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She put a hand on her hip. “You were good friends with Brad. When it wasn’t Kian and Brad, it was the three of you, but there was one problem. Brad was married to the woman you loved. Tell me. Are you two seeing each other now?”

Red spread from his roots to his cheeks, down to his neck. “I don’t appreciate—”

“I’m sure you don’t. I’m not blaming you, but don’t come in here acting all friendly.”

“I was the one who pulled Deidra off of you at the wake.”

“Yeah, after she’d walloped me. I saw your face and how you looked at me.”

“So why didn’t you tell Kian and get him to put someone else to protect you?”

“Like I said, you’re a good person, and a good agent from the way Kian tells it. Besides, I have a feeling you know Meghan’s coming, and you’re only too glad to keep it from Kian.”

Anger flared in the hazel eyes, and then resolution. “Clever woman.”

“Got that right. I learned a few things from the best.”

He acknowledged her words with a nod of his head, and Evie headed upstairs. After her shower and change into form-fitting jeans and a cute blouse, she wrestled her hair into order and added simple earrings and a touch of makeup. She smirked at her reflection in the mirror.
You’d think I was preparing for a date.

At last, she was ready to return to the living room and walked down just as the doorbell rang. Joey gestured to her to wait where she stood and removed his gun from its holster as he crept toward the door. Evie rolled her eyes and folded her arms under her chest. Just as she suspected, the visitor turned out to be Meghan, and Joey let her in.

“Meghan,” Evie said with zero warmth.

“Evie,” the woman echoed. She glanced at Joey and back to Evie. “Anywhere we can talk in private?”

Evie hated realizing Meghan would know as well as she did if there were, but Joey spoke up. “I’ll just make myself scarce in the kitchen. Mind if I find something to eat, Evie?”

“Knock yourself out.” Evie never turned her attention from Meghan. Now that the woman had arrived, Evie’s stomach did somersaults, and she felt like she wanted to either scream for Meghan to leave and never come back or say what she had to say. The sense of betrayal had no reason to exist, since she’d been the one to leave Kian. She had divorced him. He had every right to see whomever he wanted, but tell her emotions that, and they pretended not to get it.

Meghan moved across the living room and took a seat without being asked. She clutched trembling fingers in her lap. At least Evie wasn’t the only one nervous. “I thought about it long and hard and decided I wanted to talk to you first.”

“Before what?” Evie demanded.

At Evie’s caustic tone, Meghan raised her chin. The trembling stopped, and she narrowed her eyes, lips compressed. This was the agent, small but strong. “Before talking to Kian.”

“You have nothing to say to him.”

“I’m not going to argue with you, Evie. I came to speak my piece.”

“Then stop stalling and get on with it.”

Evie suppressed a laugh at the reaction to her words. Meghan could smack her right then, but Evie wasn’t under the weight of guilt this time around. If Meghan attacked, she’d have a fight on her hands. The woman didn’t move from her position.

Meghan sucked in a deep breath and then blew it out. “I’m pregnant.”

The entire room dumped sideways and then righted itself. Evie grabbed onto the couch to hold herself up. “C-come again?”

Meghan firmed her backbone. “I’m pregnant. It’s Kian’s.”

“You’re a filthy liar,” Evie shouted, bile rising in her throat.

Joey stuck his head in the door and looked from one to the other of them. “Everything okay, ladies?”

Evie ignored him, and so did Meghan. They stood there looking at each other, scarcely blinking until Evie’s eyes burned. She blinked only to keep them from watering and the witch thinking she’d brought Evie to tears. When neither of them responded to Joey, he seemed to take it as a good sign that they weren’t going at it and ducked out of the room again.

Meghan pulled her purse onto her lap and unzipped it. With precise movements, she searched the contents and then produced a document, which she handed over to Evie. A good thirty seconds passed before Evie could bring herself to take the paper.

She did everything she could not to shake as she unfolded the sheet, but her hands wouldn’t listen to the command. At first the words swam before her eyes, and she couldn’t focus. She blinked a few times, and the damning truth jumped out at her. Meghan was thirteen weeks pregnant.

