Billionaire Swirl Bundle (A Box Set of THREE BWWM Romance Novels)
Page 43
Kaiden called a meeting and brought every member of the staff into his office. He told them everything about Anna and the threats she had made. He told them that he had a son that she had abandoned. He told everyone about how his son lives with her parents and how he goes to see him nearly every day. He told everyone about the fact that Anna had tried to extort him for a lot of money. Finally, he told everyone that he and I were in a relationship. He explained that he hadn’t hired me under the pretenses of having a relationship with him. He simply found that he enjoyed spending time with me. He let everyone know that he would be making several promotions that afternoon. He apologized for not hiring for the housekeeper position from within and promised that he would be replacing me with someone in the room. Since one person would end up being promoted, others behind them would move up as well.
I was amazed at how cool everyone was about it all. Everyone in that room was loyal to Kaiden and they weren’t going to let anything they heard about him skew their perception. Of course, he didn’t tell them about the sex club but figured he could explain that when and if the time came. Later that afternoon, Kaiden called another meeting and announced that Lupita was going to be the new housekeeper. I was so happy for her and everyone else seemed to be glad for her as well. As promised, every member of the staff was promoted to a new, better-paying position. By the time the day was over, all Kaiden had to do was hire a new gardener.
About a week later, Kaiden and I were relaxing on the couch and watching some television. He’d had his big acquisition meeting and the clients were looking over all of the paperwork before making their final decision. When the news came on, an image of Kaiden came across the screen. He was the top story with a headline of “A Scandal in Manhattan.” Anna told them everything. She told them about the sex club, their son and me. Of course, a lot of the things she said were full of lies. She told them that Kaiden had a history of going to sex clubs, often leaving her at home by herself while he satisfied his perverted desires. She also told the media that he took their son while she was experiencing postpartum depression and refused to let her see him. Finally, she told everyone that when she tried to reconcile with him so the three of them could be a family again, Kaiden threw me in her face and told her that he was sleeping with the maid and had no interest in her.
Kaiden knew that the news reports were bad. He would have to hold a press conference to give his side of the story. He also knew that he wasn’t going to have to go through it alone. I would be right by his side through all of it regardless of how bad things became. We were going to brave it out together no matter what.
The next day, Kaiden’s parents showed up at the house unannounced. They were not happy that they had to learn about me and his son, Andy, through a news report in the media. His mother looked at me and told Kaiden that she wanted to speak with him alone. He told her that anything she had to say could be said in front of me.
“Fine, she probably needs to hear what I have to say anyway. Are you trying to throw your life away Kaiden? Are you attempting to ruin everything that you’ve worked so hard for? I can’t believe that Anna was willing to give your relationship another chance and you threw it away so you could slum it with the maid.”
“That’s enough mother. First of all, I’m not slumming it with anyone. She’s not the maid. Her name is Natalia and I would appreciate it if you referred to her as that from now on. She is an amazing person and I’m crazy about her. I’m going to be with her and nothing you or anyone else could possibly say or do is going to change my mind. As far as Anna goes, she’s gone crazy mom. You haven’t bothered to ask me for my side of the story. You’re just going on what you’ve heard, assuming that everything she’s said is true. Well, guess what? It’s not. Her smear campaign was full of lies. She’s been blackmailing me and trying to extort me for a long time now. It wasn’t until I put an end to it that she pulled this. I told her I wasn’t going to give her another dime and suddenly all this stuff is leaked to the media. It’s not a coincidence mom. This was planned all along.”
His mom didn’t have anything else to say at that point. She seemed to be caught between wanting to believe him and wanting to spew more hatred in my direction. All she could do was give me a dirty look before leaving the room to going to speak with her husband. Before long, the two of them decided that it would be best for them to leave before someone said something they regretted. However, on the way out the door, Kaiden’s mom turned around and gave Kaiden a hug.
“I’m sorry you’re going through this. Everything will turn out okay. Hopefully the next time I come up, you can take me to meet my grandson.”
