Page 109 of Secret Baby for my Off-Limits Fiancé
But just as I round the corner, a voice stops me in my tracks.
“Valentino?”
I turn and find Layla’s best friend, Giana, standing a few feet away, her arms crossed over her chest, watching me carefully.
“Where are you going?” she asks.
I exhale, rubbing a hand over my jaw. “Just… need some air.”
Giana studies me for a moment before nodding. “Come have coffee with me.”
I hesitate.
I don’t know her well. We’ve barely had more than a few surface-level conversations, and right now, the last thing I need is to sit across from someone who might try to analyze me.
But there’s something in her tone, steady, unyielding, that makes it clear she’s not just offering coffee. She’s offering clarity.
I follow her to the cafeteria, and she doesn’t waste any time ordering.
A few minutes later, she hands me a steaming cup of coffee. I notice she doesn’t get one for herself.
“Thought you could use this.” She sets the cup in front of me.
I nod in thanks, wrapping my hands around the warmth.
We sit in silence at first, and for a moment, I wonder if maybe this was a mistake.
Then, she leans forward, resting her elbows on the table. “You don’t get it, do you?”
I look up at her, frowning. “What?”
“Layla.” Her voice is firmer now, tinged with something that feels almost like frustration. “You don’t understand why she did what she did. Why she kept Vincent from you. Why she pushes people away before they can ever get close enough to hurt her.”
I exhale sharply, staring down at my coffee. “I know she’s had it rough. But that doesn’t change the fact that she—”
“She what?” Giana’s voice rises slightly. “That she made a mistake? That she chose to survive the only way she knew how?”
She shakes her head, and for the first time, I see the depth of emotion behind her eyes.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be Layla, Valentino. To spend your entire life never knowing who your father is. To grow up feeling like there’s always a missing piece but never having the answers. Every day she’s running on nothing but sheer will, trying to keep her shop alive, trying to be a mother, trying to be enough for everyone, while knowing that at any moment, it could all be taken away.”
I feel something shift inside me, something heavy settling deep in my chest.
“She wasn’t trying to hurt you,” Giana continues, her voice quieter now but no less powerful. “She was protecting herself. Protecting Vincent. Protecting the only life she’s ever known. Because for Layla, trusting someone, letting someone in, has never been easy. And aftereverything she’s been through, can you really blame her?”
I swallow hard, the words cutting through me like a blade.
“Valentino, she was surviving. That’s all she was doing. And then you came back, and suddenly, everything changed. You flipped her world upside down, and now she’s trying to figure out where she stands. You have to make her feel safe again. That’s what she needs right now.”
Silence stretches between us, thick and suffocating.
I don’t know what to say.
Because she’s right.
Laylawassurviving.
She had no safety net, no guarantees, no promises of forever. Just a business she built from nothing, a son who depended on her, and a world that had never been particularly kind to her.
