"There’s no other woman than you."
June clutched her fingers together, her heart pumping faster than she wanted. Even her baby seemed to notice the change in her pulse, as she felt it kick inside her.
How could he lie so blatantly?
"What about the women’s clothes I found in the closet?"
A small smirk appeared on his lips. The kind of smirk June would like to wipe off his face permanently.
"That was for you."
Shocked, June was speechless for a second before she regained her composure.
"That’s a lie."
Rauf only relaxed in his seat as if he were discussing a business deal.
"Well, if you check properly, you’ll see that all the clothes are in your size."
She had already checked. But she would never admit that to Rauf.
She wanted to prove him wrong.
"You had no idea I would be coming here until today, so how could you have gotten clothes for me? And there were extra toiletries."
The smirk on his face only widened.
"I hoped. I always hoped that one day you would be back in my house. So, I prepared ahead."
To June, it sounded like some cock-and-bull story.
"That’s nonsense, unless you have been stalking me. First, you got those clothes and toiletries. Also, you happened to get a building beside the Vassari mansion when you knew I was living there. If that’s not stalking, what is?"
Rauf stared at her expressionlessly. It was hard to know what he was thinking.
"I wasn’t stalking you. I was only trying to protect you."
The more he spoke, the angrier June became.
"I don’t need you to protect me. I don’t want anything from you."
His eyes moved to her stomach.
"And neither does my baby."
"Our baby."
Rauf’s voice was so low that it sent chills all over her body.
This was the first time he was openly claiming the baby as his.
June felt every drop of energy leave her. She had thought she could hide it from him forever. And though she had been trying not to acknowledge him as the father of the baby, she knew men like Rauf would never let go of their heir.
Rauf continued.
"And in regards to your fourth condition, I wouldn’t concern myself with anything that has to do with you until you’re ready to accept me back."
He wore that confident look June hated, as if he was certain she would give in to him.
"But when it comes to my child, I want to know everything about him."
June glared at him.
He just stared at her in return.
"And if I refuse that?"
"I don’t think you’ll want to refuse. You know that as much as the baby is important to you, he’s also important to me. And I wouldn’t leave my son out there without a father in his life."
The look of disbelief kept increasing on June’s face.
Son.
How dare he come and claim he had a son with her?
"It didn’t seem so when you tore and threw away our baby’s scan result."
At first, Rauf went blank. He had never done such a thing.
Why would he tear and throw away something so precious?
As he racked his brain, the picture of him throwing a paper at June came to him faster than he wanted it to.
That was the scan result.
"I had no idea."
"Of course, you had no idea," June interrupted him. "And you also refused to listen to reason."
Rauf sighed.
"I get it. I’m at fault. It’s all my fault, but I’ll be damned before I let anything happen to you and our baby. And I’m doing this the only way I can."
Silently, June watched him.
Though he was a strong man, underneath it all, she could tell he was cracking.
She had known him for five good years and could tell when he was pretending to be okay.
Whatever their relationship was, he seemed to be serious about the baby.
"Fine," she said suddenly.
Rauf sat up without meaning to.
"So?"
"Since you want to be involved in the baby’s life, you go with me to the baby’s antenatal appointment. You miss once, and you’ll have to leave us alone completely."
A small smile tugged at Rauf’s lips. He was certainly not going to miss even once.
"Of course."
Inside his head, he was jumping for joy.
Finally, there was a win.
Maybe he could give her some of the gifts he had bought for the baby now.
Even though Rauf wanted to suppress it, June could feel the happiness radiating from him.
It was the total opposite of the reaction she had expected from him.
After settling that, Rauf also laid down some of his own conditions.
"One, I’ll suggest you stop working like you did at Serena’s."
Immediately, June shook her head.
"I’ll go insane if I don’t do a thing. There’s no way I’m leaving work. I work."
"Then you have to go to work with a guard."
June raised a brow.
"Just because I agreed to a condition of yours, are you trying to control my life again?"
Rauf knew what she was trying to do, and he refused to pull them back into that position. The only option now was moving forward.
"This is for you and the baby. I promise."
Drained of the energy and zeal to argue, June came to a compromise.
And because she didn’t believe Rauf, she asked him to write all their agreements on paper. In case someone forgot, they wouldn’t be able to deny the fact that this was their agreement.
Having no reason to oppose it, Rauf agreed.
He made photocopies of the documents, giving one to June and keeping one for himself.
Then he held out his hand to shake hers.
June frowned at the hand.
"It’s just to seal the deal."
June continued to stare at it as if it were some kind of trick.
But after a while, she accepted the handshake.
The moment her hand touched his, the baby kicked, making her gasp a little. It was the strongest kick she had felt so far.
It was as if the baby could feel his father already.
"Is something wrong?"
June quickly shook her head.
"I’m fine."
She knew she had promised to let Rauf in on everything that had to do with the baby, but she just wanted to have today to herself.
Finally, she left the room.
That went better than she had imagined.
She moved back into her room, keeping the paper in the most secure place she could think of.
Then she opened the window to gaze at the world outside.
And that was when she noticed that she had a perfect view of the Vassari mansion from this point.