Page 118 of Rum & Coke
“Yes!” Paul boomed. “Give her baby fever.”
Joss rolled her eyes in the direction of her husband. “We just got married.”
“So?” He motioned to Gabe and Autumn. “These two ain’t even married.”
“Speaking of,” Autumn spoke up. “Wedding will be in November. Maybe a week or so before Thanksgiving.”
When I left the hospital to head home, I felt different.
Joss had told me she’d looked into Sebastian and red flags came up, but I didn’t take it to mean there would be an investigation. Now that I knew there was, I was hopeful things would progress faster.
I opened up my texts to send one to Melony and share the news with her but stopped myself. I trusted her—she was Tessa’s best friend—but she also still worked for the asshole. I didn’t want her to somehow slip and tell him or someone else that the Feds were looking into him.
That night I still didn’t sleep like a baby, but I slept better knowing that one day soon, Tessa would be in my arms again.
The momentthe door shut behind Joss and her partner, Sebastian turned to me, eyes glaring. “Office. Now!” he barked.
I didn’t hesitate. I knew he was pissed, but since I also knew Joss was working on getting me out, I felt as though I could play up my façade with Sebastian. Somehow I needed him to want to marry me.
When we got up the stairs of his office, he spun me around and wrapped a hand around my throat. He growled, “So help me God, Tessa. If you fucking told the Feds anything, I will squeeze the life out of you right now.”
“I didn’t say anything,” I lied.
“Are you fucking lying to me?”
Yes.“Don’t you think if I told them anything about your business and what I saw that night, they would have taken you in?”
“What did you say then?”
“Can you let go of my neck and talk to me normally?”
He stared at me for a few beats, and I thought he wasn’t going to let go, but then he did. He walked over to where he had a decanter of alcohol next to the bookshelves and poured himself two fingers of the amber liquor. He turned.
“I’m waiting.”
“The woman fed asked me who I was and stuff. I told her I used to work for you at Red Diamond before we got involved. Then she asked me about my time there and what I did and yada-yada. She asked me if I knew Tony. I told her I met him once at a party here, and she asked if he ever went to the club and talked to me or any of the other girls. I told her no repeatedly and that I only met him that one time.”
“What else?”
I thought for a moment trying to come up with more. “That’s all.”
He stared at me again, and I hoped Scarlett’s acting was believable. “Are you lying to me?”
“No.” I shook my head and walked the few feet to him. His gaze stayed glued to mine as I ran my hand down his chest. I needed to be sweet Tessaandseductive Scarlett at the same time. I needed him to think I was coming around and I wanted to be with him. Fuck, somehow I needed him to think I wanted to get married. “Why would I lie to you?”
“Because you want to leave me.”
“Iwantedto leave you,” I fibbed. “But now that I’m pregnant, I want to stay.”
“You do?”
“Colton needs a father figure in his life. So will this baby. I want a family and not a broken one either.” That was the truth. But I didn’t want to raise a child with this man. Even if he could provide for me like Valentina had said, my life wasn’t crime. My life was watchingPAW Patroland baseball games. My life was lobster and steak dinners cooked by the only man I wanted to be with. My life was Vinny.
Sebastian took a sip of his drink and then set it on the cherrywood table between the two brown leather chairs near us. “You have a family now. You don’t have to raise either of your kids alone again.”
I smiled, trying to make it seem as real as possible. “Okay. I’ve also been talking to Valentina, and she told me what you did for her. You’re a good man, and I know you’ll be a good father.” Just those twelve words on my tongue felt wrong, foreign. He may be a good man to some, but he wasn’t to me. And there was no way I’d ever let him raise either one of my babies.
“I have to admit, Tessa Baby. The Feds coming here isn’t good for me.”
