Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
MASSIO
“I don’t understand. What do you mean, she’s pregnant?” Ford exhales at the news the doctor just delivered. “She can’t be.” He paces the family waiting room while I steeple my hands on my legs.
“She’s pregnant,” I confirm. “With my baby.”
Ford gasps.
I clear my throat. I might as well rip the fucking Band-Aid off. “We’re married too. So there’s no possibility of an engagement.” The words taste bitter on my tongue. A fucking engagement!
Ford tilts his head, and I meet his stare. “Do you love her?”
I swallow hard. “Of course.”
“Does she know about your past with my wife?”
I blink.
What the actual fuck?
He laughs, but it’s full of malice. “You really think I am that much of an idiot?”
I swallow hard but hold his stare.
“Veronica came to me, claiming she was pregnant with my child. I did the right thing. When I employed you, it was never my intention to hurt you. I wanted what was best for Theodora. Though I imagine your intentions were not as noble.”
I swallow back the lump in my throat. “I love Thea, sir. I might not have had the best of intentions to begin with,” I admit, though it pains me to do so.
Not because of it being the truth, but because she deserves so much more.
I thought she was a spoiled brat, heartless and uncaring, just like her mother.
Turns out, she is everything but that. “She’s a beautiful soul, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her. ”
“Sir? That’s the first time you called me that.” He nods. “You need to come clean with her.”
“I will.”
“She’s not going to be easy to deal with.”
My lip twitches. “I know.”
“But I trust you’re the man to do it.” He clasps my shoulder and squeezes.
“I need her to wake up,” I admit meekly. “I can’t lose her. Her or our baby.”
“You won’t. Thea is strong-willed. She’ll come back to us.”
It’s not lost on me that he referred to her as Thea. I’m not sure whether he realizes it or not, but that subtle change in his mind will mean the world to her.
Ford takes the seat opposite me, and I take this opportunity to ask him a question that has eaten away at me for eighteen years. “Did you ever love her?” I ask. “Veronica.”
“No.” He holds my focus. “I did what was expected of me. The right thing.”
My phone rings, and I cringe.
Not a-fucking-gain.
Ford gestures toward my pants. “Answer it. It might be important.”
As soon as I see Miko’s name on the screen, I blow out a deep breath and prepare for the next onslaught.