Page 60 of The Photograph

If the baby’s mine, shit will get complicated with Mike, but I won’t let another greedy gold digger take that away from me.

My cell rings, and Cal wastes no time. “Just got back. How far did your guy go into the investigation on Aelin?”

How did everything become about her? She’s everywhere.“As far as he could. Why?”

“Because there’s more to it. I’ll be in your part of the woods on Monday. I’ll brief you then.” Cal disconnects the call.

I fucking knew it.She’s done this before. She’s too good at it.But she won’t play me this time.

****

The next evening, I ring the bell and knock on her door. When no one answers, I make my way to back of the house and exhale. Her car’s there.Of course, she’d still be here plotting how she’ll snake her way back in my money now that she’s pregnant.

I pull my cell to call her and pocket it back. She’s playing games and I won’t take the chance to warn her.

Near the back door, I stop. She’s sitting in her brightly lit studio. Her face is hidden behind her hair while she bends over her sketch table. I tap on the window closest to the door, but again, no reaction. I text her.

She straightens up, slides her cell toward her, and whips her head up. I dive my hands in my pockets as she opens the door. She’s lost weight. Still poisonously beautiful but pale.

After tightening her long grey cardigan around her, she scans the alleyway behind me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Can we talk?”

A slight frown breaks her unreadable expression before she nods. “Let’s go inside.”

I’m a step behind her. When we enter the small living room, we walk past a couple of moving boxes laying in the corner in between shelves heaving under dozens of books. The khaki couch and a long coffee table are the only furniture in the small, airy room.Good, she’s leaving.

Standing with her hands clasped in front of her by the fireplace, Aelin frowns. “I still have time before I have to go—”

The sad doe eyes?Seriously?I clench my fists and grit my teeth. “Are you pregnant?”

Her eyes widen and she sways back nearly bumping into the wall behind her.

She shakes her head slowly. “How do y…?” She stares at the floor before tilting her eyes back up. “Not anymore.”

Did she…?Her loose t-shirt and pants give no indication about a pregnancy. “What does that mean?”

She sighs and tucks a tendril of hair behind her ear. “It means I was pregnant and I’m not anymore.”

She got rid of it.She got rid of my… “Was it mine?”

When she just gawks at me, blood rushes to my neck and I lock my jaw. “Did you get rid of it?”

The manipulator crosses her arms on her chest, and her expression hardens.

“That’s none of your business.”

My baby? Not my business?“Would you be that much of a bitch and not tell me if it was mine?”

Tautening her crossed arms, she scoffs. “What can I say? It pains me that the man who’s blackmailing me into leaving my home would think ill of me. Can you go now?”

An old wound rips open, pierces my chest, and my blood boils. Closing the distance between us, I stop at a short arm’s length from her. “Did you get rid of it because you chose whoring over mothering?”

Her eyes narrow into slits and her face flushes as she locks her gaze onto mine. “It’s my body and I make decisions that suitme. Get out of my house, Gabe.”

They’re all the same.“If that baby was mine, you owe me an explanation,” I grit between clenched teeth.

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