Imdiately, she called Matteo back. He picked up without delay.
"So... what did the report say?" Alia asked worriedly, while Aiden skulked closer, wanting to eavesdrop on the conversation. Alia didn’t even bother to fend him off; the news would be made public sooner or later eventually.
There was a brief pause from Matteo’s end of the line, and Alia heard warning bells ring in her head. Any hesitation from Matteo was a bad sign since Matteo would have rejoiced the mont the report ca back with a negative result.
"Are you sitting down?" Matteo asked. "You might want to sit down for this."
"...No, should I be?" Alia asked, her heart sinking at Matteo’s words. She had an awful premonition. "Matteo, out with it. Don’t waste my ti. Are you the father of Emline’s child?"
"The report states so," Matteo said, his voice wooden. It sounded like he himself could not believe his own words.
Alia felt the world shift under her feet, as though she was on a rapidly sinking ship.The phone fell to the floor with a clatter. She swayed, and Aiden scrambled to hold her upright just before she could fall to the floor, a muffled curse on his lips.
"The fuck? Alia, can you stand?"
"Alia!" Matteo’s voice was panicked at the other end of the line. He only heard a vague commotion at the end of the line, and a voice that sounded like it belonged to his annoying younger brother. "What happened?"
"What happened? Your bad news is what happened!" Aiden screeched in the direction of the fallen phone.
Even if it wasn’t on speaker, he was sure that Matteo would have caught every word. He picked up Alia’s phone and spoke.
"What’s going to happen now? Are you going to force Emline to abort the baby? My mother will end you if you try sothing like that."
"Give the phone back to Alia. This is none of your business," Matteo said curtly.
"Like hell it isn’t! Alia’s my secretary! And you might be killing babies!"
"Listen here, you damn brat―"
Alia reached out a shaky hand and tugged her phone away from Aiden, only to hear the tail end of Matteo’s cursing.
"I don’t care about the child. This is a fucking set-up!"
But Alia could only focus on what Matteo said earlier. "So it’s true. In the end... she is pregnant with your child. What are you going to do? We agreed you can’t sue her..."
"Alia?" Matteo asked anxiously. "I know this is shocking, but I’ll handle everything. Are you still at the office?"
"Yeah," Alia said faintly, not registering her own response.
"I’ll co and pick you up. We need to talk in person."
"Yeah, yeah we do."
Her mind was scrambled, now that the worst outco had effectively co to pass. Emline was pregnant with Matteo’s child.
Matteo hung up, and Alia stared at her phone screen, which had gone dark, easily reflecting her wide-eyed look of disbelief. Alia did not recognize the image of the woman reflected on the tiny phone screen― she had an aura of palpable despair floating around her as if her very world was ending.
Her stomach lurched, and she felt another wave of nausea overco her. She retched, but this ti, her stomach was so empty that nothing ca out.
Aiden’s hand rubbed her back in comforting circles. "Alia, I really think you should go to the hospital to get yourself looked at."
"No." Alia shook her head. "This is just stress, there’s no point in wasting ti."
Aiden’s face twisted in dismay. "I hate to tell you this, but you’re just going to be more stressed in the future now that the baby is a thing. I heard what my brother said― so it’s true after all. Emline is pregnant with his child."
Alia nodded tiredly. "That’s what the report says."
"You don’t believe it?" Aiden asked curiously, pausing his tender ministrations on her back to stare at her intently.
"I can’t help but think Emline must have pulled strings sowhere. I can’t trust her," Alia said. "Neither can Matteo, for that matter."
"Well. That shows you have a working brain," Aiden said after a brief pause, completely ignoring the ntion of his brother.
He gently helped her up and escorted her to one of the spare seats, before handing her the bottle of water again. "But regardless of your beliefs, the results wouldn’t change. If Emline leaks the news to the press, things will get nasty for you."
"Don’t jinx it," Alia said warningly.
"I’m just saying, it’s right out of her playbook. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ambushes Matteo later."
***
Matteo was just about to drive to the office when Emline contacted him. He rejected the call without rcy, but Emline was dissuaded, repeatedly calling him until he finally picked up.
"Matteo, I trust you heard the news," Emline said, her voice cheery beyond belief, but Matteo could detect the underlying irritation due to him not picking up her calls. "We’re going to be a family now."
"We are never going to be a family. Get that idea out of your head right this instant," Matteo growled. "I want a retest."
"I’ll have to respectfully decline," Emline said demurely. "You just have to scrape a cheek, but I have to lose a vial of blood. This is not good for the baby. You should have more care for your child."
"It’s not mine," Matteo snarled. "I don’t know what you did, but you won’t get away with it."
"To think you would be soone to shirk responsibility!" Emline sighed theatrically. "But I was prepared for such an eventuality. Since you refuse to accept this truth, I guess I have to let the world be my judge. I hope my cousin can endure the scandal."
"What? What are you planning to do?" Matteo barked out, but Emline had already hung up.
Nevermind. He had to reach Alia first. He drove to the office quickly, only to find Alia sitting in what used to be his office, her face pale and wan, staring at her phone listlessly. She barely reacted when he entered the office.
"Alia! What happened? What did you do to her?" Matteo demanded. Aiden, who was sitting at his desk, shot back just as angrily.
"? You should be asking yourself that! Just look at what’s on the trending news!"
With trepidation, Matteo checked his phone, where he saw several missed calls from his stepmother, his father, and Ronan. Ronan had sent him a news article.
’BABY DADDY IS IN: MATTEO MONTGORY IS THE FATHER! EMLINE HAWTHORNE THREATENS DEATH!’
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