“That’ll be my taxi,” Rebecca said. “I recommend John Barnes as the new CEO.”
Surprise rooted Alejandro to the spot. This was not the way it was supposed to happen. He was the one in control, the one who determined when and how everything happened. She could not walk out on him again. He wouldn’t allow it.
“You are running away? What about your company?”
“What should I do? Stay and wait for you to fire me?” She shook her head. “Layton International’s not mine anymore, is it? You made sure of that. Now it’s time I get on with my life.”
When she shouldered past him, he gripped her arm, a hot feeling he didn’t understand seizing him in a chokehold. “This isn’t over.”
She shuddered in revulsion. Her gaze settled on his hand, lifted to meet his stare. “Yes, it is. Goodbye, Alejandro.”
She picked his hand off her arm. The touch of her skin seared him. He had a primeval urge to grab her, haul her to the bedroom and lock her inside until she smiled at him again. Until she made love to him like he was the only man in the world.
But he didn’t say anything as she turned and walked to the door. What was there to say? He’d won, hadn’t he? He had Layton International. Rebecca had nothing. It’s what he’d dreamed of for five years. All he’d wanted.
He didn’t know how long he stood in the darkened foyer, but when he finally looked up, long shadows had crept across the tiles.
It was finally over. Rebecca was gone.
24
New York in summer was predictably sweltering. Rebecca made it back to her air-conditioned apartment building before she wilted and headed for the elevator. She didn’t want to think about what she’d bought at the drugstore, but there was no getting around it. The paper bag was small, but what it contained could change the course of her life.
It had been a month since she’d walked out of Alejandro’s house in Madrid. And she hadn’t had a period yet.
Fishing in her purse for her keys, she stopped in front of her door. Her apartment was cool and spacious as she stepped inside. She locked the door, took the pregnancy test from the paper bag, and went into the bathroom to pee on the stick.
She thought about calling her friend, Charlotte, but ultimately decided she had to do this alone. Charlotte had enough to do with her job as a party planner these days. She’d already been a great support when Rebecca needed a sympathetic ear after returning from Madrid, but Rebecca didn’t need to call her for this one simple thing.
She could do this alone. She opened the test, peed on it, and set the stick down on the sink, staring at it until the answer came.
Pink. Pregnant.
Rebecca’s knees gave out and she slumped onto the toilet. Maybe she should have called Charlotte just for the moral support. Charlotte wouldn’t judge her.
Rebecca pushed a shaky hand through her hair and tried to imagine how she’d gotten pregnant. She hadn’t missed her pills at all. About a month before she’d gone to Madrid, she’d changed prescriptions. She’d had breakthrough bleeding and the doctor said her body had grown accustomed to the pill she was on. Apparently, the new pill hadn’t done the job.
Rebecca picked up the stick and then set it down again, her heart pounding with so many emotions.
Joy, yes. Pain too. In the mirror, her face was pale. Drawn. She had dark circles beneath her eyes, and she’d lost weight. Her chest rose and fell quickly as she worked to control her rioting emotions. She would not panic. She had no time to panic.
Her baby needed her to be healthy, not this pale sickly creature who couldn’t eat or sleep properly. Her hand fluttered to her abdomen, pressed against her womb. Dear God, she was pregnant. With Alejandro’s baby. It was shocking and terrifying. But it was also wonderful somehow.
She already loved this child fiercely. She wanted to pick up the phone and call Alejandro, tell him she was expecting his baby. But she couldn’t.
He didn’t care about her. He never had. Everything with him was about control.
Rebecca pressed a trembling hand to her mouth. Oh God. What was she going to do? She was alone, and now she had another life to think about. How could she work and take care of her baby at the same time? Because she had to work. She had a new job lined up in London with the Cahill Group, and she had no choice but to take it. She hadn’t paid herself a salary since her father died and her savings were nearly gone. Who would take care of them both if she didn’t?
Her mother? God no.
Alejandro? She crushed down a hysterical laugh at the thought.
It’d been four weeks since she’d left Madrid. Four excruciating weeks. She’d actually believed he might come after her. That he might apologize for all he’d done and beg her forgiveness. What a delusional fantasy!
She could still see his face so clearly when she’d confronted him. He hadn’t denied a thing. He’d looked cold and disconnected, like he didn’t care that he’d turned her world upside down.
She was still staggered by the depth of his betrayal. He hadn’t just watched Layton International from afar. He’d found her father’s weakness, enticed him into the loans and the Thailand properties, and kept twisting the knife even after her father died. Twisted until he won the battle. She’d been devastated when Roger sent her the proof, and she’d reacted in the only way she knew how.
Leaving her company hadn’t been easy, but it had been necessary. She could no longer allow Alejandro to control her life. For her own health and sanity, she’d had to go.
She’d been angry and bitter. She’d even thought for a brief time that she hated him. But her father had made his own choices in life.