The emptiness of Evie’s womb brought her hand to her own stomach. She’d come on her period a week and a half ago, and the fact that she’d not come off the pill made pregnancy all the more unlikely. Two years ago, she and Kian had been trying desperately to have a baby without success, and here was this woman sitting in her living room telling her she was having Kian’s baby. Maybe without even meaning to, she was giving Kian the one thing he’d longed for that Evie had failed to give him. All Evie wanted to know was how life could be so cruel. How could she and Kian build the relationship they lost with such a strong barrier between them?

“I…” Evie fell silent and considered what she intended to say. Her thoughts jumbled together, reasoning an impossible task. She touched her fingers to her temple and shut her eyes. Tears welled, and try as she might to will them away, they insisted on falling. When she glanced at Meghan, the woman had stood and turned her back to look out the window. From the set to her shoulders, Evie knew she had no intention of backing off. “Are you sure it’s his?”

Meghan whirled around. “Of course it’s his! Kian and I… We were getting closer before you came back into his life. I was going to move in, but here comes Evie with all her neediness, and he decides it won’t work out. Well, we were only seeing each other. I haven’t been with anyone else in a long time.”

“Because you were too busy lusting after my husband.”

Meghan’s eyes snapped fire. “Whatever you think of me, I am having his baby.”

Every time she said the words, they dug deeper into Evie’s heart and tormented her with what she couldn’t give him. Then a new thought occurred to her. Meghan intended to tell Kian. What would his reaction be? Joy? Of course he would be happy. At last, he would have a child. Maybe a little boy the spitting image of him, who’d look up at him with hero-worship and call him Daddy. The baby could be a sweet little girl. When they had begun discussing children, Evie watched Kian’s face light up at the prospect of a daughter and how he’d talked about running off boys when she grew up. Evie had laughed and told him he was crazy. All during that time, she had never considered some other woman might enjoy those experiences with him and not her.

“What I don’t get is why you’re telling me first.”

“Maybe I hoped you’d get out of my way and realize you’ve lost him for good.”

Evie’s mouth fell open. No snappy comeback could counter such raw truth. She couldn’t believe the woman had even admitted it, because anyone with sense could figure out that’s what Meghan wanted. “Next you’ll tell me I should think of Kian’s happiness and leave him. Better yet, I should dump him for your baby’s welfare.”

“You said it, not me.”

“Plenty single parent families do just fine.”

“In other words, you’re going to selfishly hold onto Kian no matter what?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

This time, Meghan seemed less than forthcoming about her feelings. “What if Kian chooses me for the sake of his son or daughter?” Meghan might as well have smacked her in the face as she rubbed her still-flat belly. Evie recalled noticing the increase in the woman’s size and attributed it to the pregnancy.

“I am not a jailer. What Kian chooses to do is on him. I won’t force him to stay with me, but I damn sure am not walking away.”

An expression of disbelief came over Meghan’s face. “You did before when it got too hard, and I guarantee I’ll do whatever I can to make it hard for you, Evie. He’ll be with me full time before this baby is born, and you’ll be where you belong—back in the gutter with that murderous cousin of yours and alcoholic ex-boyfriend.”

Evie clenched her hand at her side. “You better be glad you’re pregnant and my arm is in a cast. Get out of my house. You’re no longer welcome.”

Meghan affected a shiver. “You can have that paper. Show it to Kian if you want. I’m going to meet with him soon, and we’ll see who will be getting out of
Kian’s
house.”

Evie was done talking. She shouted for Joey, and he strode into the room with a sandwich stuffed in his mouth. His wary gaze flitted from Evie to Meghan and back again. Evie sat on the couch and reached for the TV remote. “Meghan was just leaving. Can you see her out?”

Red-faced, Meghan stomped toward the exit, and Joey followed. Evie tapped the volume button several times to drown out anything they might have said to each other. A few minutes later, Joey returned to the living room and stood near the archway. She felt his eyes on her and gritted her teeth.

“Is there something you have to say?” she snapped.

He strode in and took the opposite end of the couch. She noticed the bag of chips tucked beneath his arm. “Were you going to eat these?”

“Looks like you ate half the bag already.”

“Big appetite.”

