The Consequence

by Giana Darling

  “It was the idea of children, wasn’t it?”

  I turned to face the young man questioning Sin. It was around the same age as my partner but boyish looking with his floppy curls and dimpled smile. I remembered his face from the news and magazines. He was the son of the New York Senator and one of Sinclair’s friends from boarding school.

  “It’s nothing to be ashamed of Sinclair. God knows, I don’t see the appeal in spawning little brats,” Liam Reed continued to say. “Deal breaker for Elena though, huh?”

  “Don’t be stupid, Liam,” a beautiful blonde said from the other side of him. “Everyone knows he left Elena for the sister.” She inclined her head towards me with pursed lips. “Didn’t you read about it in The Times?”

  Liam looked vaguely surprised before he threw his head back with laughter. “You dog. I never would have guessed you for a cheat.”

  Sinclair was still and cold as an ice sculpture, his jaw so tight that I wondered if his teeth would crack under the pressure.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Liam leaned forward to wink at me. “This one is a lovely little thing. But you can’t tell me kids didn’t play a role in it?”

  I clenched and unclenched my sweaty hands in my lap, worried that Sin would say something and worried that he wouldn’t.

  I was right to worry.

  Sinclair leveled his freezing glare on both Liam and the blonde, staring them down until they looked away nervously. “Marriage and family was never the problem, at least not with the right woman. Giselle, the lovely little thing, who has done me the greatest honor by consenting to be with me despite the havoc I have wrought on her life, is that woman for me. In fact,” he paused dramatically and I realized that the entire table had quieted to listen to his little speech, “we’re expecting and I could not be happier about it.”

  The silence that blanketed the room was so heavy that it crushed the air from my lungs. Sinclair reached for my hand under the table and took it in his, rubbing his thumb comfortingly back and forth. I tried to take reassurance from it but the anger and shame that warred inside me beat it back.

  “Sinclair?” Willa asked, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “Is this true?”

  “It is,” he confirmed.

  I watched his face transform with a glorious smile, his cobalt blue eyes alight with pride and joy.

  Damn, it was going to be hard to stay angry with him.

  Willa struggled for a moment with the news. She stared down at her plate, blinking rapidly, before she looked over at her husband at the head of the table. He inclined his head at her, his smile gentle.

  “Well,” she finally said, “I cannot believe it. I’m finally going to be a grandmother!”

  It was my turn to blink rapidly as tears rushed forth and spilled over my cheeks before I could help it. Sinclair tugged my chair closer and put his arm around my shoulders as he began to accept everyone’s congratulations.

  I decided to rest my head against his strong shoulder, smiling weakly at everyone as they beamed at us. Apparently, procreating trumped the shame of adultery, at least in the high circles the Percy family ran in. I was both relieved and repulsed by their congratulations but after months of antagonism, I was willing to take whatever niceties I could get.

  “T’es fache?” Sinclair murmured into my hair when we had a moment to ourselves.

  “I’m not angry, even though that would be justified.” I scowled up at him. “How can I be angry when you are so excited for this baby?”

  His fingers skimmed over my satin clad belly and rested there but it was his eyes, brighter than I had ever seen them - so blue that they were almost neon - that captured my total attention.

  “I have never been happier.”

  I swallowed the sob that rose in my throat. “Me too.”

  “Sinclair, I would like to speak with you,” Mortimer Percy said, suddenly appearing over our shoulder.

  He frowned at his father and then me before nodding. “Okay, but Giselle is coming with me.”

  Mortimer stared at me for a moment before inclining his head in consent.

  I puzzled over him as I followed them both from the room. He was a mystery to me in a way that Willa was not. I understand that the woman lived for her role as a matron of New York society, that she loved the power bestowed upon her as a Governor’s wife and that, in her own way, she loved the son she had found and molded in France.

  But Mortimer was a different entity, one that Sinclair didn’t talk much about. I knew that he wanted Sin to follow in his political footsteps, that he was charismatic and generous. But whatever his qualities, I knew that he too had used his adopted son for his own gains and I would never forgot my Frenchmen’s sadness as he related that to me in that little cove in Mexico.

  So, I was wary as we all settled in Mortimer’s office, a place of cedar, leather bound books and manly red walls. Sinclair sat me in a chair in front of the desk beside Willa, who had followed us in, but he remained standing even when his father took his place behind the desk.

  “It was you,” Sinclair started.

  I couldn’t see his face but I knew from the tone of voice that he had discovered something horrifying.

  It took me about to seconds to clue in so I was gasping when Mortimer nodded, “Yes. I was the one who told the press about Paulson’s unique… tastes.”

  “How did you know?”

  “You forget that I am the one who introduced you,” Mortimer said simply.

  “Daniel,” Willa interjected when the two men just continued to stare at each other. “We didn’t mean to cause you real problems. We just wanted to… give you a push in the right direction.”

  “Meaning?” he growled.

  “Meaning, we wanted you to take your rightful place in politics,” Mortimer explained calmly.

  “You are kidding me, no?” Sinclair asked in his glacial way.

  Willa froze over accordingly, her eyes wide with fear. I wondered if she was worried about what other people would think if they found or if she truly regretted crossing the line and the risk doing so now posed to her relationship with her son.

