Page 98 of Secret Baby for my Off-Limits Fiancé

A bad feeling claws at my chest.

I answer immediately. "Mom?"

"Layla!" My mother’s voice is frantic, breathless. "Layla, it’s Vincent, he’s having trouble breathing. I’m taking him to the emergency room right now. You need to get here, quickly!"

The world stops.

My heart lurches, my breath evaporates, my entire body freezes.

"Mom, what? What’s happening?" I barely manage, already spinning toward the door, already running.

Valentino grabs my wrist. "Layla—"

"I have to go!" I choke out, my voice shaking.

He doesn’t let go. "I’m coming with you."

I nod, not caring about anything anymore.

Not the fake engagement. Not the breakup. Not the people inside.

Nothing.

Except Vincent.

My son.

The only thing that has ever mattered.

And as Valentino and I race toward his car, one terrifying thought slams into me like a tidal wave,

What if I lose him before he ever knows the truth?

22

LAYLA

Theentireridetothe hospital is a blur, a chaotic mess of flashing streetlights and the steady hum of the tires against the road. Everything around me is moving too fast, yet it’s not fast enough.

My body is numb, but my mind is a relentless storm, screaming the same thing over and over.

How could I have let this happen? How could I have been so distracted?

Vincent was sick. He had a fever. I knew that, and yet, I still chose to be somewhere else, to be caught up in a performance, faking my happiness for an engagement that will never be real. And now my son is in the hospital.

I feel sick.

A deep, twisting sickness that won’t go away.

Valentino sits beside me in the car, his grip on the steering wheel tight, his jaw clenched. His knuckles are white, his entire body coiled like a spring ready to snap.

The tension between us is thick, suffocating, an unspoken wall neither of us knows how to break down.

I know he’s trying to say something, his lips part, his gaze flicking toward me every now and then as if searching for the right words. But he never speaks.

And I don’t either.

Because what are we now?

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