His words inadvertently took her back to when Kian had said the same about himself, but he had referred to his sexual appetite. Evie dropped the remote from nerveless fingers. In a few hours, he might be back, and there was nothing she could say to him. To think of him touching her, hoping for him to say he loved her and that he wanted things to go back to the way they were before Brad’s death seemed to be a dream out of reach. She stood and stumbled toward the stairs, hoping her stomach would settle soon.

“Evie.”

“Not now, Joey. I can’t.”

“For what it’s worth, I truly don’t hate you. I was angry for a while just like everyone else, but then I realized what happened to Brad was his fault. He was a showboat, always in competition with Kian. He wanted to be better. He wanted the brass to look to him before they looked to Kian. As close as they were, he knew he would never be as good an agent as Kian. That’s why he tried to take down Paine alone. It had nothing to do with you.”

She spun to face him, surprised at his admission. “They always had a healthy competitive thing going.”

He nodded. “They did, but sometimes…well, Kian only saw Brad as his brother. He ignored the fact that Brad was human.”

“I appreciate you telling me all that. Thank you.”

“And.”

She looked at him.

“Yeah, I’m seeing Deidra. Not as a lover or anything, but as a friend. I hope one day she’ll be ready for more. If not, I’ll be there anyway.” He shrugged, and Evie smiled.

“I’ll be rooting for you.”

“Thanks. And I’ll be rooting for you too.” Evie gasped, and he chuckled. “Meghan’s not all bad, but I can tell she’s going about things the wrong way.”

“Do you know why she stopped by?”

“No, but I can guess. She’s scheming to get Kian back. Don’t give up. He loves you.”

His words didn’t encourage her, unfortunately. “I’m afraid this situation is a lot worse than me just hanging around. We’ll just see how it goes.”

Chapter Nine

Kian returned home about four, and Evie waited for him. She’d put the test result from Meghan away, feeling while Kian had a right to know about his child, it wasn’t for her to tell him. She had wrestled back and forth with the decision most of the day and decided it wasn’t her business. Still, if Meghan delayed, and she doubted the woman would, she would tell Kian Meghan had something important to discuss with him. Let Kian pressure the woman. That was the most she could do when what she really wanted was to hide away and pretend this situation had never come up.

“Hey, there,” Evie said when Kian walked in the door. She pressed against him and kissed his lips. He responded, but his mind was a million miles away. “What’s wrong?”

Kian glanced down at her and sighed. He moved her to tuck against his side as they walked farther into the house. “I have bad news.”

Evie stumbled, and Kian’s arm tightened around waist. Fear crept up her throat that Meghan had already cornered him, and he was about to tell her the news as well as his decision based on it. At that moment, she realized it would kill Kian to live apart from his baby, especially with his fluctuating schedule. He would not do well with the whole seeing his kid every other weekend thing, like many parents had to deal with, not after longing for a baby.

“What is it?” she said, her throat dry.

“Sit down.” He sat on the couch, pulling her down with him. When he laced his fingers with hers, she found it hard to breathe. “It has to do with why I rushed out of here this morning. I wanted to see if I could get a handle on things before I talked to you.”

Evie frowned. She was pretty sure Meghan hadn’t yet spoken to Kian when she stopped by the house, and that was after Kian had already left. “Just tell me. I’m so over the cryptic comments leading to horrible news.”

His brows knitted together. “Have you heard other—”

“Kian, just say it.”

“Vitali left the safe house, and we have not located him. There’s speculation he is actually in league with Paine, maybe helped him escape.”

“That’s BS!” Evie shouted. “Who’s the idiot who thinks that?”

Kian smiled and raised his hands in surrender. “It wasn’t me. I promise. As much as I hate both of them, I know Vitali isn’t helping Paine. I think he got impatient being locked away and decided do things his own way.”

Evie squeezed Kian’s arm. “You think he’s going after Anthony? If you all can’t find him, why does Leo think he can?”

“Because Paine wants him dead. I suggested to the others Vitali may decide to use himself to lure Paine into the opening.”

“He can’t do that!”

“Shh, Evie, calm down. I know you care about him.”

“It’s not like that. He’s my friend, Kian. I don’t want to see him hurt. He was there for me, and I know the only reason Leo’s putting himself at risk is because of me. Please, tell me you can find him.”