All Bets Are On

by Cynthia Cooke

  Pregnant.

  No. She stood and stumbled out of the bathroom, and down the hall. Rufus whined. She patted him on the head then grabbed her purse. “Don’t worry boy,” she said as she hurried out the door. Zombiefied, she sped to the nearest drugstore and staggered down the aisles. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t function.

  Because she couldn’t make her mind up, she bought several home pregnancy kits then zoomed back home. Three nerve-wracking minutes later, she sat at her kitchen table staring in shock at the pregnancy stick grasped between her two fingers.

  Positive.

  The results were positive. How could it register the results so soon? She reread the instructions. Nope. Impossible.

  She couldn’t be pregnant, she just couldn’t!

  She remembered the first night she’d had sex with Derek. That night she threw her reservations to the wind and decided to give herself a gift. How could she have been so stupid? She had a gift all right. A baby!

  A job on the rocks.

  No husband.

  A mortgage and a dog.

  And now a baby.

  What the hell was she going to do?

  The doorbell chimed. Rufus jumped up and ran for the door, barking his head off.

  “Shut up, already!” she yelled, and followed after him. She pulled open the door and saw Derek standing there.

  “Is now an okay time?”

  Okay? Hell no. But she supposed it was as good a time as any. She stepped back, allowing him to walk through the door. Not knowing what to say, or exactly how to say, guess what? You’re going to be a daddy! But then according to his bitch sister, he already knew. So she said nothing, and walked into the kitchen.

  “Coffee?” she asked, buying for time while she chewed on the inside of her lip.

  “I’d love some.”

  Of course he would. She started to make a fresh pot and hoped she’d be able to stomach the smell. When finally she turned back around, he was staring at the pregnancy stick on the table. Well, at least she didn’t have to create an inventive way to bring it up.

  “So it’s true?” he asked, looking at the stick but not touching it.

  “Yep, your whacked out and apparently psychic sister was right. I am pregnant. We’re going to have a baby. But then somehow you knew that already, didn’t you? How exactly, did you know?”

  “My sister?” he repeated, looking and sounding dumbstruck.

  “Oh, yes. She’s already been by to tell me I was pregnant. To inform me you purposely got me pregnant so you could get some sort of promotion, and then proceeded to accuse me of getting pregnant so I could take your money.”

  His face hardened, and his knuckles whitened. “Deirdre was here? When?”

  “Not that long ago. And here’s the kicker. She offered to help me get rid of it.”

  “My child?” He looked stunned and horrified, but mostly stunned.

  “Yep. So is any of it true? Did you want to get me pregnant so you could get a promotion?” Funny that he seemed surprised at his sister’s offer, but not that she was going to have a baby. And he never answered how he knew she was pregnant before she did. Was he psychic, too? And if he were psychic, did she even want to know?

  “The only truth is that my sister’s insane and she lives to make my life miserable.”

  “I can see that.” She began to wonder if Deirdre wasn’t the only one in his family that was crazy.

  “So how do you feel about…it?” he asked, his voice tentative, his blue eyes perusing her face.

  “Honestly? Mad as hell.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Derek believed her. He could feel the rage and fear rolling off her in waves. He didn’t even need to touch her hand to feel the distrust. Once again, his sister had thrown him a helluva curve ball.

  “Deirdre is not psychic,” he said after a moment. “And neither am I.” He took the cup of coffee Jaclyn had thrust onto the table. She sat across from him and picked up the stick, staring at it as if unable to believe the results. Truthfully, neither could he.

  “Then how did Deirdre know about the baby?” she demanded. “How did you?”

  “Our family.” He paused, searching for the words. “We aren’t like everyone else. It’s why we have to be extra careful.”

  “What do you mean not like everyone else?” Her tone dripped with skepticism. “Are you royalty? From some foreign country? Or are you with the CIA and have every room in the country wiretapped?”

  “I can’t exactly talk about it. But in our business, we go after people who do wrong to other people.”

  “Like Fredricks?”

  “Exactly. And Trish.”

  Her lips thinned. “Did you schedule an audit of my foundation?”

  “Yes. For next week.”

  “So, you targeted us?” Her voice was hard and bitter.

  “In a matter of speaking. It’s my job.”

  Jaclyn stood and leaned against the table, bracing herself with splayed fingertips. “You were behind all of it. Everything I’ve lost.”

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Wasn’t it?”

  “Jaclyn, I’ve had your best interests at heart from the very beginning. I’ve been trying to help you clean up your mess before the auditors arrive. In fact, here are the papers from the lawyer.” He threw them on the table in front of her. “You need to sign them so I can take them back to the lawyers, and then you need to get over to the bank and freeze that account until you can get Trish removed. You know I’ve been doing everything I can to save your organization. “

  “I don’t know what to think anymore.” She collapsed into the chair.

  Derek scooted his chair in front of hers and placed his hands on her knees. “It looks bad,” he said. “But we can get through this, together. If you let me help you.”

  “I’m sick, Derek. And I’m confused. I need to sleep and be alone to think. To sort this all out.”

  “All right, but before I go, we need to talk about the baby.”

