Billion Dollar Baby

by Imani King

  Billion Dollar Baby

  Cherie Love

  Copyright © 2017 by Cherie Love and Imani King

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Excerpt from Talisa’s Heart

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Adele

  “I cannot believe you,” I said.

  Braden looked down at his hands, like they were the ones who did something wrong.

  “Look at me,” I said. I was only eighteen then, but I had all the strength and fire of an older woman. And all the rage, too. “Just take a look at me.”

  Braden looked up at me, his deep blue eyes just as gorgeous as the open Colorado sky.

  “You look good. Beautiful. I told you before.”

  We were both standing in the stadium, where we’d just graduated from high school. It was a monumental occasion, since my family hadn’t seen anyone but me and my sister graduate from high school. All the rest of us had dropped out to work the family business. And Braden Ennis, my so-called boyfriend, had everything handed to him his entire life. Including the scholarship to Texas A&M. A scholarship he didn’t even need.

  “Yeah, you did. And that’s all good and well. I do look good. I was the salutatorian. I’m going into the best pre-vet program in the country. And somehow, I’m not good enough for you.”

  “Adele. I told you I didn’t do anything with that girl. I wasn’t into her. I just had to bring her to my family’s graduation party because they told me to bring her.”

  “Because they don’t like me.”

  “No, that’s not it —” He started, and then stopped mid-sentence. Braden had told me he was going to a basketball game. He hadn’t mentioned a thing about his family’s graduation party. I only knew about it because my sister Dahlia spotted him and that other girl walking out of the best steakhouse in town together — arm in arm.

  “See, you can’t even defend yourself. They don’t like me, and you’re too cowardly to tell me.”

  “Adele,” he said, hopelessly. “I love you. I want to spend my life with you, have kids.”

  My whole body seized up at the thought. We’d talked about having children for all the years we were together. It was a cornerstone of our relationship — that one fantasy. And I felt it in my bones more deeply than any other desire I’d ever had. I knew it would haunt me — my need to be with Braden, my desire to have his children.

  But he had lied to me. And it wasn’t the first time.

  “Braden,” I said gently. The wind whipped through my curls in the open stadium. “I want that too. But you lied to me about this, and you lied to me about your family before. I can’t be with someone who does that. And with what your grandfather said about me —”

  “He’s a prick,” Braden said. “And I don’t need him.”

  “You do need his money if you’re going to get through school. That’s not a full scholarship, you know.”

  “I do know,” he said gently. “But I could work. Prove to you that I’m good enough —”

  “That’s just the thing Braden. I don’t want someone who needs to prove that to me. Not when I’m ready to leave and go somewhere new. I was even thinking about enlisting after I graduate. Might be able to save enough to go to vet school after that. Come back here. Maybe then —”

  “Maybe then, what?”

  “Maybe then we could do all those things we wanted. After you’re ready — after we’re both ready to grow up.” I nearly choked on my words. I wanted to say something harder, harsher. But Braden was right there in front of me, just as beautiful as he’d always been. He was kind and generous and funny. He had a good heart.

  But I knew I couldn’t leave with the ghost of his family and his deceits weighing me down.

  I turned to go, tears forming at the corners of my eyes. I wiped them away, and Braden stood, catching me by the arm. “Adele, please.”

  “No, my mind is made up,” I said without turning around.

  “Listen, Adele. At least listen.”

  I nodded, but I didn’t turn.

  “I don’t want to be with anyone but you. That other girl — I can’t even remember her last name. I want to marry you. Have kids.”

  “Stop,” I said, the word barely forming in my throat. “Stop it. You’re making this really hard.”

  “It should be. We’ve been together for three years. It should be hard to leave me.”

  I sighed heavily. It was.

  I didn’t say anything.

  “At least promise me you’ll come back. Like you said.”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe.”

  “And promise me that you’ll have my children,” he said.

  I turned to face him, furrowing my brow. “What? You can’t be serious. I just broke up with you.”

  “Yeah, I know. I’m getting that message. I’m not so dense that I didn’t get that point. But listen,” he said. “I’m pretty damn confident that I’m the best man for you, Adele Cartwright. And if you’re not knocked up or a mama by the time you’re thirty, make me a promise that you’ll come to me for the job.”

  “Oh my God — you can’t be serious —”

  “I’m serious. I’ll provide for you. I’ll give you a family.”

  I paused. The wind picked up, and an early summer thunderstorm threatened us from overhead. Braden was what I’d wanted for a long time. And maybe — just maybe — I’d keep wanting the same thing for a decade or more. It was hard to know. Why couldn’t I promise him that? Seemed like a good way to resolve the whole damn thing.

