The Billionaire's Seed_A Secret Baby Romance

by Natasha Spencer

  “What? What do you want?” she snapped at him, with her words slurring. Her brows were crossed and her face had taken on an orange-ish hue. Brandon realized that he had never seen Alice like this before. He had never woken up beside her.

  “I want you to sit up for this,” he said, in a deep commanding voice and she clucked her tongue, before pulling herself up on the couch. Her hair was matted and stuck to one side of her face and the front of her dress was damp from the alcohol…or worse still, puke. Brandon straightened himself up and glared down at the woman he had married.

  “This can never happen again. Not in any of my homes,” he said and folded his arms over his chest.

  Alice rubbed her eyes with her knuckles, trying to register what she was hearing.

  “Do you hear me, Alice?” he spoke in a stronger voice and she let out a groan.

  “It was just a party. Just relax, Bran. Can’t you allow your wife a bit of fun?” she said in a creaky voice and Brandon took in a deep breath.

  “This is not the kind of fun anyone should be having. There is broken glass on the floor everywhere, our backyard is littered with cans and food. We are not teenagers anymore, Alice,” he was firm, but not rude with her as he spoke and she rolled her eyes.

  “I’m leaving now,” Jo’s voice snapped them out of their conversation and Brandon turned to her.

  She was dressed smartly in dark jeans and a ruffled white blouse. She had tied her red hair back in a slick ponytail and she looked fresh and casual. Her bag was on her shoulder. Brandon felt a tug in his gut when he saw her, but he had no choice but to keep it to himself.

  “Sure, whatever,” Alice mumbled and staggered up on her feet.

  “I don’t know when I’ll see you again, mom,” Jo said as she watched her mother shuffling her feet towards the living room door. Alice waved her hand in the air, without giving her daughter a second look.

  “Let’s just keep it that way. It’s better if we stop stepping on each other’s toes,” Alice said and passed Jo as she went towards the stairs to her bedroom.

  “Alice, I believe you owe your daughter an apology,” Brandon called after her, but Alice only mumbled something under her breath as she tried to get herself up the stairs.

  “Let her go. She’s never apologized to me before and she’s not going to start now,” Jo said and they looked at each other. That same floral perfume filled Brandon’s nostrils, making him giddy but they were keeping their distance from each other.

  “I hope you have a safe flight, Jo,” he said, as she shifted the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

  “Thank you, and best of luck,” she replied and a weak smile flickered on her face. He wanted to say so much more. He wanted to tell her that he would miss her, that he had never felt this alive before he met her, that he wanted her to stay, that he hated Alice now…but instead, he nodded his head and waited for her to leave.

  Jo turned from him and he watched her walk to the front door of the house.

  Through the living room windows, he saw her walk down the driveway, get the gates open and then step into the cab she had ordered.

  He thought he saw her look in his direction through the window of the cab, but she was gone in a flash and he couldn’t be sure. Now she was gone, and if they both knew what was good for them, they would make sure to stay out of each other’s way. Sleeping with his stepdaughter was not an option. Being unfaithful to his wife was bad enough and he wanted to remove all possibility of temptation. And nobody had been able to tempt him, the way Jo had. She was irresistible to him, but hopefully, not anymore.

  Brandon took in a deep breath as he tried to tell himself that it was time to move on. That he needed to accept the decisions he had made and just get on with it. Things wouldn’t be as bad with Alice now that Jo was gone, could they?

  “Bran! I’m going to be sick!” he heard Alice’s screech from upstairs and he took in a deep breath. Slowly, he made his way up the stairs towards her bedroom. This was supposed to be their honeymoon period. Holding Alice’s hair back as she threw up in the toilet was not a part of his plan. And then there was the matter of bringing up the topic of babies with her.

  Chapter 19

  One Month Later

  Jolie was typing on her computer furiously. She’d been working on the final edits for an article for the past five hours, and still couldn’t get it right. There was something off about it that she couldn’t quite put a finger on.

  She lifted up the receiver on her desk and dialed the writer’s extension.

  “Peggy, get in here,” she said into the phone. When she’d placed the receiver down, she realized that she had sounded more stern than usual and she decided to modulate her voice as she spoke to Peggy. There was no point in pissing off more employees. If Margaret decided to send her on another forced vacation, Jolie felt like that would be the death of her.

