Page 88 of Surprise Baby for Mr. Fischer

He sat there staring out the front of the windshield, refusing to look at me.

With a sigh, I opened my door.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand,” he bit out.

I nodded and swallowed back my tears. Hope’s front door opened, and I quickly got out of the car, slammed the door shut, and rushed to the sidewalk. I needed to make it inside before I fell apart.

His car door slammed closed. "Harper, wait!"

I stood there, fighting tears, my back to him.

"Don't do this." His tortured voice ripped through me.

I slowly turned to face him. There was no way I could hide the desolation that seeped into me. I hated having to hurt him, but it was the only way to make sure he left. "Lincoln, you'll just hurt the baby if you stay."

His shoulders slumped, and pain lanced across his face as my words lodged in his heart. Regardless of what he wanted, Lincoln wouldn't jeopardize the safety of our child.

Without waiting for a reply, I ran up Hope's front steps and dashed into the house. The door slammed behind me as I took in giant gulps of air.

The squeal of tires filled my ears before I collapsed in the middle of Hope’s tiny entryway. Clutching my stomach, sobs broke free.

Lincoln was gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Harper

Aknock sounded atHope’s door. I ignored it and continued to scroll through my phone. Even now, a few weeks after the incident, papers were tearing me apart. With my silence, it was easy enough to do. I scrolled through stories with the same headline, one I was becoming numb to—that I was after his money.

My finger jabbed at my screen to stop it. In front of me was a very unflattering picture of me someone had taken from the day I’d been kicked offThe Greatest Loser. The headline asked if I tricked Lincoln into getting me pregnant just like I tricked the fans of the TV show.

What the actual fuck?My gaze zeroed in on the byline of the article. Fucking Whitney.

My eyes burned as I read her article.

How is it that a girl who couldn't get a date in high school and only had two short-term boyfriends since then land a man of Lincoln Erickson's caliber? An unknown source claimed she overheard Harper telling a friend that she’d tricked him into sleeping with her. He’d been so drunk the night they met he didn't know what he was doing. By getting pregnant, she got what she always wanted—a boyfriend and his money.