Chapter 105
Chapter 105
He stared at her, shock was written on his face. “Sutton… Wamer?”
“Yes.”
Luca came around the desk slowly, like he was afraid she would vanish or bolt like a wild animal. His eyes dropped to her stomach, lingered there, then rose back to her face. The relief in his expression was easy to see..
“You kept it,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “The baby. You didn’t…”
“Get rid of him?” Sutton finished, a flash of anger rising. “Of course not. I told you I was keeping her.”
“He?” Luca’s eyes widened further. “It’s a boy?”
Sutton shook her head. “No, just a figure of speech… better than ‘it.“”
“Jesus Christ,” he breathed, running a hand through his hair. “All this time… I’ve been looking for you. Everywhere. And you’ve been here. Working for my
company.”
“I didn’t know it was your company until this morning. I knew about the new owner, but I didn’t know it was you,” Sutton said. “And it’s not like I’ve been hiding. I’ve been right here, using my real name.”
“Your real name,” he echoed, like the words didn’t make sense. “Not Audrey.”
“Audrey was my modeling name,” she explained. “My professional name.”
Luca moved closer, close enough that she could smell his cologne. The scent hit her with a wave of memories… his skin against hers, his breath on her neck, his hands in her hair as he pushed into her willing body… Oh god, she couldn’t start thinking of that now.
“I’ve had people searching for you,” he said. “For months. Ever since you left.” His voice cracked slightly. “I got your test. The pregnancy test. I tried to find you, but you were gone.”
Sutton swallowed hard. “I’m not sure why, unless you wanted me to sign an NDA. I think the people you hired owe you a refund.”
“And your hair…” He gestured vaguely to her head. “It’s different.”
“This is my natural color,” she said. “The platinum blonde was for modeling.” The ends still showed a lighter color, the rinse she used often fading.
“Your eyes are blue, not green.” Luca looked like he was stuck in car headlights frozen unsure about which direction he should take. “So everything about you was… not real?”
“The only thing that wasn’t real was my name, and my hair and eye color,” Sutton said sharply. “Everything else was me. I just didn’t tell you about my past. It’s not like you seemed that interested outside my body.”
“But why not?”
“Because it never seemed important. You never asked.” She hadn’t meant for it to sound like an accusation… no, that was a lie, it came out the way she
meant it.
Luca flinched slightly. “I should have asked.” His eyes dropped to her belly again. “How far along are you? I didn’t realize how pregnant you were.”
“Just over six and a half months.”
His hand twitched, like he wanted to reach out and touch her, but he stopped himself. “And everything’s… okay? With the baby?”
“He’s fine. So I have been told.”
1/3
10.00
Chapter 105
*Sutton…” he said softly, something naked and vulnerable crossing his face.
For a moment, neither spoke. The silence stretched between them, filled with all the things they hadn’t said. All the hurt. All the misunderstandings.
Then Luca seemed to remember himself. He straightened, his face becoming more controlled. “We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“About everything.” He gestured to her belly. “About the baby. About us.”
“There is no “us,“” Sutton said flatly. “You made that very clear when you called me a slut and walked out, When you told me I was nothing but a good fuck who had nothing to offer. When you accused me of trying to trap you with another man’s baby.”
Luca winced. “I was wrong. I know that now. I tried to find you to tell you.”
“Too little, too late.”
“Sutton-”
“I have a job to do,” she cut him off, moving to stand. “Unless you’re firing me right now, I should get back to it.”
“I’m not firing you,” he said quickly. “Jesus, I’m not–why would you think that?”
Sutton gave him a look. “Maybe because your right–hand woman has spent the last week making my life hell, telling me I’m deadweight, that I’m ‘distracting,” she made air quotes, “that you don’t want the first thing you see when you arrive to be a ‘human incubator with swollen ankles.””
Luca’s face darkened. “Nicole said that to you?”
“Among other things. She took my plant.” It sounded petty, but it had been the first direct act of hostility.
“Your plant,” he repeated slowly.
“Yes. A little fern I kept on my desk. She said it wasn’t professional.”
Luca’s jaw tightened. “I’ll deal with Nicole.”
“Great, you do that,” Sutton said tiredly. “Now if that’s all-”
“No, it’s not.” Luca moved to block her path to the door. “We need to talk about this. About the baby. About what happens next.”
“What happens next is I keep working here until my maternity leave, then I have my baby, and I raise that baby alone.”
“Alone,” he said, the word sounding like it physically hurt him.
Well, tough shit… he wasn’t feeling half what she had felt when he had rejected her and their baby.
“It’s what I’ve been preparing for. I have my sisters. I don’t need or want you.”
“Because I wasn’t there. Because I fucked up.” He stepped closer. “But I’m here now. I want to be involved. I want to be in the baby’s life.”
Sutton felt a wave of emotion rise in her chest… anger, hurt, confusion, a desperate longing she’d been trying to bury for months. She couldn’t want him, not after everything. “And what about your wife? Does she know you got someone else pregnant before your wedding?”
Luca blinked. “My wife?”
“The eighteen–year–old heiress! You were engaged before we even broke up… No sorry, let’s rephrase that, you dumped me,” Sutton said, the words bitter on her tongue. “Your child bride, remember? Or have you forgotten about her already?”
“I didn’t marry her.“,
16:06 Sat, 28 Jun
Chapter 105
It was Sutton’s turn to be startled. “What?”
“I called off the engagement. Bella married my brother instead. They’re happy. They’re expecting a baby themselves.”
Sutton stared at him, trying to process this information. “You… didn’t get married? But I saw the media story…”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Luca met her gaze directly. “Because I found out that you are carrying my child, and I was too busy looking for you.”
The words hung in the air between them. Sutton felt dizzy, like the room was tilting.
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” she said finally.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Luca replied. “Just… let me be a part of this. Part of the baby’s life.” His eyes pleaded with her. “I know I don’t deserve it. I know I hurt you. But that’s my child too.”
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