Total pages in book: 266
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
“Fuck,” Saint hisses.
My watery eyes go to him and then Kashton to see he’s got his head down, rubbing the back of his neck. My eyes shoot back to Haidyn’s, still not able to put the pieces together. “What did she do to you?” I whisper.
“She gave him a vasectomy.” Adam answers me, and my head whips over to see him come to stand next to us. His green eyes on my mother. “A long time ago, the Lords used to do it to the lower-level members to weed out the weak—end those families altogether. But then they realized it was a punishment for the higher-ups to do so. It was just another way to control us. The most degrading thing you can do to a man is remove his chance of having an heir.”
“They’re not supposed to get married and have a family,” my mother snaps. “You all lost that chance when you killed your chosens.”
Kashton steps into her, but Saint pulls him back. “You didn’t give us a choice,” Kashton spits at her.
“You always had a choice!” she screams. “You chose the cowardly way out.” Her eyes move to Saint. “That’s the only reason the Lords let you keep your whore of a wife is because you married her behind their backs.”
Kashton and Haidyn both killed their chosens? Is that the video I saw? My mother let those four men torture Haidyn because he killed Sierra instead of letting them rape her.
I realize I’m crying when Haidyn runs his tatted knuckles down my cheeks. “I’ll get it reversed,” he tells me.
My pulse races with hope, and my tear-filled eyes search his. “You want children?” He didn’t want them before.
“Of course.” He frowns as if I’m crazy and imagined the whole conversation that we once had in his bed. “You’re my wife, and I want to give you a family.”
A sob escapes my lips, and I slap my hand over my mouth.
He pulls me in for a hug, and I cling to him. “I’m so sorry, Charlotte.” He presses his hand to the back of my head, holding me to him, and I cry harder. “So sorry.”
“Haidyn?” I pull away, and he lets go of me so I can look up at him.
“Yeah, doll face?” he asks, his pretty blue eyes searching my watery ones. “You can tell me…what is it?”
“I’m pregnant.”
EIGHTY-FOUR
HAIDYN
“What?” I ask. My ears hear her, but my mind doesn’t believe her.
“Don’t lie to him!” her mother snaps from behind me.
“I’m pregnant,” my wife repeats, ignoring her as if she’s not in the same room with us.
“It’s impossible!” Isabella shouts. “She’s lying to you. Trying to trick you. It’s probably someone else’s.”
I’m the only man Charlotte has ever been with. If my wife says she’s pregnant, then she’s pregnant. I place my hands on her flat stomach, and she covers her mouth trying to quiet her sob but fails. “When…? How…?” I have so many questions. It hasn’t been three months since she received the shot.
“I don’t know.” Charlotte sniffs. “I’ve been sick. I thought it was just nerves. But Ashtyn had me take a test, and it was positive.”
I’ve seen her sick. I’ve held her hair, rubbed her back, and bathed her when she was sick. I thought she was just stressed.
I smile at her, and she laughs softly as fresh tears fall from her bottom lashes. The smile on her face is breathtaking, and I wish we were alone so I could show her just how much I love her and how excited I am that she’s having my baby.
“I can answer those questions.” Bill speaks up, joining the conversation once again.
He looks at her mother and then at me. “I’m the reason Anna…Charlotte,” he corrects himself. “Is pregnant with Haidyn’s baby.” The room falls silent, and he looks over at his wife. “And you helped me make it happen.”
“None of you know what you’re talking about,” Isabella yells.
“You had her set up at your spa.” His eyes go to Charlotte. “And when you two got into that argument, Charlotte confessed that she had sex with Haidyn for the first time and that he put her on the shot. I was able to change out her IV bag at her next spa visit and had it filled with a solution to counteract the shot until Gavin administered the next one. It was only a matter of time before he knocked her up.”
Her mother screams, and I watch my wife’s face fall. “What is it?” I ask, cupping her wet cheeks. “Are you okay?”
Charlotte’s wide eyes search mine. “I…I wasn’t thinking.”
“What is it, doll face?” I ask, wondering why she’s panicking all of a sudden. This is great news. I hated the fact that I had Gavin put her on birth control and that Isabella took that opportunity from us.