Page 147 of Between Secrets and Obsession

“You look nice.” Victoria presses a palm to my chest before sliding it down to my belt buckle. “Very handsome in fact.”

She tries undoing my jeans. Squeezing her wrists, I push her away. “Not a chance in fucking hell.”

“You expect me to stay celibate?” She scowls, crossing her arms.

“I don’t fucking care what you do, but it won’t be with me,” I warn, walking around her toward the door.

“You really think she’s gonna take you back?” she says behind me. “She’s cozying up to one of my men as we speak. She’s forgotten all about you, Liam. It’s time you realize you belong here, withme.”

I swallow hard, resisting the urge to snap at her. Looking over my shoulder, I say, “I wouldn’t let you touch me if you were the last person on earth.”

Victoria looks hurt, but what did she expect? She’s trying to blackmail me into having sex with her, and there’s nothing shecan say or do to make me change my mind. I’d let her father kill me before I ever make that mistake again.

She swallows and straightens her shoulders, then walks to me. “I don’t give a shit what our arrangement was, so it’s best you forget it. The moment you violated the terms and screwed her while we were supposed to be proving to everyone that we were happily married is when you threw it all away. Now, you’ll do whatever I say because you have no other choice. Got it?”

That’s what she fucking thinks, but I hold back the smug grin I want to flash at her. Instead, I force out a smile. “Sure, wifey. Ready to go now?”

The corner of her lips tilt up in victory, and I can’t wait to see the shock on her face when she discovers holding Maddie hostage didn’t work. I have faith in Tyler and whatever he’s planning.

The morning is filled with Victoria bossing me around as her driver takes us from store to store. The number of things a baby needs is ridiculous, and she’s shopping for two, which makes it worse. We register at five different places, which is insane, considering Victoria’s loaded and could buy it all herself. But not the O’Learys. They need big, glamorous parties to show off, and I have no doubt that if she gets her way, she’s already planning for me to be at all of them.

At each shop, she looks through baby clothes and purchases more than I think any baby could actually wear without changing them twenty times a day. By the last one, there are ten large bags in the car, and I know because I’ve carried each of them.

“Are we done now? I need to eat something,” I say when we get into the back of the car.

“Yes, let’s stop for a late lunch. It’ll be good to be seen eating out together,” Victoria says, then directs Hector where to go. “Which means?—”

“Cherish the ground you walk on, hold your hand, show affection. Yes, I know,” I grumble. The same shit I’ve been doing all morning since we’ve been in public.

“Good.” She smiles as if she’s successfully trained me like a dog.

Hector makes a stop at the light, and we’re roughly jolted forward as the sound of metal on metal rings out. Victoria smacks her head against the window, and the seat belts tighten around us, locking us in place. She squeals, and I curse when the belt digs into me.Fuck.

I turn around to see a large truck has slammed into the back of the SUV. Small fender benders like this are common, but Victoria isn’t having it.

The next half hour passes in a chaotic blur as Hector nearly knocks the guy’s teeth out and I call 911. Victoria cries in fear about the babies and tells the police officers she wants the driver who hit us unnecessarily arrested.

It’s a fucking shitstorm.

They take her in an ambulance, and I’m forced to ride along as her worried husband. I play my damn part, but I’m slightly eager to talk to a doctor not on her family’s payroll. I want to see an ultrasound in real time and find out how far along she truly is.

“Thanks for staying by my side,” Victoria whispers as she lies on the bed, waiting for the ultrasound tech.

“Of course,” I mutter.

The tech introduces herself as Talia and explains she’s going to take some measurements and pictures for the doctor to make sure everything is fine. Though the impact was minimal, Victoria was determined to get checked out.

Victoria raises her shirt up to her bra, and for the first time, I see her bare round belly. Even lying down, I can tell she’s bigger than she should be for this far along. I’ve been suspicioussince the moment she announced she was pregnant and started reading up on it, and even with twins, she looks twice the size of the pictures I saw online.

Talia reassures us that both babies look great. The heartbeats are strong, and they’re moving around without any distress. Victoria exhales in relief, but I study the size of them. She claims she got pregnant over the Fourth of July week when she came to California, which would make her about two and a half months. I’m not buying it.

But I’m about to find out the truth.

“Can we get some pictures?” I ask like an excited father-to-be. “With the number of weeks on there?” I ask, then smile wide. “For the babies’ scrapbook.”

“I already have some from a couple of weeks ago,” Victoria blurts out, but Talia’s already printing them out.

“Absolutely! They change so much at this stage, so it’s nice to have more!” She hands them to me, and Victoria looks like she’s ready to rip off Talia’s head. “Everything looks good, but the doctor will still want to review it all. Once he does, he’ll be in to discharge you.”