I sit down on the sofa and my hands fly to my face. The hollow pit inside my stomach is growing by the second.

I finally turn to Gabe. “I’m so scared of Damien’s reaction, Gabe. I hope he listens to me. He messaged me last night and I hated I had to lie to him and tell him I haven’t yet returned. Because had I told him I was here, he’d have insisted on meeting me immediately, and that wasn’t possible. It wasn’t possible to leave Rian, even with you. You know how he’s clinging to me.”

Gabe comes closer to sit beside me and pats my arm.

The doorbell rings, startling both of us.

“Have you ordered anything else?” I ask Gabe as I stand to open the door.

“I’m not the one with the sweet tooth,” he says playfully. “So, what have you ordered? I do hope it’s not cheesecake though. Ugh! Aaliya, please tell me it’s not cheesecake!”

His cheerful teasing lightens my mood and I laugh. “I don’t know of a single person other than you who doesn’t like cheesecake. You are weird, Gabe!”

I open the door and the smile dies on my face as I see Damien standing on the steps outside.

“Damien,” I gasp in shock. “What...” I stutter.

His eyes are cold chips of ice.

“Are we going to talk on your doorstep or are you going to invite me in?”

Warning bells clang inside my brain. “Sorry.” I shake my head. “Please come in...”

My heart pounds in terror because I’ll have to tell him the truth right now. Rian’s in the next room and if he wakes up and cries then it will get frightfully awkward.

Damien walks past me and enters the living room. Gabe stands as he sees him and we both exchange a worried glance. Goose bumps erupt all over my skin because something’s not right about this situation and him being here.

“Aaliya, babe,” Jonathan calls out from the kitchen. “There’s no diet soda in the fridge. Do you have anything else to drink?”

Jonathan steps into the living room and pauses as he sees all of us. His gaze drifts from me to Gabe and then to Damien.

Damien narrows his eyes at me. “Is there a party going on here I haven’t been invited to?”

“Um...no, it’s...it’s not like that,” I stammer.

He watches all of us quietly and those few seconds of silence are deafening.

“Damien, we need to talk. All of us,” Gabe says, trying to control the situation because I honestly don’t know how to start at this point.

Damien raises a hand to stop him and turns to face me, his arms folded in front of him. “When did you return to London, Aaliya?”