  “Yes, Ms. Park,” Peggy walked into her office, looking pale faced and dim-eyed. Jolie calling her into her office, while editing an article; was not a good sign. Jolie was aware of the reputation she had in the office. Her young age had nothing to do with it, and everything to do with her perfectionism and strict work ethics.

  “Peggy, this isn’t working,” Jolie said and sat back dejectedly in her chair.

  Peggy was a 28 year old writer, older than Jolie herself, but more nervous now than she had probably been in her entire professional career.

  “All right, I’ll change whatever you want,” Peggy said, clasping her hands together in front of her.

  Jolie steepled her hands on the desk and narrowed her eyes, reminding herself that she needed to be ‘nice’.

  “I don’t know what needs to be changed,” she said and Peggy nodded her head furiously.

  “I’ll write it again, then,” she said and Jolie breathed in deeply.

  “I just know that Margaret is going to send it back immediately when she reads this, and it’s my job to make sure that every article that passes her desk for approval is up to a certain standard,” Jolie said, trying to make herself sound kind, but Peggy wasn’t appreciating the effort. She looked like she was going to burst a vein any minute now.

  It was beginning to make Jolie sick. She was trying hard to be nice, to make herself more approachable to the writers and other employees on this floor who she was responsible for. But none of it was working…she couldn’t help but wonder if she was a monster to work with.

  “I’ll write it again,” Peggy said, keeping her head down.

  “I don’t want you to write it again, Peggy, I want us to discuss what we can do differently with this article. We need to fix the problem,” Jolie said and felt her gut churn. She was really beginning to feel sick and she grabbed the edge of her desk.

  Peggy was startled by the motion and she looked up at Jolie with a jerk.

  “Are you all right, Ms. Park?” she asked and Jolie nodded her head.

  She could feel the thin film of sweat that had formed on her forehead. Her face was turning red.

  “You don’t look well, Ms. Park,” Peggy said and Jolie stood up from the chair, just as her body shuddered feverishly.

  She covered her mouth with a hand and shook her head, as she ran past Peggy and down the corridor towards the toilets. She banged the door open with her body and hurled herself into one of the stalls.

  She had just about managed to kneel down in front of the toilet, when a squelching sound escaped her lips and she got sick. Jolie clung to the toilet, thankful for having tied her hair tightly in a bun that morning and also thankful that there was nobody else in the toilets then.

  “Ms. Park?” Peggy’s voice interrupted her, as she sat down on the floor, panting to control the feeling of relief she was going through now. She didn’t feel sick anymore. It had only lasted a few minutes and now it was gone.

  “I’m fine, Peggy. Please start writing the article again,” she said as she fanned her damp face with her hand.

  “Okay,” Peggy said and Jolie waited for
the sound of her leaving the toilets, before she got out of the stall.

  In the mirror outside, Jolie stared at her face. She didn’t look tired or sick, like she had expected herself to look. It had to be food poisoning or indigestion or a fever? Instead, her cheeks glowed and her eyes looked bright. She splashed water furiously on her face and didn’t care about ruining her makeup. Every time she stared back at the mirror again, she looked like she was a new person.

  Her hand went instinctively to her belly as she looked at herself some more. Jolie gulped as the inevitable thought passed through her mind and her heart began sinking again.

  Brandon hadn’t used protection that night. He had emptied himself deep inside her. Jolie instinctively pressed her legs together at the thought. She could be pregnant. She could be carrying Brandon’s child, her stepfather’s child!

  Jolie whipped around, tucking in red hair behind ears and charged out of the toilets. Margaret was walking down the corridor, in her usual marching way. She stopped when she saw Jolie and arched her eyebrows at her.

  “Your face is glowing, Jo! You look like you’ve been sleeping well,” Margaret said and went on her way, without waiting for a response.

  Jolie gulped and licked her lips, standing stationary in the corridor now and thinking. She needed to get to a doctor, she needed to get tests done before she could allow her mind to wander. But she knew the truth already, she could feel it now even though she couldn’t feel it a few minutes ago.

  She was pregnant.

  Chapter 20

  Brandon could hear the grandfather-clock ticking noisily in the dining room. Other than that, there was complete silence in the room. Alice was sitting across from him at the table, and their housekeeper had served them coffee and danishes. They lay untouched on a plate between them, as did the coffee. He wasn’t hungry and even though Alice had been eyeing the danishes, she was being polite and not reaching for them yet.