  “Okay,” I said.

  Finally, he let my hand go.

  “I’ll hold you to it,” he said.

  “Fine,” I said.

  I reached out to shake his hand just as the first raindrops started to fall.

  Chapter 1

  Braden

  “Braden, my boy.” The voice at the other end of the line crackled. It was more statement than greeting.

  “Who is this?” I asked the question even though I know full well who it is. I hadn’t spoken to my grandfather in nine years — and really, it should have been longer than that. It took me a full eighteen months to realize he was the one who pushed Adele away.

  I had accomplished that feat myself, really. But Grandfather hadn’t helped. He set me up with that girl. He told me to lie. He said again and again that Adele’s family wasn’t good enough for us.

  He didn’t make me ashamed of Adele. He’d made me ashamed of my own family, and myself. Ashamed enough that I’d opted to keep Adele away from them in the end. Ashamed enough that I didn’t stand up for myself when Adele and I had fought.

  And then she’d left. After all these years, I couldn’t say I blamed her.

  And here was
Grandfather on the phone, like it had been no time at all.

  “It’s your grandfather, Braden. The man who raised you. Sent you to school. Though I can’t say you’re using your degree running that godforsaken farm and playing firefighter on the weekends.”

  I sighed audibly, bringing my hand to my forehead. It had been thirty seconds, and the man was already giving me a headache.

  “I know who you are. I thought you were done with me.”

  “Blood is blood,” he said, pausing. “And I’m getting old.”

  “I’d imagine you are. That’s what time does. I’m nearly thirty.”

  “Yes, you are, Braden. And still no one to carry on the family name.”

  I groaned. I should have been angrier than I was, but I was just annoyed. I was sure he knew that I’d split with my wife, and she had taken a payoff in lieu of keeping the house out here on the farm. I was betting he also had a good idea about my shitty finances and the deplorable state of the Custer County fire station. The whole building was in disrepair and was about to be seized by the state. Our fire services were to be absorbed into the next county over, leaving me and ten good men without a job.

  I was sure that he knew all of that, just like I knew the nose on my own damn face. “That’s right, Grandfather.”

  I didn’t add anything. Not about the wife. Nor about my desperate need for money. A chunk of his pocket change wouldn’t hurt right about now. But it had always come with strings attached. And those strings ultimately made Adele leave all those years ago.

  She was the only woman I’d ever actually wanted to have children with. And like Grandfather noted — time marched on relentlessly, leaving us all behind. I’d be thirty soon, and I’d hoped to have two or three kids by now. Not that I was old. The life I had then just wasn’t the one I’d always had in mind.

  And the old man had called to — what? Gloat? Rub salt in the wound?

  Something like that.

  There was a long pause on the other end of the line. My grandfather cleared his throat. “You know, your father wasn’t like a son to me, Braden. He squandered his inheritance and ended up squandering his short life as well. But you—”

  Before he told me any fake mushy bullshit about my own childhood, I stopped him in his tracks. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I really need to go. One of my mares out here needs me, and my stallion needs to be exercised.”

  “How rustic,” Grandfather said, chuckling.

  “You paid for all those horseback riding lessons. It’s your fault I am the way I am.” I actually had to hold back a grin when I said that last part. Horses were the only thing the old man and I had in common. He just hadn’t intended me to breed or care for them. He was more on the betting and racing end of things.

  But I guess I’d gotten confused about what he’d intended for me to do with my life — or so he thought.

  “I suppose it is,” he said, sighing again. I might have been mistaken, but I caught a crackle in his breathing. It could have been the static on the phone, but whatever it was didn’t sound good.

  “Well, like I said, I need to be going.” I had one finger hovering over the end call button. But out of curiosity, I stayed on the line. Call it a hunch. Call it fate. Call it whatever.

  “I’m having some papers drawn up,” Grandfather said, continuing even though I’d told him twice I had to go. “And I’d like you to take a look at them. Estate papers.”

  “I don’t want your money,” I said, cutting him off. In fact, I needed his money to make it through the next year. But I’d figure something out.

  “That’s all good and well, Braden. But I want you to have something when I’m gone. I just want it to be attached to a legacy. To our name.”

  “You mean, a kid? You can’t be serious with this.”

  “I am. And I’m sending my lawyer your information, whether you like it or not.”

  “Jesus, well, don’t expect me to fulfill whatever guidelines you set out for me. I don’t need anyone’s money that bad.”

  “You and I both know you do.”

  “Stop,” I said, groaning. “Just stop.”

  “I think you ought to have a child. You need a family, someone to carry on our name.”

  “I’m done with this.” My finger went to the end call button again.

