Page 27 of The CEO Alpha’s Substitute Mate

The sentence won’t come out. “I am your... You were four days old when I adopted you.”

“Adopted. What does that mean?”

“It means I chose to have you, to be your mother. I chose to have you as my son.”

“Then where’s my real mom?”

His voice has climbed and gone thin at the edges. There’s heat coming off him through his shirt that has nothing to do with the sun, his fingers have curled in against my palms, his nails digging into my skin painfully, and behind me, I hear Callum come closer.

“My sister, Maya, the one I talk to you about.” I get my voice level and keep it there. “She was the one who gave birth to you.”

His lower lip starts to wobble. “But she’s gone. You said she died.”

“Yes. She did. And before she did, she gave you to me. She loved you more than anything.”

“So.” His breathing is uneven. “I don’t have a mom then?”

“I am your mom, Luca. I am your mother. You’ve been mine since the day you were born.”

I cup his face, my heart breaking at the confusion and fear in those gray eyes. “I wanted you so badly, Luca. That’s why I chose to keep you. I didn’t mean to hurt you, and I was going to tell you one day. It’s just that I didn’t want it to be so soon.”

“Why did you lie?”

“I didn’t think it was a lie. I’ve always thought of you as mine.”

“So if I’m not your son, then I don’t have a mom?” He keeps repeating it, too young to understand the concept of adoption.

“You have a mom.” I take hold of his shoulders. “I am your mom, and I always will be. Nothing in this world can change that.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

He crumples in my arms, and I wrap him to my chest as he starts to cry. “I don’t want another mom.”

“And I don’t want another son.” My throat closes up, so I talk through it. “I just want you.”

I get him up off the gravel and settle him on my hip. Then I turn around to where Callum is standing with his hands at his sides. He doesn’t look happy, but I don’t care. My voice is sharp.

“Deal with her.”

Reid is holding the door, and his face is tense for some reason. I walk past him, and he holds the door wide for me. Isabella is standing in the middle of the hall with her arms folded. I walk straight past her and up the stairs, then keep going until my own door is shut behind us.

“Come on.” I set Luca down on the end of the bed. “Let’s get you out of your uniform.”

He shakes his head and puts his arms up. “Okay.” I toe my shoes off, get onto the bed with him, then pull the blanket up over both of us until there’s nothing showing but the top of his head.

“We can stay like this as long as you want.”

He goes to sleep almost instantly. I know he’s got questions and he’s confused, but I also know my son. He’ll work out what he can in his little head and then come to me when he’s ready. For now, I just want him to feel secure and loved. So I hold him close and hum under my breath until his breathing evens out.

There is so much anger inside me at the woman who just crushed my child’s world. Even when everyone was telling her to stop talking, she wouldn’t shut up. I want to break her nose. I want her to feel an ounce of the pain that my son did today.

But now she’s also announced to the whole staff that was listening in that I am not Luca’s biological mother. That is definitely not going to work in my favor. Tired and worried, I let Luca’s steady breathing lull me into sleep as well. It’s just been two days here and so much has happened that it seems like weeks have passed. Sighing, I snuggle with my baby, letting the darkness take over.

❦ ❦ ❦

When my eyes open, the room has gone orange, the sun is going down behind the tree line, and Luca is a dead weight along my side with his mouth open. I get out from under him one limb at a time. He turns over into the hollow I’ve left and stays under.