Claimed By my Ex’s Uncle

1. Rose

Rose

I stare down at the test, hands shaking so much I can barely make out the two pink lines in front of me.

Positive.

I can hardly believe what I am seeing. It feels like I’m outside my body, watching this happen to someone else. Because there is no way I can be pregnant, right? That would be crazy.

I toss the test into the staff trash can, along with the other three that I have already taken, and cram them down under a pile of trash in the hopes that the others won’t notice.

The last thing I want is to have to put this all into words when it feels like my world is being torn apart at the seams. I can feel my knees shaking underneath me, and I grip either side of the sink, staring at myself in the mirror as I try to make sense of exactly what this means.

No way can all of those tests have come up with a false positive. No way. Four tests, and all came back with the same result—the result that announces that I am well and truly with child, whether I like it or not.

The world tilts dangerously around me, and I sink back against the door, trying to catch myself. Can this be happening? It’s a nightmare, one I need to wake up from right this freaking second, but I can’t seem to rouse myself from whatever horrible dream has taken hold of me.

My mind drifts to Peter, who, I suppose, I will have to tell about this. Fuck. He is the very last person I want to talk to right now, the last person I want to even think about. I thought that I was finally done with him when I managed to evict him from my life six weeks ago.

The rest of my life with that asshole in it?

After what he did to me? The thought alone is enough to turn my stomach.

Or maybe this is just what it feels like to have morning sickness.

Oh, hell, I’m going to have to deal with that, too—going through all the strain of a pregnancy alone.

I mean, it will probably be easier than if I’d been forced to deal with Petar’s childish presence the entire way through, but that doesn’t mean that I want to face something as enormous as this all alone.

It’s a cosmic joke from the universe. That’s what it feels like, at least. I stuck it out with him for too long, even though I had my doubts about his fidelity.

But as long as I couldn’t prove anything, I reasoned with myself that there was no reason for me to walk away from him.

He treated me pretty well the rest of the time.

Well, mostly. I would have been crazy to let my paranoia get in the middle of something that was otherwise solid...

I should have trusted my gut the first time I saw him trying to hide his phone from me.

I don’t know what I was thinking, but I looked the other way long enough for him to start a full-blown affair with a woman he was working with.

Even the thought of it now is so infuriating, I want to scream when I think of all the time and attention and care I showed him, only to have it thrown back in my face the moment he found a hotter piece of ass to focus on.

But I have managed to get myself pregnant by him first. Great.

He’s the last person I want to start a family with, but I can already tell that trying to keep something like this from him would be futile at best. He would find out somehow; he always did.

And that woman he’d been cheating on me with, who was in a full-blown relationship with him behind my back, I was pretty sure she’d been skulking around, no doubt trying to gloat about her prize.

I almost wanted to tell her that she could goddamn have him if it was so important to her. If she wants a cheater, that’s on her, though I can’t imagine she’ll ever be able to stop thinking about what might happen when the next pretty young thing draws his attention.

Suddenly, a knock sounds on the door behind me, and I jump.

I gather myself as best I can, rising to my feet to splash some water on my face.

I had to be stupid enough to do this at work instead of waiting till I got home.

I’d stopped by the pharmacy on my lunch break and come back here to take the tests, so sure that they were going to come up negative, I didn’t even consider that this might affect the rest of my day.

"Rose? You okay in there?” Becky’s concerned voice drifts through the door.

I quickly pull it open, plastering a smile on my face. "Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry."

She eyes me incredulously for a moment, clearly not putting much stock in my answer. "You sure? You don’t look okay..."

I almost want to laugh at how blunt she sounds—I don’t think she even realizes how she comes across most of the time, but that’s part of her charm, I guess.

Or, at least, it’s something I have gotten used to in the few years since we became coworkers and then roommates.

Either way, I don’t think I want to hear her opinion on my pregnancy right now, if I even want to tell her about it at all.

Oh, God, I didn’t even think about that. I’m going to be showing soon enough, and when I do, I can’t imagine that I can hide it from her for long...

"Yeah, I’m sure," I reply as I smooth down the chic little pencil skirt I am wearing and head back out to the shop floor. I know that Tina, our boss, would be furious if she saw me slacking, and honestly, I need a distraction right now.

I lean behind the counter, casting my eye out over the store.

It all looks good, even as I search for something to busy myself with to keep my brain from drifting to the revelation that just hit me like a ton of freaking bricks.

All the new arrivals, the fancy embroidered blouses we got from a boutique in Turin, are lined up right as you come in the door—one of my little discoveries when I was browsing through fashion blogs online.

It’s one of my favorite hobbies, and it gives me plenty of ideas for when I open my own place.

The door dings. I look up, glad to have a customer. But when I see who is standing there in the doorway, the smile slides from my face.

Lisa.