  “You can expect a call from my lawyer. Or a visit. Whichever he gets around to first.”

  “Jesus, I —” Before I could think of a good response, my grandfather hung up on me.

  Goddammit. That crusty old man had gotten the better of me again.

  Some things never change.

  Like I said, it could have been chance, and it could well have been fate. I’m not one to believe in fate itself, but strange things happen in the world all the time. Exactly three weeks later, Dahlia Cartwright sent me a text message.

  Adele’s sister.

  And that text message was about Adele.

  The woman I’d wanted to marry. The only person in the world I’d ever wanted to carry my child. My destiny — my fate. If you could believe that sort of thing.

  I wasn’t entirely sure how Dahlia had gotten my number, and at first I thought it was a joke.

  But the words were there.

  She’s back.

  That’s all it took. Those two words changed the course of my life and set me down a path towards finally growing up and coming home.

  Chapter 2

  Adele

  “When did this place open up?” I asked, staring into my drink. As I waited for an answer, I ran my finger along the rim of the glass, feeling the soft vibration crawl under my skin.

  “Hmm?” Dahlia answered, her voice distant.

  “I said, when did this place open up? It wasn’t here while we were in high school.” I turned in my seat to face her, thinking that maybe she couldn’t hear me over the obnoxiously loud hipster music blaring from the speakers. I would have thought Pit Bull would have gone out of style by now, but I guess some things never change.

  “Oh!” She finally snapped back to reality.

  “What was that about?” I raised an eyebrow in her direction, wondering what had distracted her.

  “Nothing.” She swiveled in her chair, facing the bar once more.

  “Let me guess, you spotted some hot guy in skinny jeans and a beanie?” I teased.

  Her lips pressed into a tight line at my comment. Dahlia could get so easily offended sometimes.

  We were quiet for a moment as we both contemplated our drinks. I sighed, taking a sip of mine, savoring the warmth that traveled down my throat. The aftertaste of cranberry lingered in my mouth.

  “Would you like another?” the bartender asked.

  “I’m good, thanks.” I smiled at him, swirling around the ice in my glass. I looked around. The room was full of people decidedly under the age of twenty-five. “When did we become so old, Dahlia?”

  “Old?” Dahlia perked up at my question. “Who says we’re old?”

  “Look around. Most of the people in this place are probably twenty-one. Twenty-two at best. I’m almost thirty.” The word sounded vile, like some sort of profanity my mother would chastise me for using.

  Not that it was old. It wasn’t at all, really. It’s just that I’d imagined a life here for myself — a big family. A home, even if it was a modest one. And Braden. I’d imagined him, too. In every fantasy for the past ten years, I’d been with him.

  It made me feel old.

  Leaving this town hadn’t been the solution I’d thought it would be. And here I was, right back where I started.

  I couldn’t help wondering when I’d see him again. If I’d be able to resist.

  Dahlia shrugged. “So, what? You haven’t aged a day since you were twenty-five, Adele. I don’t know how you do it, but I’d like to know your secret.”

  I rolled my eyes, trying to shake off the impending sense of melancholy. “You’re just flattering me. I certainly didn’t have crow’s feet when I left.” />
  “You know, we came here so we could catch up. You haven’t told me anything about what happened to you overseas. How was it? Did you see anything gruesome? Did you fall in love with a dying soldier and nurse him back to health? Any star-crossed lovers on the other side of the battlefield?”

  I sighed and pursed my lips. “You’ve been watching one too many Hollywood war movies. None of that really happens.”

  “So, what? You just bandaged gunshot wounds all day long?”

  “Pretty much,” I said. I’d be lying if I didn’t think about some of those things before I left. But being a medic in the military was much more mundane. I left romance behind at home, along with all of my plans for a real family.

  There had been dates. A few brief relationships. But no one I could see a life with — not a real one.

  “Well, I guess that could be interesting.” Dahlia paused, and then she laughed, giving up. “I mean not really.”

  “No, not really,” I said. “It was okay. The military is paying for vet school, so I can’t complain too much. It was my master plan.”

  “Your master plan used to involve a certain someone and a million of his babies.” She winked at me, and I punched her in the arm.

  “Yeah, back then I thought a lot of things,” I said, a defensive tone creeping into my voice. “Right now, I’ve got to get through vet school. ”

  “What? But that could take years! Don’t tell me you’re going to stay single all that time.” Dahlia frowned.

  “I don’t know…” I bit my bottom lip in hesitation. “I’d rather get my life in order before I start messing around with a relationship. I want a kid — but — jeez, Dahlia. I really don’t want to talk about this. This is our first night out since I got home. Your first night having a babysitter in — how long?”