Page 14 of Ours

“I don’t see why that’s any of your concer—”

“Boy,” Kade interrupted, wrapping his long arm possessively around Lexi’s shoulders. “It’s a boy.”

Visibly relaxing the tension in her body, Valentina nodded in approval before finally turning her full attention towards Lexi. “Good. That should make things easier.”

Narrowing her green eyes, Lexi tried to pull away from Valentina’s touch. “Make what easier? What are you talking about? Why does it matter that I’m having a boy?” she asked.

“We,”Kade interjected, tightening his hold on Lexi to stop her from squirming. “Weare having a boy. Now please calm down Sweetheart, it was just a small formality.”

Sighing in annoyance, Valentina removed her hands from Lexi’s stomach. Standing to full height, she openly stared at her. She hoped Kade would have been able to tame some of her fire, but clearly that was a pipe dream. They hadn’t even begun, and things were already off to a shaky start.

“Let's get her inside. Leave your men here. Mitaka will be out in a few minutes to take them to their briefing on Bangkok,” she said.

Glancing to each of his men, Kade made sure that they understood their orders. He was thankful that they were being dismissed from the meeting. His love didn’t need the added pressure of an audience watching her every move.

“Follow me and don’t worry, everything will be alright,” he offered gently, leading her through the rusted doorway.

...

Standing ramrod straight, Lexi stared down the scarred troll sitting behind the desk before her. Keeping her face stoic and her body language frigid, she waited impatiently for Bloodbayne to speak. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she was quaking beneath her stony exterior, that her heart was beating so quickly that she was sure it was on the verge of exploding.No,he didn’t need to know just how frightened she was.

“Alexandria,” Bloodbayne began, the space where his lips used to be pulling back into the best sneer he could muster. “It’s so good to finally meet the woman who almost put my heir apparent into his grave. Though I must admit, from what I see, I’m not entirely sure how you did it. You’re nothing more than a gutter rat and yet, you’ve managed to do what I thought was impossible.”

Swallowing hard, she felt Kade’s radiating tension as he stood behind her. He was feeling just as uneasy as she. It was a realization that left a bad taste in her mouth.

“Before we go further, my dear, I think you should know just how close you came to having a bullet put through your brain. Valentina was mere seconds away from pulling the triggerwhen she found out about your little gift,” Bloodbayne purred, pointing his knobbed index finger towards her stomach.

“Gift?” she asked, her arms instinctively wrapping around her bump protectively.

Rising from his seat, Bloodbayne casually strolled around his desk to stand in front of her. Annoyance flashed over what was left of his gnarled features. He knew she was smarter than she was trying to let on. Eventually, she would learn that false ignorance grated him to no end; but he would humor her this time.

“Yes. You see, when you put my boy into that coma, you effectively ended my empire. The doctors didn’t think he would ever wake up. They warned me that if he did, he would be drooling vegetable for the rest of his life.”

Pausing for a long moment, he let his blue eyes drift to Kade. There was a flash of pain as he relived the moment, he was told what had happened to his most trusted confidant, the memory caused his voice to rise and curdle as he continued.

“Hundreds of years of powergonein a blink of an eye.Because of you!A worthless whore!”

Seething from Bloodbayne’s words, Lexi’s blood ran hot under her cheeks. What she wouldn’t give to have her knife with her at that moment. She wanted nothing more than to gut him like a fish.

Careful, Lexi, Nikki warned.This isn’t the time.

Sensing her rising anger, Kade gently placed his fingertips on her lower back to soothe her. For her sake, and his son’s, sheneeded to breathe and realize that she wasn’t alone. He would do his best to protect them both.

Wanting to push the girl further, Bloodbayne took a half a step closer into her personal space and continued with his story. “You see, Kade’sextracurricularactivitiesnever bothered me because they never interfered with his work. That is, untilyoucame into the picture. Somehow, you were able to bewitch him to the point where he wanted to keep you. He begged me to bring you into the fold. He promised me that you had a certain set of skills that could be useful. I was skeptical but willing to give you a try.... but then, well...we know what happened. Don’t we? Blunt force head trauma from a kettle of all things, massive internal and external injuries from being run over by an SUV a couple of times. You really did a number on my boy.”

Noticing the remorse falling over her somewhat attractive face, he chuckled darkly. Pausing for a moment, he gave her time to relive whatever painful memory was playing out in her mind. He wanted her to suffer just as he had.

“You see, Lexi, in my business we believe in the adage of‘an eye for an eye.’You destroyed everything I had built so I was going to destroy you,” he purred, glancing over his shoulder to the statuesque woman guarding the office door. “I sent Valentina to do the deed. She’s very efficient, only second to Kade, so I knew she would get the job done…and she almost did...but then she overheard the conversation you were having with yourhusbandabout the child you were carrying. At first, she thought it was his and was going to complete her mission but then she overheard you talking to yourself after you hung up the phone. Didn’t you, Valentina? Do you recall what Lexi said?”

Clearing her throat, Valentina gave a curt nod. Of course she remembered, it was the only time in her life where she had followed her gut and disobeyed her orders.

“I do, she said,‘You’re a lying bitch. You know this baby is Kade’s, how dare you let Leo think it’s his. You know that you’re going to hell for this.’”

Soaking in her words, Lexi swallowed hard in recognition. She knew the exact day Valentina was referring to and remembered the moment vividly. Leo had called her to tell her he had hired a designer to set up the nursery. He was so excited to become a father and did everything in his power to make her feel better about the unintended pregnancy. Little did he know the true reason for her melancholy. Leo was the most wonderful man she had ever met. He didn’t deserve what happened to him. She would still be going to hell for everything she had put him through.

“Oh, Leo,”she whispered.

Thoroughly pleased with her apparent anguish, Bloodbayne took a breath and carried on with his story. “And in that moment, there was a chance that my family’s empire would survive whether or not Kade did,” he stated with an evil glint in his blue eyes. “God blessed me with a gift to right all of your wrongdoings.”

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