Chapter 5

Marcelina's POV

Corey studied my face. "That sounds messy."

No, it wasn't. But even as I wanted to say that, my throat suddenly felt tight.

"So... this patient..." Corey stared at me like I'd just confessed to robbing a bank. "Let's get this straight."

"He gave me my baby," I admitted quietly. "It wasn't planned like a romance. No dinners, no flirting, no build-up. He didn't know about the baby part. He thought it was just... sex."

She said nothing at first.

She only whistled, smiled, and shook her head. But then, she asked. "Do you... feel guilty?"

The question surprised me.

I thought about it. About his face, his voice, the way he looked at me like he saw more than I wanted him to. Of course, I felt guilty. But it couldn't erase what had already happened.

"I feel relieved," I said instead.

For a second, she said nothing. Then, "Do I know this man?"

"He's well known," 

I mean, who didn't know Dom Vitali?

"Damn," she said, her grin turning wicked. "You really went all out and got yourself a famous baby daddy."

A famous baby daddy?

I shook my head immediately. "No."

She blinked. "No?"

"He's not my baby daddy," I said firmly. "He's nothing, just... the contributor. This baby is mine. Entirely."

"Okay..." Corey said and nodded slowly. "I get that. You said it over and over in the past, but I didn't really think you would follow through with it,"

She attended to the few customers that came up and turned back to me. "But what if the kid grows up asking about their father? I mean, it fucking happens."

I didn't answer right away.

The truth was that I hadn't planned that far. I had thought about love, in my own way. But not that question. Still, I knew this much.

"I'll be enough," I said finally. "I have more than enough love, time, and resources that can last two lifetimes. My child won't lack anything."

Corey watched me closely. Then she smiled, "You're going to be an amazing mother."

My throat tightened.

I was going to be a mother!

"To you," Corey said, lifting her glass. "And to the tiny human who just hijacked your entire life."

Before I could respond, a male voice cut in from the other end of the bar. "Corey, you planning to work today or just gossip and drink your way through the shift?"

"I am working. Ever heard of multitasking, dumbass?"

He scoffed and walked away while she rolled her eyes. Typical Corey.

Time must have passed, because the music was louder now. The crowd was thicker, the lights dimmer, and the bar packed with people calling for drinks. Corey and I could barely hear each other anymore. We were outright yelling now, our voices slightly raised.

"So tell me," Corey shouted after serving what felt like her tenth customer, "What do you think he's doing right now? Your patient, I mean,"

"He's probably back in Vegas," I yelled back, "Racing, running his companies, being rich. I flew back home right after the evaluation. I didn't stick around to learn anything about his personal life."

"And he hasn't called? Texted? Nothing?"

No, he hadn't.

And I hadn't expected him to.

Still, the truth strangely sat in my chest. Half relief, half something else I refused to name.

"He hasn't," I said, watching her pour another round. "I just hope he doesn't get into another accident that suddenly needs my time and services. I don't think I can handle being assigned to him anytime soon,"

Just thinking about it made my stomach tighten. Being called back now, when I was already pregnant with his child, was a complication I did not want to imagine.

Corey must have seen it on my face because she reached across the bar and squeezed my hand.

"I'm really happy for you, Marcel," she said softly, but loud enough to carry. "You've wanted this baby for so long. And somehow, that so-called patient gave you exactly what you needed."

I swallowed and blinked fast.

I never thought I'd ever say that about my own life.

"Remind me again, how old is it?"

I laughed and dabbed at the corner of my eyes. "Five weeks,"

"Well," she said, straightening as more customers stepped up to the bar, "Get used to it. You're not just living for yourself anymore. You've got a five-week-old miracle growing inside you,"

She turned to take their orders, then glanced back at me. "By the way?"

"Yes?"

"One day," she called over the music, "that man might show up again."

As she turned away, a strange thought crossed my mind. I wasn't sure Dom Vitali was the kind of man who stayed in the past for long.

Still, I shrugged, keeping my face calm. "Then he'll just be a man from my past."

"Is that so?"

The voice came low and close, right into my left ear.

For a split second, I thought I was hallucinating.

But then the masculine scent hit me—Dark, clean, and impossible to forget. The kind of cologne that wrapped itself around your senses before you could think.

I didn't need to turn around.

