CHAPTER 193

The secret of my pregnancy weighed heavier on me with each passing day. I found myself caught between the desperate urge to tell Leon the truth and the paralyzing fear of adding more to his already overflowing plate. He was dealing with so much—Justin, the lawsuits, the entrapment operation—and I couldn’t bear the thought of burdening him even further.

I often rehearsed the conversation in my head, thinking about how I’d tell him. Every time I worked up the courage, something would hold me back. What if he felt trapped? What if the added stress broke him? I couldn’t shake the thought that keeping this secret was my way of protecting him, of giving him one less thing to worry about.

It wasn’t until that afternoon, when Leon suggested we go out for lunch, that things began to spiral in a way I couldn’t control.

“Want to go get some lunch,” Leon had said, flashing me one of his warm, reassuring smiles. “I figured that perhaps, I need to take you out more often. I understand that being he