Alpha’s Baby(74)

Stefan and I exchanged glances, Stefan’s of defiant anger and mine of shame.

Neither of us could offer an answer to Terry. How could we? There was no excuse for what we did.

Stefan and I stood there for the next five minutes, being endlessly berated by Terry, accompanied by an occasional whine from my mother, and we were unable to offer any kind of rebuttal to his furious tirade.

Several times, I attempted to try to speak up in our defense, but Terry would not hear of it. He was on a roll.

Finally, Stefan could take no more. “Will you shut the fuck up already?” he yelled.

Terry froze in his tracks, visibly trembling, eyeing his son with murder. I knew then that we were two seconds away from disaster, and I placed a restraining hand on Stefan’s arm.

Stefan swallowed back anger and calmed slightly as he gazed at his dad challengingly. “Look, we already told you everything that happened. Yes, we’ve always had feelings for each other, but we didn’t recognize each other on the first night we had sex. You guys can either believe us or don’t, but I’m not going to stand here any longer listening to this bullshit. Yeah, I knocked Bella up. Accept it and move on,” Stefan growled, “or get the fuck out of my apartment.”

I hoped that his powerful declaration would settle things. Instead, roaring with rage, Terry rushed forward, intent on murdering the insolent Stefan with his bare hands.





Chapter 34





Bella





“Terry, stop!” Emma shouted.

Terry pulled back just before colliding with Stefan as Emma calmly stepped in between them. “No more violence. All you’re going to gain is a swift trip to the ER and land Stefan a seat in the local jail cell.”

Terry bristled visibly at being told what to do by my grandma, but she stood her ground, unperturbed. Finally, Terry let out a disgusted huff and stepped away, muttering something under his breath about ‘meddling old women’.

Though he tried to hide it, I saw relief flash in Stefan’s eyes as Terry backed down.

Emma glanced once at Stefan, making sure he wasn’t planning any other inflammatory statements. Satisfied, she nodded and turned her gaze on me.

“How far along are you?” she asked me. In her eyes, I saw compassion and understanding and I was almost moved to tears.

I glanced down at my stomach. “About 12 or so weeks.”

Relief swept through my grandmother’s face. “Good, maybe we can—”

“Get rid of it.”

My mother’s cold words cut through me like a knife and I stared at her with horror.

“What?” I gasped. Beside me, I felt Stefan stiffen in anger.

My mother’s face was emotionless as she returned my stare, as if she’d been shocked into numbness. “Get rid of the baby. The sooner the better.”

“How can you say that?” It was hard to draw air into my lungs. The life growing inside me was my mother’s soon-to-be-grandchild. I couldn’t believe that she could so callously dismiss its potential chance at life just because the father was Stefan.

Her voice was firm and even. “You have your whole life ahead of you. Why throw it all away on a foolish mistake? The love you two claim to feel for each other is not real. It can’t be, so stop pretending that it is. You're both just confused.”

I couldn’t believe it. It was as if our secret had put my mother into total denial. “Come on, now,” my mom urged, holding her hand out to me as I stood there in a horrified daze. “I’ll take you to the clinic myself.”

“Listen to your mother, Bella,” Terry added, as if someone asked for his fucking input. “It would be best for you to do it now before it’s too late to do anything about it.”

I couldn't find the strength for a response, my knees incredibly weak. They wanted to kill my baby—Our baby. It wasn't fair.

“Don't you think you two are being just a little too harsh on Bella?” Emma asked.

“No,” my parents responded in unison.

Emma gave a pleading look to my mother. “I love Bella dearly, and I want what's best for her just like you do, but she's an adult. She can make her own decision.”

My mother scowled at Emma. “How can you defend this? You, most of all, should be outraged by what's happened here!”

“Because it's happened before,” Emma replied calmly in the face of Mother's wrath.

No wonder she's been so calm this whole time, I thought. She's totally used to this.

That gave Mom pause, a look of bewilderment twisting her features. “What are you talking about?”

Emma nodded gravely. “Your own union   with Terry is one such an example. You know, Terry is Baron's nephew . . . my nephew.”