Page 161 of Checkmate
He glanced down at Sophie, that stupid, fake smile a permanent fixture on his face.
The bitch had done it.
She’d tied herself to him forever.
Chapter 47
Marcus
“She’s pregnant?”
He looked up from the monitor where he’d been reviewing the latest footage for their show. They’d been halfway through their meeting when Justin and a few of the guys who worked with Alex’s company had returned from an impromptu gathering at his building. “Oh yeah. And really loving the attention, too,” Justin said, looking over his shoulder with interest. “She had the entire office decked out in blue and pink, and insisted it was mandatory everyone took part.”
“Alex must have loved that,” Erica said, wrinkling her nose.
“Poor bastard didn’t know where to put himself,” Justin replied. “He was obviously uncomfortable, and she either didn’t care or didn’t notice.”
Marcus shook his head as he tried to imagine Sophie as a mother, shuddering at the thought. This was a woman who would wait around for the next tram if she saw a child get on board. She refused to eat in family-friendly restaurants and complained loudly if a kid spoiled her evening.
And this was her attitude towards well-behaved children with parents who could reason with them. She had even less patience for babies and wanted nothing to do with them.
“I wonder if there’s trouble in paradise,” he wondered out loud. “Maybe she wants to keep her hooks in Alex as much as she can.”
“She’s an idiot, then,” Justin said. “If rumours are to be believed, he’s already cheated on her.”
“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer woman,” Marcus said with a shrug. “Shall we get back to work?”
“Wait a minute,” Erica said, looking at Justin. “Who has he supposedly cheated with?”
“Someone from our lot,” he said. “One-night stand type of deal.”
“And you don’t know who?”
“’’Fraid not.” He shrugged. “I’m sure they’re keeping a tight lid on it. Whoever she is, if the higher-ups find out, she’s a goner.”
Erica exhaled a slow breath and met Marcus’ gaze. Seeing the pity in her eyes, he silently applauded her empathy. Saying goodbye to Justin, he looked back at the monitor for a moment, not really seeing anything on the screen other than blurred shapes.
So.
A child with him was out of the question, but for Alex, she was happy to ruin her body and give up her freedom. Interesting. He didn’t care, nor did it surprise him. But it was a stark reminder that the woman he had once given his all to had never loved him at all.
Or, more than likely, she loved Alex too much.
“Do you feel weird?” Erica asked quietly, barely meeting his gaze.
“How so?” He asked. Weird wasn’t quite the right word, but he definitely felt some kind of way.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I mean, did you and Sophie ever talk about kids?”
“Yeah.” He nodded and released a humourless chuckle. “On our first date, in fact. She told me under no circumstances would she ever have a child. It was completely off the cards if I was to continue dating her.”
“You didn’t want children then?” She asked, finally looking at him. His heart leapt at the genuine interest in her eyes. This was moving into a territory he hadn’t expected. But given everything else they had already achieved together in the last six months, why shouldn’t children be a topic they broached?
“They weren’t a deal breaker for me,” he said. “I was twenty-five when I had that first date. And I was a young twenty-five. It was easy for me to rule out children in favour of the incredibly beautiful woman in front of me.”
“I can understand that,” Erica said. “And now?”
He hesitated for a moment, taking a slow breath to compose his thoughts.
