaddy!” Lindsay grinned.

I dropped my hands to my hips and glared. “Nevercall me that!” I roamed the room, restraining myself from punting everything over with my foot or pitching something across the room.

Lindsay took a deep, shaky breath. “S-sorry, Mr. Greco, I—”

I lifted my palm. “Just stop.”

“Would you like me to prepare a statement?”

KNOCK.

“Yes?”

The door opened after a single knock. Noah peeked around the corner. “Uh, sorry to interrupt, but Miss Ayala is inside now and ready to blow out her candles.”

I nodded. “We’ll be right there.”

He pulled the door closed.

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