Oh, she has some nerve showing her face around here.

I’m sure that she knew this was where I worked, given that Petar was apparently talking badly about me behind my back when they were together.

She tosses a swath of blond hair over one shoulder and runs a perfectly manicured hand over her mane before she locks eyes with me and makes her way over to the counter.

My shoulders hunch up slightly, but I do my best to keep the smile on my face.

The last thing you want to give a woman like this is the knowledge that she has managed to get under your skin.

That’s what women like her thrive on, and I will be damned if I give her anything to take away from this encounter other than some overpriced wooden bracelets.

"Can I help you with anything?" I ask stiffly as Lisa lifts her hand again—and this time, I see just what it is she is trying to get me to see. There is a ring on her finger, a rock half the size of her hand, pressed into a gold ring.

An engagement? To Petar? I blink at it for a moment as I try to figure out what I’m seeing. Damn, she must really have done a number on him to convince him to propose when they were together behind my back for the majority of their relationship.

"Yes, I’m taking a trip next month with my fiancé," she tells me breezily, making sure to lace that final word with a little extra hit. "And I’d like to pick up some pieces to match my ring. Here, take a look. See if you’ve got anything you think would make a good match..."

She shoves her hand right in front of my face, and I grimace as I look down at it.

I hear Tina’s voice at the back of my mind telling me that it doesn’t matter who comes in here—it’s my job to serve them to the best of my ability.

The ring really is impressive, but then, with Petar working at the accounting firm, he has a decent income to his name.

That’s where they met, actually, when she was working as his secretary.

I had thought that hooking up with a secretary might have been too much of a cliché, even for him, but I guess nothing is below him.

As I glance up at her again, I am reminded of the night I found out: the family gala that should have been a perfect night.

I had noticed that he’d drifted away from the party for a while, so I went out on the balcony to find him.

Which is where, of course, I stumbled across him on a video call to Lisa.

I saw her face on the screen first, which was confusing enough.

But when he turned around and I saw the complete and utter guilt etched on his face, I knew she was something he had never intended for me to find out about.

"Well, I think we have a few gold pieces that might make a good match," I tell her as I lead her to the accessory display at the far side of the store. "Here, what do you think of this? It’s simple, but it works with plenty of different styles. You can really dress this kind of necklace up or down, depending on what you’re looking for. "

I bite back tears as I go through my normal spiel, forcing myself not to give this woman the satisfaction of seeing what she’s doing to me.

Because it wasn’t even really about her, not really.

No, she could have my damn, cheating ex if she wanted him; she could get engaged to him and run off on tropical vacations with him like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

But what she doesn’t know is that I am carrying his child, and I don’t know where the hell that leaves me.

I manage to convince her to purchase a few pieces and head back to the counter so we can settle up.

Becky emerges from the back room, and when she sees who’s standing there at the counter, she stiffens for a second.

I shoot her a look, silently imploring her not to turn this into any more of a humiliation ritual than it already is, and finish ringing up Lisa’s pieces.

"Thanks," Lisa tells me as she grabs the bag from the counter.

"Enjoy your trip," I reply, and she grins.

"Oh, I know we will," she replies. And with that, she heads over to the door, leaving me to grab the counter as I try to steel myself against the flood of emotion that is rushing through me right now.

"Holy shit, was that…?” Becky blurts.

"Yeah, it was," I reply as I lean my head down, catching my breath. "Lisa. The woman he was cheating on me with."

"Was that an engagement ring she was wearing?"

I nod. Becky rests a hand on my shoulder, brows knitting together with concern.

"You know, if she wants him, you should just let her have him," she tells me, mistaking my distress for being focused on the new relationship over anything else. "They deserve each other, after what they did to you."

"Yeah, I know," I reply, lifting my head and feeling the pinch of tears at the back of my eyes. Not here. Not at work. Please.

"What’s going on?" she asks. "You want me to close up the shop for a while, and you can—"

"I’m pregnant."

The words escape my lips before I can even really think about the enormous weight I am dumping on Becky’s head right now. They just hang there for a moment, neither of us really sure what to do with them, and then Becky springs into action.

"Oh my God, Rose!” she exclaims. "Sit down. Let me get you a chair. When did you find out? Is Petar the father?”

As she peppers me with questions, I do my best to keep up, but it’s hard to make sense of it all as it jars into place.

Now that I have said it out loud, there is no taking it back, no getting away from it, no pretending that this isn’t happening.

I tip my head back, but it is too late, and I can already feel the tears starting to leak down my face.

Muttering a curse under my breath, I pull my purse out from where I had stashed it at the start of my shift and pull it open, hoping to find a tissue or something I can tidy myself up with.

But instead, my eyes lock on something buried there at the bottom of my belongings, and I freeze as the memories rush through me once more.