  Suspicion filled her eyes. “You mean the baby you needed to get some kind of promotion?”

  He stilled as his gut churned. He never should have told his mother about the baby. He should have waited; he’d gone about this all wrong. He reached for her hand, but she pulled it back. “My mother’s proposition was more about trying to get me to reconnect with an old girlfriend than it was about giving her an heir.” Well, at least most of it.

  “That woman I saw you with at the party?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why would she care who you date?”

  “Let’s just say she’s well connected.” Very well connected. As a high-level demon, their offspring would be very powerful.

  “Something I’m definitely not.”

  “That doesn’t matter to me. It never has.”

  He pulled her into his arms, and after a moment he felt the tension leave her shoulders. “Do me a favor, and sign the papers. I’ll run them by the lawyer’s office so he can complete the dissolution documents.”

  “I’d like to talk to Trish first.”

  This surprised him. “All right. Give her a call.”

  She stepped away from him. “Alone.”

  “We really don’t have the time—”

  “I don’t care. I need time to be alone. I don’t know what to believe or who to trust.”

  He took a deep breath. What she needed was rest, which she’d never get if she couldn’t just let go. “You can trust your heart. What does your heart tell you?”

  “It tells me that like your sister, you’re a game player, a rich, bored, bad boy who’s been playing with me.”

  If she’d physically hit him, the blow couldn’t have been harder. “Is that really how you see me?”

  “Please go.”

  What was wrong with her? He’d gone out of his way doing everything he could for her, and she still treated him like the enemy. “Fine! I’ll leave, but I’ll be back in thirty minutes, because like it or not,
we’re in this together. We need to get those papers signed, and most of all, we need to talk about our child. I’d like you to see our family doctor as soon as possible and consider moving into my home with me.”

  “What? You want me to live with you?” Her incredulity was hard to miss. “No way.”

  “Why not? You’d have everything you’d need. I have a full-time staff to take care of you. You and the baby need rest and taking care of. I can do that for you. “

  “I am not leaving my house!”

  Why was she being so obstinate? “I realize this is a lot for you to absorb. Take some time. Think it over.”

  “There’s nothing to think over. I can take care of myself. Now, please leave.” She stormed toward the front door and pulled it open.

  “Fine. Get some rest. I’ll come by later when you’ve had a chance to let it all sink in and pick you up, take you by my place so you can see it. I’m sure once you do, you’ll love the idea.”

  She shook her head in disbelief. “What are you, an idiot? What don’t you get about I need you to leave? I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to see your doctor, and I sure as hell don’t want to see your house and move in with you. Now get out!”

  It was taking every ounce of self-control he had not to throw this woman over his shoulder and carry her out of there. He wouldn’t do it. Not yet anyway. He’d give her a chance to be reasonable. For now.

  “Fine,” he gritted. “We can talk later. In the meantime, keep yourself and this baby safe. Don’t go anywhere without letting me know.”

  “What, now I’m under house arrest?”

  “You are carrying the heir to a very wealthy and important family. It’s called taking precautions, and making sure you and the baby aren’t targeted.”

  She threw her hand up. “Don’t worry, Derek. The only place I’m going is to bed.”

  “I can send over a nurse?”

  “Oh my God. Just go!”

  “It’s going to be all right, Jaclyn.”

  “Maybe for you, but certainly not for me.”

  Derek walked into his car dealership angrier than ever. He hadn’t wanted to leave Jaclyn alone, but he knew she needed her space. She was confused and scared. And truthfully, so was he. Why hadn’t he stopped her from getting pregnant? Had it been a decision on his part? Even a subconscious one? That thought alone had him breaking out in a cold sweat. That was crazy. He’d just been caught up in the moment.

  “So, did you tell her?” Deirdre asked as Derek walked into his office. She was sitting behind his desk, working at his computer.

  He grabbed the guest chair on the opposite side of the desk, and held it so tight he felt the wood splinter beneath his grasp. “You know damn well I didn’t have to. What in the hell were you thinking?”

  “Just helping you out there, big brother.”

  “So you made me out to be her worst enemy and offered to help her get rid of the baby?” Fury enveloped him. She was the bane of his existence. He had to do something to get her out of his life.

  She shrugged. “I wanted to see if she’d jump at the bait.”

  “Like hell. Be careful, sister. I am tempted to once more have you locked in the tower of ice and let you contemplate the many ways you have tormented me these last one hundred years.”

  She smiled. “Your threats tire me, Derek. We are family. I only have your best interests at heart.”

  Her words rattled. Did they sound as hollow and insincere when he’d said them to Jaclyn? He picked up the chair and slammed it to the ground. “Do me a favor and stop helping,” he bellowed.

  She shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  “And get the hell out of my chair.”

  “Ah, my chair now. I run this place.”

  “No, you run the eighth level of Hell. You do not run my car company.”

  “Aren’t they one in the same?”

  “Stop playing with me, Deirdre. I’m not in the mood.”

  “Sometimes you can be quite the drag, brother.” She took a sip of a tall fruity drink. “In case you’ve been wondering, I’ve cleaned up most of the cases you were supposed to be working on before you became obsessed with the little momma.”

