The Di Sione Secret Baby (The Billionaire's Legacy 2)

She cupped his jaw, revelling in the rough maleness of his skin. ‘Today, it occurred to me that everything I’ve done has led me here. It may sound absurd, but I can’t help but think I’m right where I need to be.’

Leaning down, he kisse

d her long and deep. Then he caught her closer to him, his strong arms wrapping her tight...tighter, until their hearts echoed one another’s, then beat as one.

‘It’s not absurd, ya galbi. Not absurd at all.’

At dawn, Allegra rose to use the bathroom. Smiling at Rahim’s disgruntled protest to her leaving the bed, she entered the luxurious bathroom and crossed to the stall. She wasn’t certain what made her look down.

The blood on her thighs didn’t make sense at first. She was carrying the child of her heart. Fate itself had handed her this precious gift.

But then she remembered that until today she’d never truly believed in fate. Fate had only ever taken from her, not given. It’d taken her parents. It was stealing her grandfather right from under her helpless nose.

And now it was about to take her very soul.

‘Rahim!’

CHAPTER TWELVE

RAHIM JERKED AWAKE, his blood curdling as it always did each time he dreamed of her screaming his name. Sweat dripping from his brow, he rose from his narrow cot and stumbled to the window. The view over the racetrack was the same as it had been yesterday and the day before that. Last week, it’d been views over the cratered land mass that constituted the rejuvenated oil fields in the northernmost point of Dar-Aman. In the three weeks before it’d been over different sites just like these.

The work involved with rebuilding his kingdom was unrelenting and punishing. And he welcomed every second of it. He needed the punishment. Because with each tunnel dug or brick laid with his bare hands, Rahim could reward himself with taking another breath, knowing he was atoning in some small way for his hubris.

How many times had he condemned his father for the same mistakes he’d ended up making?

He’d arrogantly believed he could have it all. Allegra. His child. His kingdom.

His wedding night had showed him just how wrong he could be.

Rahim had believed he’d found a way to taste happiness without losing his heart or his head. When Allegra had spoken of fate and paths taken, he’d even begun to let go of the anger he’d felt for his father, while patting himself on the back for getting it right this time. He’d taken every precaution he could. Allegra’s doctors had assured him his new wife and the baby were both fine. That he could enjoy his wedding night like any newlywed. Heaven had beckoned and he’d lost his mind.

Just like his father had believed he could have it all, once upon a time, Rahim had started dreaming of forever, forgetting that in one single night Khalid Al-Hadi had lost everything. Including the son whose face he hadn’t been able to stomach looking at because he reminded him of his loss.

Rahim knew all this, and yet he’d put himself at the same risk, and placed Allegra and their baby’s well-being on the line through his greedy yearning for what he shouldn’t have craved in the first place.

Laying his head against the cool glass of the nearly completed paddock VIP suite’s window, he tried to stem the other conversations running through his head.

Striding to the phone next to his sleeping place, he punched the numbers.

The voice that answered was groggy and disgruntled.

‘I need an update on how the latest ultrasound went.’

Frantic scrambling in the background proceeded a halting, ‘Your Highness? A thousand pardons but it is the middle of the night.’ At Rahim’s terse silence, more scrambling ensued. ‘Please hold on, Your Highness... I’ll just grab the notes.’

Irrational rage flared up his spine. ‘You mean you can’t remember results of a test you conducted just this afternoon?’

‘Please, Your Highness, I have it.’ The doctor cleared his throat. ‘Both child and mother are in excellent health. The pregnancy is thriving.’

Rahim allowed the veiled implication that others were not thriving sail over his head. ‘And?’

‘I’m sorry, Your...?’

‘How did my wife look?’ Rahim cut across him. ‘Did she look happy? Worried?’ Was she as breathtaking as she’d looked that last time they’d made love? Right before he’d allowed thoughts of hearts and fairy tales to break down his carefully erected barriers? Noting the thickening silence, his hand tightened around the phone. ‘Did you not understand my question?’

‘I... I’m sorry to report that Her Highness believed she felt the baby kick for the first time while I was performing the ultrasound.’

‘What do you mean she believed? Are you calling my wife a liar?’ Rahim grated.