I knew that voice. I knew him.

He was standing right behind me and the thought of that alone made my body freeze instantly. My stomach pitched forward, and a cold weight settled in my chest.

Corey was still busy, serving the crowd that had thickened even more, and didn't notice how pale I'd gone. She had no idea how the future she'd joked about seconds ago had arrived far too soon.

"One day, that man might show up again..."

That man...

Dom Vitali.

All at once, the noise around me seemed to grow louder. The music, the voices, the heat. The crowd itself felt like it was closing in, pressing from every side.

My chest tightened and I felt dizzy. I couldn't seem to draw in enough oxygen no matter how hard I tried. 

"Water," He said calmly behind me and almost instantly, a bottle was placed on the bar. "Pour it for the lady,"

The lady.

My stomach dropped.

For a second, I honestly wondered if he was talking about someone else. Anyone else. But there was no one standing between us. No one was frozen in place except me.

I could only stare at the glass that was set on the counter in front of me, filled to the brim. I stared at it like it wasn't real. Like this wasn't happening.

I hadn't blinked once when his voice came again, making me flinch. "Drink."

Without thinking, I lifted the glass and drank. The water spilled slightly against my lip as my hands shook too badly to control it. I swallowed anyway, my body reacting before my mind could catch up.

I still hadn't moved or turned around. Because if I did, I would be looking straight at the man who had no idea he was standing inches away from the mother of his child.

Or maybe... he already knew.

The thought hit me hard, and I choked.

Water went down the wrong way, burning my throat as I started coughing. I tried to place it back on the bar but his voice stopped me cold.

"Every single drop, Doc."

I could feel him closer now, like he had leaned in, like he was watching every move I made. Without hesitation, I lifted the glass with shaking fingers and forced myself to drink the rest, even though my throat still burned and my chest felt tight.

Only when the glass was empty did I lower it slowly, my pulse pounding so loud I was sure he could hear it over the thumping music.

"Sir," The bartender said carefully, forcing a polite smile. "Can I get you anything else?" 

I didn't miss the fact that the bartender who had brought the water was fidgeting now. He kept glancing over my shoulder, then away, like he was afraid of breathing the wrong way.

"That will be all," 

The bartender nodded too fast and backed away. 

The next thing I felt was the brush of his jacket against my arm and the faint scent of his cologne wrapping around me. Then he spoke again. 

"A man from your past, huh?" 

The words landed like a blow, and for a second, I forgot how to breathe. Heat rushed to my face, my chest tightened, and my stomach plummeted deep down. 

I wanted the ground to split open beneath my feet and swallow me whole.

"Tell me, Dr. Owens," He said quietly, sitting beside me like we were old friends. "At what point did you decide I was the kind of man you could take from and walk away?"

So he had heard.

Every nerve in my body screamed at once. Shame, fear, panic, regret. They crashed into me together until I could not separate one feeling from the other. 

Still, I refused to fall apart. 

Not here. Not in front of him.

For all I knew, he had not heard everything. Even if he had, he could not be so sure we were talking about him. A man from my past could be anyone. 

Anyone but him.

I held onto that thought like it was a lifeline, even as it slipped through my fingers. 

Why couldn't I succeed in this one thing I wanted the most? 

Everything else in my life has always come easily. School, promotion, respect, success. I had worked hard, yes, but I had never failed or doubted myself the way I was doubting myself now.

After all the careful planning and perfect timing, I had told myself I could do this without consequences. Without attachments and without anyone getting hurt.

And yet here he was.

My stomach twisted, not just from fear, but from the sick realization that this was the one thing I could not control. And control has always been my greatest strength.

Until him.

I kept my eyes on the bar, my hands gripping the edge so tightly my fingers ached. 

"I'm not sure what you mean, Mr. Vitali," I said evenly, despite the pounding in my chest. "I was hired to do an evaluation. I did my job, nothing more."

In my head, I was already praying. 

If I stayed still enough, quiet enough, maybe I could disappear and fade out of his attention.

But he was still there.

Too close, solid, and unavoidable.

I didn't need to look at him to feel his dark gaze pressing into my skin or the warning in his silence before he let out a quiet tsk.

"A liar and a thief," he said flatly, almost bored. "You really disappoint me, Doc."