“And what’s more,” I went on, “I got pregnant with your child, Alexander! Take one look at me and tell me that this—” I gestured to my swollen belly— “was just a ploy!”
Alexander stared at me for several moments as if searching for a lie in my words. I held my ground, lifting my chin defiantly.
No. I would not let my father’s alleged actions reflect on me.
I was tired of living in that man’s shadow.
“I didn’t know,” I finally said, my words quivering slightly as some of the anger deflated from my body and was replaced with sorrow. Sorrow that my own father would use me like that. “Alexander, I swear to you, I had no idea about any of this.”
“I want to believe you.”
“Then believe me.”
Alexander’s lips parted. I half expected Gabriel to come out of the shadows now
