Legacy (Sociopath Series Book 2)(87)

Aeron gives the nurse a charming grin. “I usually get my way.”

“Like that, hmm?” She winks at me.

Yes. It is.

“Okay then. Let’s see…”

Aeron leans in to kiss my jaw. He drags his teeth gently across my skin, still stroking my fingers in an upward motion reminiscent of an insolent f*ck. “Fifty bucks says it’s a girl.”

“Now you’re just copying me.”

“Great minds, sweetheart.”

What would we do with a boy, another little Lore clone with a writhing ball of contradictions where his Hart ought to be? There are nights when I wake up sweating, still haunted by the image of Ash with a bloodied knife in his hands. His swift assurance in using it, the quiet determination he’s exhibited since…if I told you I understood, I’d be lying.

What would that girl be like, though? Would she be better? Or worse…?

The nurse hits a spot to the left of my navel and gently presses down. For the first time, the baby responds, squirming away from the wand in a ripple of sloppy, wet sensation.

She chuckles to herself. “Well hello there, Baby Lore. Think you could do me the decency of staying still?”

“She’s vicious,” Aeron observes. “Kicks the shit out of me if I go anywhere near her.” Sometimes, at night, he kisses his way up from between my thighs and rests his cheek on my growing belly. The creature inside trembles with annoyance, its tiny limbs assaulting him with comical force.

Or at least, I tell myself it’s comical. Anything else breeds doubt and panic, and like any sly addiction, if I succumb to them, they’ll never leave.

The nurse jabs the screen some more. “You know, I think she is indeed a she.”

He squares his shoulder with triumphant glee. “See? Told you.”

She’s vicious.

“Congratulations. Everything’s looking fine.” The nurse puts the wand down. She produces a turquoise paper towel and scrapes the jelly from my stomach, patting dry as she goes. “Do you have any ideas for names?”

“Not yet,” I tell her.

We haven’t got that far. There’s a part of me, a figure curled up in the corner of my mind, who would like to name her Rachel. But Aeron would never go for that. Can you imagine his face…?

“Well.” He presses his lips together. “Our nanny already suggested Khaleesi.”

I let out an embarrassingly loud groan, and then cringe back into the pillow.

The nurse cocks an eyebrow. “Not a fan, I take it?”

Aeron gives a theatrical sigh. “She’s British. Loses her shit over anything that wouldn’t fit in at Downton Abbey.”

“I see.” She gives me another knowing wink.

Maybe it’s the hormones, but I’d quite happily punch her in the throat.

Ten minutes later, Aeron leads me out the back entrance and helps me into the armored black car.

Gwen waits in the backseat, her hair pulled back in the usual neat chignon. She glances up from her iPad and smiles in greeting.

“So.” She nods toward my belly. “Everything okay?”

His face lights in an odd, lop-sided smile. He looks boyish. Happy. “Perfect.”

I’m already raising a brother that everyone thinks is my son, he told me after that first scan, his arms wrapped around me so tight I nearly choked on his sweater. What would the difference be?

“What about you?” I ask her. “Any news?”

“Uh-huh.” She hands Aeron the iPad, then sits back to fasten her seatbelt as the car pulls out on to the road. Blacked-out windows cast her elegant profile in shadows. “It all went through.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Already?”

“Done and dusted. Lore Corp belongs to Murdoch Holdings, and you’re officially free.”

He sits back, breathing deeply. “Fuck. Shit.”

The engine rumbles beneath me, and the baby shifts back and forth. It—she—is bothered by anything that vibrates.

“So when do you leave?” she asks.

“As soon as possible.” He scrolls through the paperwork on the iPad. “Prepare the press release for as soon as we touch down in England. And then…well, I guess that’s it.”

Aeron kept Gwen on after the Maldives because in the end, her position as an informant helped us, and firing her would’ve been risky. She knows too much. It could have gone the other way, obviously, and then I’m not sure she’d still be around. I’m not just referring to her job.

Such things are necessary, as is the case with the sale of Lore Corp. Aeron tried everything to rescue his reputation, but it’s all been too much; the resemblance between Aeron, Ash and Abel is too blatant to ignore. Even the National Enquirer sheep have spotted it. With the baby on the way, and the way Ash has been since the incident, we’ve decided to cut our losses and, as they say over here, get the hell out of dodge.

I will miss SilentWitn3ss. My first baby. But it turns out there are more important things to protect. Things you might die for. Things other people have to die for, whether they realize or not.

“Is there anything else I can help with before you go?” Gwen asks.

I look up from my cell. Shake my head. “Nothing we can’t do ourselves.” Then I tap Aeron on the shoulder and jab a finger at my screen. “Have you seen this?”