The Vessel - Jenika Snow Page 0,49

me, and I felt my cheeks tingle, knowing they were beet red.

“I—I….”

“What’s wrong?” he asked again, the concern even thicker now.

“Nothing,” I whispered. But that was a lie. So much was wrong, or at least it felt that way right now. “That’s not true.” I didn’t want a lie to be between us, even if it was said because I was terrified of the truth I’d eventually tell him.

“Leave us,” he said, and there was a moment where Michael and Buffy just stood there. “Leave. Us.” Lucius’s voice was hard, unyielding. Buffy scurried off, and Michael grabbed his papers, put them in his suitcase, and gave me a glance before he excused himself and left.

I stood in the doorway feeling skittish as well, so nervous that my knees threatened to give out.

“Come here,” Lucius said softly, holding his hand out to me.

I hesitated a moment but finally stepped into his opulent office, closing the door behind me, sealing us in.

We sat down, him on the couch across form me, me on the loveseat. The leather was frigid, chills racing along my arms.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

My throat was so dry, so tight.

Just say it. Tell him. Everything will be okay. Right?

“Um.” That word was lodged in my throat, and I couldn’t get any others out.

“You’re scaring me, Elise.”

I nodded, although I wasn’t sure what I was agreeing to. “I’m sorry,” I finally said. “I don’t mean to. It’s just… I have something to tell you.” I stared into his eyes, seeing the worry on his face, knowing I was the reason he felt that way. “I’m pregnant, Lucius.”

He was silent for so long I thought maybe he hadn’t heard me, or maybe I hadn’t said those words out loud. Maybe I’d just thought them, imagined being truthful.

“A baby?” he wheezed out, as if he couldn’t catch his breath. “My baby,” he said, this time to himself.

I licked my lips and nodded slowly, my hands clasped tightly in my lap as I twisted the bottom of my T-shirt, waiting to see which way he’d go on all this.

“How far along are you?”

I ran my hands up and down my thighs. “A little over a month. I think. I just took the test this morning. But thinking back to when I last had my period,” I stooped and swallowed, feeling embarrassed for talking about that part of my life with him. “It would put me at like five weeks or so.” I shrugged, because I didn’t know what else to say, didn’t know what else to do.

He glanced at the ground and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, the air around him heavy. “A baby,” he said without phrasing it like a question.

Would this be the end of us? Would he only use this as what he needed to secure his company? God, that thought felt like acid in my veins.

Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

He finally lifted his blue eyes to me, his gaze unreadable. I couldn’t breathe as I waited for him to say something, anything. Before I could comprehend what he was doing, Lucius was off the couch and right in front of me, dropping to his knees and taking my shaky hands in his.

He stared into my eyes so intently I felt it in my bones. I felt Lucius’s warmth, how he felt for me… how he cared so much for me from that one look.

“I’m scared,” I whispered—admitted. “And I’m worried about everything.” I cleared my throat. “I heard you talking about a contract… a woman and a baby.” The words stung coming out of my mouth.

He brought our joined hands to his forehead and closed his eyes, staying like that for a prolonged moment. He then slid them down and kissed my fingers, looking into my eyes again. “My father’s last dying order, the one he put in his trust, was for me to have a baby in a year’s time or I’d lose the business. I’d lose everything that had the Blacksmith name attached to it.”

That had my blood running cold. “What?” That lone word left me on a rush of air.

He nodded. “Yeah. And what you heard today between Michael and me was me giving everything away, because I refused to do that. I refused to have a child with someone I didn’t love. So I was having Michael set everything up to sell, to make sure all the employees were taken care of.”

God, what kind of father did that to their child, made them do