Must Be Magic (Spellbound) by Sydney Somers Page B

to stop.
    “About earlier—”
    “Bryce! Get your ass in here. If I have to do this, so do you.” Alex winked at her from the doorway, then motioned for Bryce to join him.
    “Better get going.”
    He hesitated for another moment. “Right.” And then he was gone.
    Leaving her alone with Thomas Lancaster.
    She walked in the opposite direction, toward the railing, doing her best to ignore the disapproving gaze that followed her. Instead of joining everyone else inside, however, he stalked toward her.
    “Are you the reason my son has turned his life upside down again?”
    Stunned by both the narrowed eyes that pinned her in place and the emphasized again , she actually retreated a step before squaring her shoulders. The one and only conversation they ever shared, she had let him intimidate her, and whatever his problem was this time, she wouldn’t be bullied a second time.
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “My son almost threw his life away for you once, and now that he’s done it again, you expect me to believe you’re not involved? I’ve seen you two talking. I know something is going on.”
    Taken aback by the unmasked hatred on his face, she forced herself to remain unruffled. “Bryce and I are just trying to get along for Finn and Bree’s sake. Not that it’s any of your business.”
    His scowl deepened. “The same way it wasn’t any of my business when you showed up supposedly pregnant ten years ago, wanting to drag my son down with you?”
    “ Supposedly pregnant?” Her words slipped out in a shocked whisper.
    “Since you came to your senses before Bryce found out, I can only assume you’ve either found a better way to manipulate him this time or you’re only interested in seeing my family ruined. It wouldn’t be the first time a Calder has gone to such lengths.”
    Her head spun from trying to keep up with him. Manipulate Bryce? Ruin their family? She could barely comprehend the sheer hostility behind his accusations when her brain caught up on one part.
    “Wait. What do you mean before Bryce found out?” Oh god . “You never told him I came to see you. You never told him about the baby, did you?”
    It had never crossed her mind that his father wouldn’t tell him. She’d just assumed that she’d been right about him in the first place and that he didn’t want to have anything to do with her or their baby.
    “What business of it was mine? It all worked out for the best. Neither of you needed to worry about raising a child. You made the right decision.”
    “The right decision?”
    He shrugged, but there was nothing indifferent about the gesture. “To either realize the lie wasn’t worth it or to take care of matters.”
    So all these years Thomas Lancaster believed she’d either fabricated the whole thing or had an abortion? Her stomach churned as it all started to sink in.
    Bryce never knew she was pregnant.
    But afterward…he must have known about the miscarriage? She’d seen Dante the morning after she lost the baby, seen his ripped and bloodied knuckles. He only had to look at her when she’d asked who he’d been fighting, and she knew it had been Bryce.
    Years later, when Bryce had gone to work at the DA’s office, there had been no reason to rehash any of it, but what if he never said a word because he hadn’t known any of it? What if Dante had picked a fight without explaining anything to Bryce, just assuming, like she had, that he knew about the pregnancy all along?
    She wanted to think Dante wouldn’t have gone off half-cocked, but that was exactly something he would do. How many times had Dante always insisted that actions spoke louder than words?
    Her heart hammered at her ribs, echoed in her ears. She clenched the bouquet until her fingers bit into her palms.
    “Bryce never knew? Not even about the miscarriage?” She had to be sure that she wasn’t misunderstanding anything his father was saying.
    For a moment Thomas Lancaster looked a little