Chapter 52: Chapter 52

The chains of panic, tightened around Paige and made her think she can't breath. She struggled for oxygen. And the first breath she got she muttered.

"You’ve got to be kidding me." Spranging up from the bed, and dragging the bedsheet with her. She was fighting tears in the back of her eyes. "How…how could the condom have broken? I'm not on any pill."

"You are not?" He tossed back, his voice sounding a little excited which caused Paige to raise her head at him and eye him.

Was that it? Wasn't he going to say anything else? The men she knew would have been panicking by now. Shouldn't he be worried this circumstance could result in a baby? Instead, he just stood there, staring at her with that look she could not understand.

"So you are not on any pills?"

"So you have asked several times."

His eyes ran down her body and Paige swallowed, remembering she was still naked under the sheet. Leo on the other hand had found himself brief to wear, which to Paige's opinion was not fair. How was she to conduct this conversation in a near state of nakedness? While he was dressed.

Internally, Paige sighed. Remembering she had more things to worry about than the state of her body like,

"What if I get pregnant?"

Paige held her breath, waiting for Leonardo to answer.

For a moment or two, it looked like Leonardo was holding his breath. He wasn't wearing a shirt, so it wasn't difficult to notice when the movement of his chest ceased.

He released it, scratching his head. "It’s too early to find that out now," he said, taking a seat on the ottoman.

"But what if I…"

Golden brown eyes rested on her stomach with an intensity that took Paige's breath away. Paige's stomach clenched inside. Her pulse throbbing in anticipation.

His gaze met hers and held it. A certain seriousness entering it. "Then know that I will do the right thing."

The right thing? Paige finally found her breath, her heart racing. What did he mean by the right thing? Looking at the seriousness etched across his olive face, Paige sucked in a breath as an idea filtered through her brain. Good lord, he can’t mean to marry her. For a child! Her mouth tightened. If there was ever the worst reason to get married, it was this one.

So before she exploded, she asked him. "By the right thing you mean to marry me."

Just to be sure.

"Yes, I will marry you if a child ever came out of this."

A chill ran down her body. There was no doubt he was serious about what he was saying. Leonardo’s jaw was set in that familiar way she had come to know whenever he was convinced about something. Like how he was now.

How can he so calm when saying this, and even coming up with a solution at short notice and with such great conviction without feeling disturbed?

For a fleeting second, the wildest idea filtered through Paige's brain and she feared for the direction it was leaning into. "Did you do this on purpose?”

His head snapped up in surprise.

“Leonardo, did you tamper with the condom?”

“Don’t think so lowly of me, i will never do that.”

“I’m sorry, that was out of line.” Paige sighed. What had gotten into her?

“Apology accepted,” he said so stiffly Paige had to cringe inside.

There was a ruffle on the ground and when Paige looked up, he was sitting on the bed near her.

“Tell me what you are thinking? What is it that is on your mind?”

“I am not ready for a child. Oh God, I don’t even know if I want one,” she burst out, burying her head in her hand.

"You don’t want a child?” He said in surprise.

Paige raised her head, just enough to see his face. He was looking at her with such obvious disbelief had she not be plagued with thoughts of pregnancy, she would have erupted into fits of laughter.

What she meant was that she didn’t know if she wanted a baby now, but Paige didn’t have the patience to explain it to him like that. The stuff he said about marrying her if she was with his child was still disturbing her greatly.

She had always loved Leo, but getting married on a whim, just because she might be pregnant with his child, was going too far. Paige hadn't even thought that far ahead. And she will never ever subject herself to marrying Leo, knowing he was doing it for the sake of his child. If there was ever one, to begin with.

As far as fear might go. She might just be panicking for nothing. She might end up not getting pregnant, which will be good because it seems Leo had lost his mind thinking she would jump on his offer to marry her.

She wasn’t going to marry any man who wasn’t in love with her or any man who she couldn’t have emotionally.

“You didn’t answer my question. Did you just say you don’t want a child?”

“Yes, I want a child, but not like this,” Paige cried.

“What do you mean?” His face registered a barely perceptible frown, and he inched forward. “Will you explain it so I can understand?”

“I meant without a partner.”

“Didn’t I already say I will marry you?”

“I am not entering into any marriage where there is no love.” Because of how eager she was to prove her point, her voice ended up coming out harsh. Paige winced.

He drew back in shock. Then stood up and started pacing the floor. “Must there be love?”

What was he saying? "Of course there must be love.” But the love she was talking about was her partner loving her. That was essential.

He turned to her then. “Just love, or is there any other requirement?” His accent stressing the last syllable.