  “Unfortunately, no,” Mortimer said before heaving a huge sigh and focusing on a point over Sinclair’s shoulder. “I know we didn’t go about it the right way, trying to manipulate you into following my path. It was wrong of us. I can see that now. But you have to understand; every single Percy since we settled in this country from England has been in government. You are my son. I don’t care if we don’t share the same blood. I wanted that legacy for you.”

  “That’s so fucked up,” Sin breathed out.

  It totally was.

  To his credit, though I didn’t really give him any, his father nodded sadly, “Agreed. I know we haven’t been the best parents--”

  I snorted, unable to keep quite anymore. “You have be abysmal parents as far as I can tell. And before you tell that I have no business in this conversation, you are wrong. If it involves Sinclair, it involves me. You two made the deliberate choice to be his parents and you have never done right by him.”

  “We gave him the best education money could buy, the tools to succeed in this life,” Willa snapped, aghast at my audacity.

  “I have no doubt that Sinclair would be successful even if he had remained an orphan on the Côte d'Azur. What he needed, what you promised to give him by adopting him, was love.”

  “We love him,” Willa mouthed, her voice lost to the grief those words stirred in her. She turned to Sin with both her lips and her eyes opened wide, punctured with remorse. “We love you. You know that, Daniel.”

  He cocked his head to the side as he studied her. “I do. But Giselle was the one who taught me how to love properly, with my whole heart. You don’t use your loved ones to better yourself in society.”

  “That is not what we did,” Willa objected sharply.

  “It wasn’t what we meant to do,” Mortimer amended quietly.

  The two of them shared a long look before Willa tu
rned to Sinclair with wet in her eyes. “Sinclair, my darling boy, I’ve always loved you. Since the minute I saw you on the streets in Nice, I loved you.”

  I watched Sinclair swallow hard. “Honestly, I don’t really care anymore. I’m done with family drama. I have Elle now and we are going to have our own family. If you want to be a part of it you will do what you can to rectify the mistake you made in contacting the press about the Paulsons and you will start treating both of us like family.”

  He looked down at me and despite his little speech, I could tell he was rattled, both by the betrayal he felt and by their sincere remorse for it.

  I took his offered hand and followed him to the door but we paused when Willa called out to us.

  “I just want you both to know that we are going to do better,” she shot her husband a look and gathered her composure so that when she looked back at us she was once again the immaculate society lady. “I want to be in my grandchild’s life.”

  “Do better and you will be,” I said.

  Sinclair squeezed my hand and together we left.

  Chapter Nineteen.

  Sinclair

  I wanted to marry her. The thought consumed me to the point that it was affecting my work. Margot had caught me browsing Tiffany’s website for engagement rings when I should have been have been in the town car on my way to the construction site on the Hudson River. She’d paused dramatically before suggesting that Giselle might prefer something more unique, an antique or something custom made. She was right and the fact that she had warmed up towards my relationship with Elle was enough to make me cast her a massive grin. Her shocked but happy reaction made me realize that Giselle was right. I didn’t smile enough.

  I knew I had to wait though. Giselle wouldn’t appreciate me asking when we were already going through so much, moving at a pace that would have scared the fuck out of me even six months ago. I took immense comfort from the fact that she was pregnant though. The savage in me rejoiced in knowing that a part of me grew inside her. I’d worried she would be mad about the pregnancy but the look of confusion giving way to pure joy that eclipsed her face when I’d convinced her of it would remain with me forever. She had never been so beautiful.

  I hated that she wouldn’t let me tell anyone though. It was fucking ridiculous to keep it a secret, especially given that she was probably three months along. I hoped that after our appointment with Dr. Adams that day, she would change her mind.

  When I arrived at the office, Giselle was already there, curled up in a small chair with her travel sketchbook in her lap. I took a moment to watch her gently bite the end of her pencil as she stared into the distance at a place only her vivid imagination could construct. Her fiery hair curled over the cleavage exposed by the long wool dress she wore. My dick twitched in my pants even as my heart warmed at the sight of her.

  She was so fucking pretty and so fucking mine.

  As if she could sense my predatory thoughts, her eyes snapped to mine, clicking in place like magnets. A slow smile claimed her features and I couldn’t help but beam back at her. There were other people in the waiting room but I paid them no mind as I strode over to my siren and fell to my knees before her, first planting a gentle kiss on her tummy before claiming her lips in a possessive kiss. My hand found her throat, my thumb at her pulse, and I squeezed gently just to feel her heartbeat throttle before I moved away to take the seat beside her.

  She blinked dazedly at me before breathily saying, “Hi.”

  I grinned in pure masculine satisfaction. “Hi.”

  “I know I just saw you this morning, but I’ve missed you,” she admitted with a faint blush.

  Her words liquefied me. I reached out to gently cup that pink stained cheek. “I missed you too. How are you feeling today?”

  “The nausea is pretty bad. I thought I had a handle on it this morning but I ended up puking in the Paulson’s gold plated toilet.” She made a face that had me laughing. It was one of my favorite things that she didn’t take herself too seriously.