It was nice to hear her say that and it was good to know that there was some hope left for her and Kaiden. Even if she was never able to accept me, it was important that she and Kaiden be able to have a relationship. That was something I was never going to stand in the way of.
Once we were alone again, Kaiden pulled me aside and took me into his office. “Natalia, are you sure this is what you really want? Are you sure that you can handle being in the middle of all this drama?”
“I’m sure. I’m here with you and for you. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good. Then I think the better question is whether or not you are ready to start our lives together. Would you consider moving in permanently?”
“Well, I’ve slept here every night so I practically live here anyway but sure, let’s make it official.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear. Come on, let’s go pick up Andy. It’s time to bring him home.”
EPILOGUE
Kaiden
It’s been four years since Anna leaked all of my dirty laundry to the media. She was sure that all the information she provided was going to ruin me and completely sink my company. While what she said in public did do some damage to my reputation and credibility, I had a lot of people around me who supported me loudly and publicly. This outpouring of support from those who loved me the most, which included everyone from my cook to Anna’s parents, meant more to me than any of them will ever know.
Anna didn’t fare so well. She had her name out there and received a lot of sympathy once she decided to drag my name through the mud. For several weeks, all I kept hearing was that I was a giant piece of shit who ran from his responsibilities. It wasn’t until I called a press conference and read a prepared statement that told my side of the story that people began to understand. It quickly became apparent to everyone who was dragging my name through the mud and that I had been doing my best to take care of my son while she ran off on me. True, I still had to deal with the sex club scandal but I wrote that off to poor decisions. I noted that it wasn’t until I met Natalia that my outlook on life started to change. I told the media that once she was in my life, I didn’t have to turn to those dark areas for love and affection.
Last week, I decided to sell my company. Not because I no longer wanted it because I love the company that I built. I decided to sell it because I wanted to enjoy as much time as I can with my family. We decided to have a dual celebration to mark the end of one journey and the beginning of another.
Natalia came walking out of the kitchen carrying the most adorable birthday cake I’d ever seen. Since I was going to be taking an early retirement, Natalia decided that she wanted to learn how to make incredible cakes that she could sell. She was a fast learner and before long, she was making nicer cakes than I’ve ever seen in a bakery. Since she started her business a little over a year ago, she has made cakes for birthdays, weddings, first communions, holiday parties and anything else you can think of. This cake wasn’t going to be for sale, though. This cake was already reserved for someone special.
As Natalia came walking towards me, I stepped in front of her and gave her a kiss on her forehead. I took the cake out of her hands.
“Let me help you with that,” I said. “You shouldn’t be overexerting yourself like this. You’re in no condition to be carrying a big heavy cake around like this.”
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I put the cake on the counter before reaching over and placing my hand on her stomach. Almost instantly, I could feel the baby kick. This would be our second child and I couldn’t wait to meet the little boy or girl inside of there.
Picking the cake back up off the counter, I had Natalia hold the screen door open as I made my way outside to where Neomi, our daughter, was celebrating her third birthday. Seated right next to her was Andy, who was going on and on about how he would be starting first grade in a few weeks. He likes being the big brother and is super excited that there is going to be another baby to play with soon. He’s always been a big help and I think there are big things in store for him as he gets older.
At the side table, Frank and Eva were enjoying a glass of lemonade while they talked with my parents. My mother and father had made a complete turnaround in how they looked at things. I can pinpoint exactly where it happened. It was the weekend I took them both to meet Andy. They both fell in love with him right away and they’ve made it their mission to be the greatest grandparents they can be. They’ve also accepted that Natalia is the love of my life. The three of them get along just fine and there is no longer any tension when the three of them are together. In fact, my parents sold their home so they could live closer to us in order to help us with the kids whenever we need it. It’s been nice.
All in all, Natalia coming to work for me was the best thing that could have happened. The woman who was once my employee is now my best friend and soul mate. We have a perfectly happy family and things will only get better from here.
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