Page 104

MARISELA

ONE YEAR LATER

I looked over at my husband, the sound of his slightly-heavier steps drawing my attention from my computer screen up to him, before my eyes dropped to the thing he was holding in his arms.

“What is that ?” I pointed a red-tipped nail across the desk, and Adrian’s grin just stretched wider over his face. A sign I wasn’t going to like whatever it was he was planning to tell me.

“This…” He shrugged his shoulders outward, pushing it closer in my direction. “…is a small human, Marisela. Some might even go as far as to call it a baby.”

“Right… And who does the small human belong to?” I couldn’t stop myself from scrunching up my nose. It wasn’t that I didn’t like children. It was just that …

Okay, fine, I didn’t like children. Then again, I really didn’t like anyone.

“Us. He belongs to us, little lamb. At least he does now.”

“What do you mean he belongs to us, Adrian?” I pushed up from my seat.

Doing my best to hide the way my voice trembled.

I wasn’t stupid. I saw the resemblance. The dark eyes, the darker hair.

I’d done the math in my head as soon as he walked in.

This kid sure as hell wasn’t mine but that didn’t mean he wasn’t his .

The man who’d promised to be loyal to me even though his brother never could be. “Where did you get it?”

My husband watched my face for a moment, shifting the kid higher on a shoulder and tapping a hand against its backside as if it were the most natural thing for him to do. “I didn’t fuck someone else, Marisela.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and pinned him with a glare as lethal as the knife I kept in my top drawer. “I know you didn’t. You wouldn’t be breathing if you did,” I countered.

“It is nice to know that you still care, though.”

“Enough with the games, Dr. Lambert. Whose kid is that and where did you get it from?”

“I’m not playing games, Mrs. Lambert. I already told you. Little AJ is ours.”

I quirked an eyebrow. I didn’t need to ask him what AJ stood for. Knowing this man’s ego, I could already hazard a guess. “Right, and where is AJ’s mother?”

He smirked. “I’m looking at her.”

I lifted a hand to stop him. “Nope. Nuh-uh. Not happening, Adrian. Are you insane?”

“I know the perfect place for us if I were…” He started to smile again, before his mouth dropped into a thin line. “His mother was part of a job. He wasn’t. I couldn’t just leave him there.”

“And why not?” I would have. If the kid survived, he’d be stronger for it. If he didn’t, well then, that would have been nature taking its course, wouldn’t it?

“I might be a murderer but I’m not a monster, Marisela. I’m not gonna leave a kid to starve to death. Would have been weeks before someone came looking for ?em.”

I shook my head, lowering myself back into my office chair and tucking my legs under the desk. “We are not a daycare. Drop it off at a fire department or something.” I waved a dismissive hand.

“And have them ask questions? I don’t think so. That’s a novice move and we both know it.”

“A novice move is strolling in here with an armful of evidence,” I mumbled under my breath. I loved this man. I really did. As much as I could love anyone. But that didn’t mean there weren’t times when I wanted to kill him. Times like now.

My husband collected people as if they were stray dogs. And I wasn’t a dog person either.

I could feel Adrian watching me. I didn’t bother looking up to confirm it. “He needs a mother, Marisela…”

“And I need you to both get the fuck out of my office. I have work to do. ”

Instead of bothering to listen to me, Adrian maneuvered himself around my desk.

Leaning against the stack of drawers as a pile of paperwork tumbled to the side.

He reached out a hand, brushing it over my cheek while forcing me to look up at him.

“Don’t you want to raise a baby with me, little lamb? ”

“Not particularly.”

He lowered his face, keeping the kid pressed to his chest, as he skimmed his lips over mine. “Please…”

It was the way he said it. The way he begged that always had me giving in to his ridiculous demands. I couldn’t explain it. Believe me, I wish I could. There was just something about the thrill it gave me. The fact that I knew he would literally get down on his hands and knees for me and only me…

It was a manipulation tactic, I had no doubt. But that didn’t stop it from feeling any less good. And I’d always been weak when it came to indulging in what felt good.

“Fine,” I huffed. “But you’re feeding it, changing it, and all that nonsense. If you want a pet, you’re the one taking care of it.”

“He’s not a pet, Marisela. He’s our child.

A little piece of you and me. At least he will be when we’re done with him.

” Adrian brushed his mouth across my forehead before rising to his full height.

“I’m going to go home and put ?em to bed.

Then, if you’re a good girl and eat all your dinner, we can work on making little AJ a sibling. ”

“Never going to happen—one of us is fixed, remember?” I grunted, watching as he made his way towards the door before I called out, “Oh, and, Adrian?”

He glanced back at me over a shoulder.

“If you’re a good boy and stop taking in strays, I’ll keep the tip of my knife from having to dip below the waist.”

“I already told you, little lamb. Whatever piece of me you want, it’s already yours. It’s always been yours.”

THE END

Continue reading for a bonus chapter you don’t want to miss!