  He swept his hands across the papers on his desk, sending them flying throughout the room. “You call that cleaning up? I call it mass murder.”

  “I know.” She grinned. “Not everyone can be me. So unless you have something new…”

  “You mean another city you can destroy?”

  “You really are a bore, brother. So, tell me, what did the little momma say when you told her about the other benefit of her little baby bump.”

  He stared at her, his eyes narrowing. “I’m surprised you didn’t tell her for me.”

  “I had to leave some of the work for you.”

  He wondered exactly what the consequences would be if she just happened to take a little trip through the nine circles…

  She laughed, her raucous voice echoing through the room. “You didn’t tell her! Afraid she’d run screaming for the hills?”

  “I’d like to give her a little time to get to know who I am before I tell her I’m the Prince of Hell.”

  “But you’re royalty. What girl doesn’t want to be a princess?”

  “Drop it Deirdre, I’m warning you.”

  Her gaze glittered, sparkling. “Seriously, Derek. How did this happen? Did you want to get her pregnant? Do you even want the kid?”

  Again silence. He imagined yanking her by that long red hair of hers, pulling her through the chamber into the first realm. Oh, yeah, she’d scream, she’d fuss, and when she made her way back out there would be hell to pay, but damn it would be so worth it.

  “Kids aren’t something you can stick in the backyard and ignore,” she continued. “But I’d say this is going to make Mother very happy.”

  His right eye twitched at the thought of his mother anywhere near his child.

  “It’s all she’s been talking about for years. It’s going to make you golden in her eyes.”

  “Worried you’ll lose your newfound status?” he snapped.

  “Not really. You’ll fuck up again. You always do. You can’t help yourself.” She leaned back and crossed her long legs. “You know, you can always give the kid to me.”

  “To you? The thought of you and my child, any child, makes my stomach turn.”

  She slitted her eyes. “I’ll raise it at the Penthouse, we can wipe the little momma’s mind, and you can go about your bachelor business as always.”

  “Wipe her mind?”

  “It’s not like she planned to be a mother.”

  “That’s cold. Even for you.”

  “I’m just looking out for you, brother. As always,” she said in her chirpiest, most irritating voice.

  “Do me a favor and stop.”

  “Just don’t forget our offspring don’t gestate as long as human babies. You don’t have a lot of time to figure out what you’re going to do.”

  And how the hell was he going to explain that? His day was just getting better and better.

  “How much you want to bet as soon as you tell her the truth, she’ll be long gone? Of course, you can always use your ability to persuade her to stay with you. With that one, it might be your only chance.”

  “Thanks to you!”

  She shrugged. “Maybe you should consider giving Sabine another try.”

  “Maybe I should teach you to mind your own business.”

  With a swoop of his hands, the floor opened up beneath her and she fell through all the way down to the river Styx. As far as he was concerned, an icy dunk with the dead was just what the woman needed.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Derek left his office and walked down a long hallway, passing the guest lounge, the kitchen, and the restrooms to a room in the back of his warehouse. At the far end of the room, he walked into a large closet. Deirdre was right about one thing—he had to come up with a plan and do it fast. Jaclyn needed to see his doctor
, and she needed to be protected. Things were going to start moving very quickly now.

  Not everyone would be pleased about a new heir to the Underworld.

  A large wooden and iron door only his kind could see sat centered in the far wall of the closet. He opened it and walked through into his private dominion in the Hell dimension where everything was different—safe. Special. Beautiful. And where he spent the bulk of his time. An Austin Healy was waiting right where he’d left it, centered in a large space inside a covered garage. He got into the car and drove down the country road, the windows rolled down, the cool air lifting his hair.

  Passing through twelve-foot iron gates, he entered his sanctuary nestled behind tall ivy-covered stone walls, and drove up to his home. He climbed the steps to his Southern style mansion and stepped onto a wide porch that stretched the expanse of the house. There was nothing he liked more than to sit on this porch, sip his scotch, and watch the sun sink out of the sky.

  He crossed straight through the great room with wall to wall windows highlighting a stunning view to the back patio that looked out at his saltwater pool, the manicured lawns, the rolling hills in the distance. He loved the peace and solitude of his home, but would Jaclyn?

  He tried to see his estate the way she would, the picturesque barn in the distance filled with horses he hadn’t ridden in far too long, and the assortment of other toys that had snagged his interest throughout the years. Would she love it as he did? Or would she find the isolation too lonely?

  “Master Derek. Can I get you anything?” Monique, his nanny from childhood who now oversaw his estate, stepped onto the patio next to him.

  “Yes. Can you assemble the staff?”

  She looked surprised. He didn’t blame her. This would be the first time he’d spoken to them directly in, well, ever. “Absolutely.”

  He thought about this place, this house that had always been a touch too cold. A touch too lonely, and realized he wanted to have Jaclyn here with him. He liked the idea of hearing laughter in this house, of hearing the pitter-patter of little feet across the hardwood floors. But was Jaclyn the one he wanted to spend his life with? He couldn’t be sure, but he knew he wanted to live with her right then. Was that enough?