Aiden stilled, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead before he cast a guilty glance at her purse.
Alia’s eyes followed his line of sight before she dug her hands through the small bag. True enough, she pulled out a small, circular disc, and she furrowed her eyebrows.
"What’s this?" she asked rhetorically, holding it out for him to see.
"It’s just a safety precaution," Aiden said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "I thought... I had a feeling that Caleb Walton would..."
Eventually, Aiden sighed, looking down at his lap with guilt.
"I know that you can take care of yourself. I just wanted to be sure," he finally said.
Alia fiddled with the small disc. While she was surprised Aiden had left a tracker on her, she couldn’t say that she was upset with him. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
She shook her head and placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting Aiden to look up.
"Thank you," she sincerely said. "If you hadn’t left this in my purse, who knows what would’ve happened?"
"I wasn’t sure if you still had it with you," Aiden confessed. "I just thought it was better to check just in case. No one has heard from you since you left the office."
"You were checking my location because I was gone for too long?" Alia asked, raising an eyebrow. She teasingly added in an attempt to lighten the mood, "I thought you gave the rest of the afternoon off. Or did Carlo say anything to you?"
Aiden nodded at her words.
"He said you were acting weird," Aiden said. "He ntioned one of the boys from the orphanage tried looking for you, and when I checked with Charlotte, I just had a feeling sothing was wrong."
Once he was sure that Alia was feeling alright, he turned back to the road, shifting the gears in place before setting off. However, unlike the usual need-for-speed daredevil driving Aiden favored, this ti, he made sure to adhere to the speed limits and road rules.
"I still think we should head to the hospital," Aiden said while he kept his eyes on the road, making sure not to look away even though the streets were fairly empty.
"No hospitals," Alia insisted.
She could only imagine the drama that would ensue when the tabloids got wind of this. Not to ntion she could just imagine the sort of snide remarks and jabbing comnts she would receive from Emline and the others. Alia would be known as a sullied woman, and she had no doubt Emline would even try to pin all the bla on her, perhaps claiming that she was the one who seduced Caleb to act this way.
"Then we should at least let Isaac know so that he can do a brief check," Aiden said, frowning.
He glanced away just for a split second before reaching to the backseat once they stopped at a red light. Grabbing a spare varsity jacket he had tossed in the back, he used it to cover the top half of Alia’s body.
"Or maybe he has female colleagues who can have a look if you’re not comfortable with Isaac doing it," Aiden suggested. "We can make her sign so confidentiality agreent―"
"It’s fine, Aiden," Alia said. She pinched her lips into a tight smile. "I’m fine, really. You ca just in ti. He didn’t do anything of harm yet and frankly, I think he might need a doctor more than I do―"
"What are you trying to hide, Alia?"
Aiden’s question caused Alia to still in her seat as she pulled the jacket a little closer to her body. Baked under the warm layer of clothes, she was already starting to perspire. However, the sweat that left her body was cold.
A knowing look passed his eyes.
"You’re not... actually pregnant, are you?" Aiden asked, and she squeezed her eyes shut, exhaling softly.
The silence was all that Aiden needed to know. That was all that filled the car for the next few seconds as well.
"Well, fuck," he finally said, cursing under his breath. The car’s engine purred as they continued to drive, serving as the only consistent sound between them. "Fuck!"
"It’s not―"
"Does my brother know?" Aiden pressed, cutting Alia off. She stared at her lap, her lips opening and closing like a fish out of water, though no words ca to her aid. "Fuck, Alia, you didn’t even tell him?"
"It’s not confird!" Alia yelled. When she realized how loud she had been, she took a deep breath and softly repeated, "It’s not confird."
Her fingers entwined with each other, pulling and peeling at the bits of skin on her palms. She couldn’t understand why Aiden had been so alard by her possible pregnancy, though if she was actually carrying a child, it would undoubtedly get ssy, considering how Emline was supposedly carrying Matteo’s kid too.
"Shit..." Aiden bit down on his bottom lip to stop himself from swearing like a sailor, though he had already failed terribly at it to begin with. "I ant it as a joke. I didn’t think you actually..."
He looked away from the road once more, glancing at Alia. She was curled up in the seat, hunched over like a roly-poly trying to use its hard shell to protect itself.
Eventually, Aiden sighed. "I guess it makes sense. You’ve been feeling unwell for ages."
Alia didn’t say anything and Aiden took it as a sign for him to continue.
"Is that why you don’t want to go to the hospital?" Aiden asked. "Because you’re afraid they will confirm your suspicions?"
"I am not ready to have a child," Alia admitted ekly. "Not like this, with everything that has been going on. I don’t want and Matteo’s child to be born during this ti, especially since Emline is―"
She stopped speaking. Just the thought of Emline caused a wave of disgust to curl in her stomach.
Oddly enough, she had been so tensed up the entire way that everything didn’t hit her as badly. But now that she was away from Caleb and away from that creepy warehouse, she could feel the bile rising up her throat again.
Aiden was so quiet that Alia eventually looked away from her lap for the first ti since the conversation veered to this topic, just to see Aiden staring fixated at the road. His knuckles had already turned white beneath the crusty layer of dried blood due to how hard he was gripping the steering wheel.
He seed lost in thought.
"Aiden?" Alia gently called out.
Her voice seemingly pulled her out of the trance he was in. He inhaled sharply before looking at her for a split second.
Then, he said, "We’re going to the hospital."
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