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“I asked you to meet me so I could tell you I’m pregnant. You’re the only possibility.”

The slight widening of his eyes, the flare of his nostrils, is vindicating, a pleasure that goes straight down into my bones.

“I don’t really care if you believe me or not.” I sit and fold my hands together on top of the desk. “I’m only telling you because it was theethicalthing to do. I’m comfortable raising this child alone. I don’t want anything further from you.” I nod toward the door. “Thank you for coming, Mr. Sullivan. You can see yourself out.”

CHAPTER TWO

Michail

The faint shriekof a siren travels up from the streets. Cool air shushes out of the vents. Somewhere a clock is ticking. My heart pounds against my ribs so hard it hurts.

I stare at her. She stares right back: calm, cool, collected. As if she hasn’t just dropped a bombshell that changes the entire course of my life.

Alessandra Wright. Stunningly beautiful, almost untouchable with elegant cheekbones and a well-defined jaw that serve as physical manifestations of her confidence, offset by large green eyes and full lips.

The beauty is the same. But the woman I knew as Lexi for one fleeting night let her auburn hair hang loose and wavy. Alessandra has it bound up in a bun at the base of her neck. Lexi smiled the kind of smile that made her eyes sparkle. When Alessandra smiles, it’s a cold gesture, as if she’s ticking a box rather than expressing true emotion.

I have no idea who this woman is. The woman supposedly carrying my child.

Pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place. Ever since I walked into Alessandra’s office and realized the woman I’d slept with months ago was also Lucifer’s estate lawyer, I’d been trying to figure out what her end game was.

Now I know. The day I met her was the same day I met Lucifer Drakos for the first and last time. My birth father. The man who told me how proud he was of my success, as if he’d had any hand in it, before adding that I could be even wealthier by marrying within a year of his passing. The mask of suave, confident billionaire had slipped, revealing a weak cockroach of a man who threw a temper tantrum when I’d told him I’d rather go to hell than do anything he wanted me to.

It had been deeply satisfying to tell him no. But I hadn’t anticipated him having a backup plan already waiting.

Alessandra.

My gaze shifts from her face down to her stomach. The desk impedes my view. If she’s faking it, her hoax will be short-lived. A couple of calls will ensure she’s disbarred before the clock strikes midnight. If it’s someone else’s child she’s trying to pass off as mine to get at my inheritance, I’ll sue her for attempted fraud.

Except as I stare at her, searching for any hint of deceit, doubt pierces my resolve. If she’s not lying, if Alessandra is truly pregnant with my son or daughter, there’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere.

Is she trying to emotionally manipulate me? Dangle the supposed baby just out of reach and rile me up so I’ll be more likely to agree to whatever her demands are? Whatever she’s doing, I won’t sacrifice an innocent child or leave them fatherless to satisfy my own vendetta against my birth father.

“I want a paternity test.”

She shrugs.Shrugs, as if we’re talking about the damn weather. “If you wish. Though it hardly matters.”

I swallow my fury before I let it take control of my tongue. “Hardly matters?”

The frigid ice in my tone has made more than one Fortune 500 CEO pale. Miss Alessandra Wright merely cocks an eyebrow.

“I’m not asking for child support.” Her eyes rake up and down my body, but not in the hungry way she devoured me with her smoldering emerald gaze before ripping my shirt off in Greece. Now her assessment is clinical, disinterested. “You don’t strike me as the fatherly type, so visitation won’t be an issue.”

None of what she’s saying makes sense. My jaw tightens. I don’t like not having answers. Not being able to rid myself of the craving I’ve been carrying for Alessandra since she disappeared from my bed is making me even crankier than usual. Even now, despite the suspicion and anger on the surface, a different heat floods my veins. Full breasts press against her blouse. The curve of her bare neck captures my gaze. I imagine pulling the pins out of her hair and letting that fall of auburn cascade over her shoulders before I fill my hands with it.

Blood rushes to my cock. Desire and anger clash, heat my body to dangerous degrees. I haven’t been this close to losing control since our night together.

One breath in. Then a slow, measured release. I wait until my pulse returns to a semblance of normal. I’ll have to deal with this pesky attraction. But later. The immediate problem is determining if she’s lying. If she’s not, I have bigger problems to deal with.

Starting with wrapping my head around becoming a dad. Being a father may not have been a part of my life’s plan. But if Alessandra is pregnant, if the baby is mine, I will be there for it the way mine never was.

“Ifyou’re pregnant, andifthe child is mine, I’m not going anywhere.”

Her eyes widen as she leans forward, the movement sudden and slightly frantic.

“What?”

“If the child is mine, I’m not letting you raise it alone.”