Page 63 of Bossy Ex's Brother

I nodded, understanding her feelings now more than ever. But a man had to do what he had to do, and I had to protect my people. Now more than ever, a fire was lit under my ass.

I needed to protect my family.

Jane came to find me when I got to the office the next day.

She knocked tentatively on the door and then stuck her head through.

“Hi,” she said, shuffling her feet around.

“Hi,” I answered, frowning. “What are you doing here?” She was supposed to be resting.

“I’m feeling a lot better.” She came in and shuffled her feet around for some time.

Then, she announced, “I’m keeping the baby.”

TWENTY-FIVE

JANE

I decided to tackle it first thing when I walked into the bar the next morning.

I woke up feeling significantly better than I did yesterday, especially after finding that most of my siblings were still in bed with me when daylight broke. We’d spent most of the night reminiscing about our childhoods and telling each other old stories of all the things we’d gotten away with when we were kids. It was like a confession in a way, but it was highly amusing, and it was their way of distracting me from how horrible I felt. Then I started thinking about the baby again, and before I knew what was happening, I‘d dropped off to sleep again.

We all slept in this morning, and as such, we were busy scrambling around, late to everything, but I managed to get the kids out of the house at a decent hour. After the kids left for school, I took an extra second to take a deep breath, trying to swallow the decision I’d made last night.

“I’m keeping the baby.”

It sounded crazy thinking it and sounded even crazier saying it out loud. I was making the decision to give birth to a baby from a drunken one-night stand even though I was neither marriednor financially stable enough to be taking care of a baby. And most importantly, this was all so fast.

But…

I placed my hand on my belly, feeling an intense emotion stir within me. I couldn’t get rid of it. I just couldn’t. Even though I couldn’t feel any flutters under my fingers, I could already sense it was in there. Which was probably an imagination on my part, but I didn’t care. I had nothing against abortion, but I already felt too attached to the growing clump of cells inside me.

Eventually, it would grow into a tiny human, an amalgamation of myself and their father. Maybe they would look like only one of us. I imagined a little boy or girl that looked like Luca, and my throat tightened with emotion.

I wanted it. I wanted the baby.

But could I have it? Was I sacrificing my family’s happiness just to keep it?

I’d never had anything to myself in the longest time. Every single decision I’d ever made since I could remember was made with my siblings in my mind, thinking about what would be best for them and not me. This was the first selfish thing that I decided to do.

And I had to admit that it felt good.

With my mind made up, I finally put down my tea and went to take a shower to get ready for work. Because the next step came with letting Luca know about my decision. And I did not doubt it was going to be a battle.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself when I walked into the bar. Brandon was there as usual, although since it was closed, he was sitting on a stool at the counter, frowning at something on his phone. He instantly put it away when he noticed me getting closer, and his eyes lit up when he saw me.

“Hey,” he greeted. “Are you feeling better?”

I nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”

“That’s good,” he said, and there was palpable relief on his face. “I didn’t know how we were going to run this place without you.”

I smirked. “Ha. Finally admitting that you need me around here?”

“Definitely. We won’t find someone who can run this place the way you do, and I don’t want to do any more interviews. Besides, the boss will bite off anyone who even attempts to take your place.”

He added the last part with a conspiratorial wink, and I fought the blush that crept up my cheek.

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