Page 51 of Devoted to the Enemy

A wave of relief washed over me. I realized that Teo had a past and sleeping with another woman during the five years we were apart wasn’t unexpected but the idea of him having a baby with someone else would have been a lot to process.

“So why is she still saying that the baby is yours?”

“I’m not sure. Denial maybe? Or maybe she is looking for a payout.”

I nodded, feeling like my head was going to explode with all the information being crammed inside so quickly.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not happy that you didn’t tell me sooner. This is the kind of thing that we should be handling together.”

“You’d just been through so much with Romano, I didn’t want to upset you with anything else.”

“But that’s part of us being a team. We talk things out and work out issues together. You've got to quit trying so hard to protect me that you end up alienating me."

"You're right. I'm sorry. I know that we've been through a lot, but can we try to put all this behind us and move forward? We're supposed to be getting married tomorrow and there's nothing more I want than to make you my wife. Can you forgive me?"

"I can as long as you promise to start including me in this stuff. Okay?"

"Deal." Teo smiled, took my hand, and gave it a little squeeze. "Now what do you say we go practice getting married?"

I let out a little chuckle before a sobering thought came to mind.

“There's one thing I don't understand and that we haven't really addressed.”

“What's that?”

“Someone sent me that picture of you at the bar with the other woman. Someone was there watching you close enough that they had time to get their phone out, take the picture, and send it to me.”

“I know. It’s something that we will have to figure out but right now, we’re going to be late for our own wedding rehearsal.”

Teo buckled and pulled back onto the road.

Teo

Iwas still reelingfrom the altercation with Anna when I pulled up at the parking lot near the cliff where Mia and I were supposed to say our vows.

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