  “It’s normal,” I assured her, because I may have gone a little crazy with worry when she wouldn’t stop throwing up one morning last week.

  “I know, I know. I guess…” She looked off into the distance so that I couldn’t see her expressive eyes.

  I tapped her chin lightly with my knuckles. “What is it, love?”

  “I guess I wish that I could talk to Mama about this. She’s done it three times, I’m sure she knows what to expect.”

  Fuck, she had the power to absolutely gut me. It was like my heart lived in her small hand and her moods dictated its every beat.

  I simultaneously wanted to kill Caprice for turning her back on her daughter, and sell her my soul in order to bring her back to Giselle.

  This love thing was so illogical.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, because at that moment, I really was.

  “For what?”

  “For being such a selfish bastard. I did this to you,” I pressed my hand to her slightly swollen stomach.

  “It takes two to make a baby, Mr. Sinclair,” she sassed me.

  She was so sexy when she sassed me.

  “And thank God for that. What I meant specifically was that I deliberately hid the pills from you, tried to make you forget to take them… I really wanted this despite the timing and what it might mean for you.”

  I wasn’t guilty for getting her pregnant, there was no part of me that could feel anything other than pure jubilancy at the thought of our child, but I hated how much pain my love brought her, how she had to choose me over everyone else she loved.

  “Hey, hey now,” she said, taking my chin in her hand this time. Her eyes were huge, a crystalline grey brighter than pure silver. “I won’t argue with you about some of that. You should have just talked to me about having a baby; I had no idea that was even something you wanted in the future, let alone right away. And it is pretty bad timing. We just moved in together and we are still so new…” she trailed off at the look on my face and I quickly tried to resurrect my cool façade so she would continue honestly but it was too late. “It feels like you and I have been together for years, like we were always meant to be together. As crazy as it sounds, I think you and I are ready to be parents. We will make a perfect nuclear little family. It’s the extended family that I’m worried about. I don’t think Elena will ever forgive me for also getting pregnant with you, especially so soon after you ended things with her.”

  “Elle,” I pressed her palm to my face with my hand. “I hate to break your heart, but Elena was never going to forgive you regardless of this.”

  Tears welled in those beautiful eyes but she bit her bottom lip against shedding them and nodded a few times to shore up her strength. I kissed the inside of the wrist holding my hand and dropped our linked hands to my lap so that I could lean forward and kiss her sad-softened mouth.

  She sighed gustily when I retreated. “I’ll have to tell Mama and the twins at some point.”

  “You will, but you can decide when that is. We can keep is quiet as long as you’d like.” God, but it hurt me to say that.

  She side-eyed me before smiling. “How much did it cost you to say that?”

  “Just don’t make me say it again.” My dry comment was rewarded with her laughter. I soaked it up like sunshine.

  “Miss Moore?” We turned to a nurse in pink scrubs that stood with a clipboard before us. “If you could come with me, the doctor is ready to see you now. Mr. Sinclair, I’ll come out to get you if you want to be part of the ultrasound.”

  “Of course,” I bristled, annoyed that she would even ask, that she would even consider barring me from the process.

  Giselle placed a calming hand on my arm before getting to her feet to follow the nurse. “Be calm, I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  I watched her disappear through the door before I opened my phone.

  “Mon frère, ca va?”

  “What’s with all the noise?” I asked Cage, win
cing at the cacophony of sound in the background.

  He laughed. “Give me a second.” I waited while he moved somewhere quieter. “There, that’s better. How is my favorite redhead?”

  “We’re at the doctor’s office.”

  There was a long pause while he digested that.

  “Okay, I am going to guess that she isn’t sick, otherwise you’d be going berserker on me. So…” He burst into ruckus laughter. “You old fucking dog, you knocked her up.”

  I couldn’t help my grin. “Mais oui.”

  “Just when I think you’ve completely turned your back on the French, you do something so quintessentially francophone like knock up your mistress.”

  “She is not my mistress.”

  “Woah, ease up. I was just teasing. If you tried to make Giselle your mistress, I would happily cut off your balls.”

  “You’re a good friend, Cage,” I said drily, which only elicited another chuckle from him.

  “How is she dealing with it?”

  “It was a surprise but she seems happy.”

  “Bon. I am very happy for you, Sin. You’ve got yourself quite the woman.”

  Pride sluiced through me; Giselle was the ultimate woman.

  “Listen, I need your advice.” I waited for him to stop laughing before continuing. “I agree, you’re an idiot, but I need someone to talk to and apart from Elle, you’re family.”

  Cage cleared his throat roughly. “Any time, mon frère.”

  “I want to marry her.”

  There was a loud whoosh as Cage exhaled in shock.

  “This is a joke?” When I didn’t respond, he blew a raspberry into the phone. “Wow, I am shocked. Daniel Sinclair wants to get married.”

  “He does. Tomorrow wouldn’t be early enough.”

  He chuckled. “Okay, then I don’t really understand why you need advice. Marry the woman.”

  “Her mother has basically disowned her, one of her sisters hates her and the other is in a fucking coma, her brother is on location somewhere in the Californian desert, we have only been dating for a few months and we just discovered that she’s pregnant.”