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ALLIE
“No, Jace,” I whispered, shaking my head and backing up until my back hit his Maserati, unable to believe what he had said. “Don’t lie to me like that. You’re lying. You … you have to be lying. This can’t be true.”
Jace frowned and grasped for my hand. “After he started to suspect Mom was cheating, he got the surgery and didn’t tell her. That was how he knew that her child wasn’t his before he killed her. He’s a fucking psychopath, Allie. If he finds out that your mother cheated—”
“My mom didn’t cheat,” I said, fingers trembling.
“Allie, she—”
“No. There’s no fucking way that she cheated on Harlan, especially after … after she found out about what he did to your mom.” I lowered my voice and pulled Jace close, so nobody in this shitty part of town could hear our drama. “She knows that Harlan killed her. She knows why he did it too. She has to. I can see the fear in her eyes. She wouldn’t do that to me.”
It didn’t make any sense. Harlan barely let Mom out of his sight anyway. It had been that way for two years now, so … so this baby had to be Harlan’s. It couldn’t be anyone else’s. And even if Jace thought that she had cheated, my mom was loyal. She had waited years for my dad to come home from the military, years spent without the love of her life, and she hadn’t cheated on him.
But then again, she loved Dad.
From the look in her eyes last night, I could tell that her love for Harlan was all a lie.
“What are we going to do, Jace?” I asked him, a searing wind chilling my face.
Jace looked around the neighborhood and grimaced. “Get in the car. We’ll figure it out.”
After locking ourselves in the car, Jace started down the street and toward home. My heart raced inside my tightening chest, my hands sweating.
What the fuck are we going to do? How are we going to do it? Has Mom … really cheated?
“How do you explain it, Allie?” Jace asked, hand tight on the steering wheel. “How else could she have gotten pregnant? My dad can’t have children. He made damn sure of that when my mom was still alive.”
I gnawed off the lip stain that Nicole had decorated my lips with. So much for getting dressed up for Jace and having an easy night. My anxiety was through the roof now. Now, Harlan really couldn’t find out that she was pregnant.
“I don’t know, but she couldn’t have cheated. Your dad never lets her out of his sight.” I stared out the windshield at a good ole car fire that some kids had started on the bad side of town and sighed through my nose. “She basically spent the last month with Harlan on vacation, and then when they came home, he … he’s been way too protective of her.”
“There was one night that he let her leave,” Jace said, swallowing hard. “You remember the night he kicked my ass and nearly killed me? He forced your mom to leave for almost an entire day. He didn’t take her anywhere, just told her to leave and be back later.”
“But …” I whispered, unable to believe that Mom would do something like that. “She couldn’t have cheated. She … fucking couldn’t have. She knows Harlan and how violent he is. As annoying as she is sometimes, she wouldn’t do that to me.”
Jace pulled up our driveway and parked the car, hitting off the lights and staring into the living room, where Harlan paced in front of Mom, who sat on the couch nervously. I rubbed my hands over my face, tears pricking the corners of my eyes.
What the fuck are we going to do? What if Mom really has cheated on Harlan? I don’t believe that she would, but … but what if I am wrong?
“Fuck,” Jace muttered. “I’ve been trying so fucking hard for the past two years to keep you and her safe. If my father finds out that your mother is pregnant, he’ll go so fucking insane that he’ll kill all of us.”
My chest tightened, and I grabbed on to Jace’s hand. “We can’t let him find out. We have to … have to go in there and pretend that I’m pregnant. This has to work. I can’t … I can’t lose you or her.”
Jace grabbed my hand and walked with me to the front door. “What are we going to say—”
The door swung open, and Harlan stood before us with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Get the fuck inside now,” he said to Jace, grabbing him by the collar and yanking him inside the house.
Eyes widening slightly, I hurried in behind Jace and shut the front door behind us. Harlan pushed Jace into the living room and sent him stumbling over onto the couch next to Mom.
Mom stood up and placed her hand on Harlan’s chest. “Sweetheart, it was just a mistake that we’re going to fix. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Harlan ignored Mom altogether and directed his attention to Jace, his jaw twitching. “You fucking got your stepsister pregnant?! Your fucking stepsister? I expected that you’d knock up that whore Nicole, who you always fucking hang around with, not her.”
“I’m sorry,” Jace said, placing one hand on the couch near Mom, almost in a protective manner. “I can’t do anything about it now. Allie is pregnant.”
“That’s your fucking stepsister!” Harlan shouted, getting in Jace’s face.