Paige held her breath. Were they still talking about the same thing? She didn’t like the look on his face just now, neither did she like the way he was looking at her. She did been worried before that he wasn’t panicking about the situation, but now it seems he was and she didn’t want to see it. Paige swallowed. "Just forget it,” she muttered, and his eyes opened wide.

"Why?”

“Because I just realized that it's just a torn condom. It doesn’t mean I will get pregnant. Perhaps, I was freaking out for no good reason.”

“You don’t know that.”

Paige lifted from the bed to go find herself something to wear, dragging the bedsheet with her. Leo was still standing there with that look on his face when she passed him. He caught her hand and turned her around, bringing her close to his body.

“Paige,” He peered into her eyes, and Paige melted instantly, lost in the warmth of his brown gaze. Which was so gentle if she hadn’t known better, she would have said he had fallen in love with her? Only he can get her this way, flustered, and bothered, and squirming in his hands with desire. “What if I already do lo… Paige, I do…Paige i…”

Closing his eyes, his face squinched up, and he gritted his teeth and Paige could see how frustrated he was with himself. But no matter how much she loved to watch him fumble on his words, she wasn’t about to stand there and wait for him till he was ready to speak. Paige was pressed, and she needed to use the bathroom as soon as possible. Her bladder couldn’t wait anymore. So she detached her arm from his hand, even though she was loath to.

Whatever he wanted to say could wait for another time. “Perhaps another time Leo.”

As she left him, there dragging the bedsheet with her, she called behind her, “Please send someone to get me an after pill before this circumstance turns into a reality.”

*******************

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Leo cursed as he speeded down the driveway heading to the nearest pharmacy.

He had been excited when he found out the condom broke. That was an awful thing to be excited about, but he was.

He hadn't realized he was in Love with Paige until he had seen the torn condom, and the thought of her, swollen with his baby penetrated his mind. That he didn't resist that image and embraced it with his two hands told him all he needed to know.

That his feelings where that woman was concerned, have grown considerably.

And he should have told her he was in love with her when she said she didn't want to be in a marriage where there was no love, but he had faltered. The words just wouldn't come out, no matter how much he craved to say it. It had never happened to him before. At least not in that fashion. He just froze. He had to teach himself how to breathe again, because of how desperately he was trying to get the words out. He couldn't explain it.

When he entered the room to tell her about the news. To tell her the condom broke. He was careful not to sound too excited. If not, she might think this was his doing. But he guessed a little of that excitement had seeped out after all, which was why when she had accused him of tampering with the condom, he had not been that annoyed.

Leo stopped in front of a pharmacy and almost felt like not buying her anything. But he can't make this decision for her. She would have to decide if she wanted a child now. Was she even ready for it?

And the anger in her voice when he had said he would marry her. If he was to be honest, had affected him psychologically.

Was he that undesirable? He had always thought of himself as being popular with the opposite sex. She ought to have thought him good looking.

They had had sex, hadn't they? So what was the problem? The unwillingness from her end. Maybe that was one of the reasons he couldn't tell her he was in love with her. He had felt rejected somehow. Leo's face twisted in pain, and he leaned his head and at the back of his seat.

It had gotten dark outside. The sound of vehicles driving through the streets, horns honking occasionally assailed his senses.

Leo was in his Maybach. Staring at the entrance to the pharmacy, watching as people entered and left, unwilling to join them.

He stared at the number of women inside the pharmacy through the glass and realized he couldn't enter there and purchase what he wanted, even if he wanted to. How long before someone figured out who he was. He could imagine the headlines.

'LEONARDO D'ANGELO, SON OF BUSINESS TYCOON CARLO D'ANGELO WAS FOUND BUYING AFTER PILLS, COULD HE BE DATING AGAIN?

This will spark up relationship rumors and his past life would be brought into the spotlight again. Not that he cared, but he didn't want to put Paige into that spotlight because he knew they would dig into her background until there was nothing left to be found.

And then, the matter of his family, he didn't want to be the center of attention again.

Leonardo sighed and leaned back in his seat, and called someone who would. The only manservant he trusted in their house.

It would be foolish to risk letting someone—someone like Rosa discover he and his fiancée were trying to prevent pregnancy. He had to give it to his sister. Even though Rosa hated him, she still knew a lot about him and knows that preventing a baby wasn't his style. Especially if he was engaged to someone he wished to marry.

And when she discovers that, it wouldn't take long for her to start doubting their relationship. And knowing his sister, when she put two and two together, she will eventually get four.

Leo pulled out a cigarette from the compartment in his car and lit it, watching as the butt of the cigarette shined red in the dark, and how his car acquired a new smell.

Even though he was buying Paige an after pill, somewhere in his mind, he wished it wouldn't work.

Call him selfish, but that's what he wished for.