Chapter 144

#Chapter 144: Good Mom Moana As I watched Mia walk away, there was a smile on my face. I liked her; she was so much nicer and warmer than Kelly, and I loved meeting Edrick’s old friends so that I could get a bit more of an insight on the way that the Alpha billionaire used to be as a kid. And it made me happy to hear that he used to be rambunctious and full of life, because I could see those little bits of his personality poking through his hard exterior more and more lately. Someday, I wondered if I could break down his hard shell entirely. I wanted to know the true Edrick.

But when I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see my ex-boyfriend, Sam, standing behind me, my smile faded.

“Hey, Moana,” he said before I could even say anything. He folded his arms across his chest and looked me up and down, his eyes lingering on my belly for a few moments. “Remember me?”

Of course I remembered Sam. Lately, I had been so busy with everything going on that I hadn’t thought much about what he did to me, but seeing his face made it all come back so fast that it felt as though I had been hit by a train.

Just a few months earlier, Sam and I had been dating. I really thought that he was the one, up until I found him sucking on another woman’s lips in the window of a fancy restaurant. And when I confronted him about it, he didn’t even show any remorse. All he cared about was getting his high-paying job at WereCorp, which his new girlfriend helped him get, and he didn’t care that I had been by his side as a constant and loving support system for years. I had helped him get through college. I had helped him gain his confidence. And I supposed, by extension, I had given him the confidence to cheat on me.

I wanted to say all of these things, but I didn’t. I couldn’t; not here, at least. I didn’t want to cause a scene. I especially didn’t want to piss him off enough to make him reveal the fact that Ella wasn’t actually my biological daughter.

“Do you need something, Sam?” I asked, glaring up at him in a way to show him that I wasn’t scared of him. I had come so far since we broke up, and I wanted him to know that his mind games wouldn’t work on me any longer.

Sam shrugged. “Just figured I’d come and say hi,” he said. “It seems like a lot has changed since I broke up with you. We should catch up.”

I scoffed. “Catch up?” I asked. “After what you did to me? Why would I possibly want that?”

“Come on, now,” Sam replied, his face hard and his eyes cold as he eyed me up and down again.

“Let’s let the past be in the past. You certainly seem like you’ve moved on, anyway. How far along are you, huh? Three months? Tell me, was the CEO of WereCorp an intentional rebound, or did you just happen to run into him on the street?”

Actually, I did just happen to run into Edrick in the street. Everything that happened between us was nothing but pure coincidence, and I was quickly learning that those coincidences may have happened because there was a chance that Edrick and I were fated mates. Someday, Sam would find out that I really was a werewolf, and I wished that I could see the look on his face when that happened. After everything that he said to me, how I should have felt lucky that a werewolf would even give a human like me the time of day, I hoped that he would feel like a real i***t when the truth finally came out.

“What does it matter?” I asked, lowering my voice and instinctively touching my belly in a protective manner. “You made your decision when you cheated on me. You have no right to know anything about my personal life.”

With that, I turned on my heel and began to walk away.

“Oh, really?” Sam called after me. “Did I not have a right to know about your daughter before then? You seem like such a good mom; I’m surprised you never introduced me to her.”

Sam’s words made me freeze momentarily and I felt my heart drop. My eyes widened as I looked around frantically, praying that no one had heard him say that. I supposed from the beginning, as soon as Edrick made his announcement on TV, that people would eventually learn the truth about Ella; but I didn’t want it to be today, and I didn’t want it to be Sam’s doing. I couldn’t let him win like that.

But thankfully, no one looked our way. Ella continued to play on the playground, the gaggle of nasty wives were preoccupied at their table as they compared the sizes of the diamonds on their engagement rings, and the other employees were too busy mingling and enjoying the picnic.

I let out a small sigh of relief and decided not to give Sam the pleasure of ruining my day. I was allowed to enjoy this picnic with everyone else, so I made my way over to the buffet and helped myself to a lemonade before spotting Edrick talking to one of his business partners. I wanted to be near him after what Sam just did, but I didn’t want to disturb his conversation or make him worried, so I nonchalantly sipped my lemonade as I walked up to him.

When I walked up to Edrick, he was in the midst of a conversation with his business partner about overseas manufacturers and labor strikes. Most of it made little sense to me, so I quickly tuned it out;

but as I walked up to him, Edrick absentmindedly reached for me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

I felt my heart leap in my chest at this casual romantic gesture. He didn’t pause or lag in his conversation one bit; it really was just instinct for him. It reminded me of the day we went to the mall and the creepy man tried to hit on me, as well as the day that we took the elevator down after having lunch with Ella and he put his hand on my lower back. It was small, casual gestures of protectiveness like this that made me feel safe and warm, and I didn’t even bother to glance back at Sam to see if he was still staring. In fact, I felt entirely comforted in Edrick’s arms.

However, there was still a chance that Sam would expose our lie. If he didn’t do it today, then he could easily do it another day. These people already hated me enough as it was, let alone if they found out that my relationship with Ella and Edrick was a lie; and I couldn’t even imagine how stressful it would be for people to begin questioning Edrick’s paternity over the baby in my belly.

I just hoped that, if something did happen, Edrick would take care of it. And when I glanced over my shoulder to see that Sam was still eyeing me from afar, I became even more worried that things would need to be handled today after all.