  Brandon had been away on business for the past three weeks. He had told himself and his wife, that his work was urgent and important. The truth was that most of the time, he had kept himself locked up in his office, trying to not allow memories of Jo interrupt his work. He had returned to Boston and to Alice at the end of those three weeks, forcing himself to man up and face his life decisions.

  He wanted to surprise Alice, so he hadn’t told her he was on his way back. When he returned to the house, he found the place trashed; with three of her friends drunk and occupying the spare rooms. Alice was sleeping on the couch, much like the way he had found her that morning of the party when Jo left.

  He had made her go upstairs, shower and change and then meet him in the dining room so they could talk.

  “I’m sorry, Bran…I just got carried away,” Alice mumbled, while he glared at her. He didn’t know the woman he married, and as much as he was trying to make amends to their rocky beginnings…Alice was making it very difficult.

  He cleared his throat but said nothing.

  “I’m bored in this big house, all alone by myself. You have to understand, Bran!” she argued, creasing her forehead for sympathy. He clenched his jaws as he glared at her some more.

  “I asked you to travel with me. It wouldn’t have been a problem, Alice,” he retorted, even though he knew deep down inside, that he was glad when she turned his offer down.

  “Yes, maybe I will from now on. I haven’t visited any of your hotels or resorts. We could finally plan a honeymoon,” she said, giving him a weak smile. Brandon wasn’t in the mood for smiling. He just wanted all this to go away.

  “Did we make a wrong decision, Alice?” he asked her and a sudden fear entered her eyes. She jumped out of her chair and rushed towards him, throwing her heavy arms around his neck. Brandon had been quick to notice that in three weeks she had already started developing a beer belly. How much had she been drinking?

  “Don’t say that, honey…we’re just going through a rough patch. When I start traveling with you, things will be better. We’ll get to know each other, you’ll see,” she said and pressed her lips to his cheek seductively.

  The same woman, who four months ago, Brandon had believed was quirky and fun— now annoyed him. He tried to wriggle out of her grasp.

  “Sit down, Alice,” he said and dejectedly, she walked back around the table and sat down.

  “I need to discuss something with you. I should have brought this up before…before we even decided to get married, but I need to talk to you about it now,” Brandon said, and he could see Alice’s eyes widen.

  “What is it?” she asked, in a frightened voice.

  “I want children. To be completely honest with you, Alice, it’s why I was looking for a wife. I want to have an heir I can leave all my wealth and my business to. I believe I’ve reached that stage in my life when I want to build a legacy for myself. It’s probably a little late and I should have spoken to you about it sooner…” Brandon’s voice was weak but the smile forming on Alice’s face interrupted him. She leaned forward for his hand, over the table, pushing a danish off the plate with her elbow.

  “You don’t have to say anything more, Bran. I understand and I want the same thing,” she said and he couldn’t help but sound surprised.

  “Really? I didn’t think you would,” he said and his mind wandered to Jo again. Alice had demonstrated exactly the kind of mother she was capable of being, and he felt his heart harden a little. Was that the kind of mother he wanted for his own child?

  “Yes, Bran. I want a baby. I know I’ve messed up everything with Jolie. I was a terrible mother to her. I want a second chance. I want to do it right this time,” she said and Brandon saw the sincerity in Alice’s eyes. She looked sad, she looked like a woman who was paying for her sins. She was begging him for forgiveness and who was he to deny her a second chance?

  Brandon allowed his hand to wander towards Alice’s. When their hands touched, she smiled even more widely.

  “I think this is exactly what we need, honey. This is exactly the new beginning we need. A fresh start,” she said and lifted Brandon’s hand to her lips.

  He could barely hear her speaking, all he could think about was Jo and how he couldn’t stop dreaming about her every night. He wished he was holding her hand, and not her mother’s. It was wrong to think that way, it should have made him feel sick, but that wasn’t the case. Every time he thought about Jo, he felt like he was glad that he even met her.

  “We’re going to be so happy together, Bran. I can’t wait to get started. We’re going to have such beautiful children together! I want a boy this time and then maybe a girl…no twins though…” Alice was speaking but Brandon couldn’t concentrate on a thing she was saying. His hand remained in hers and he continued staring at her, but he couldn’t help but think that this was all a huge mistake. But what choice did he have now?

  Chapter 21

  Jolie was pacing the floor of her office. She’d been debating for the past few days, deciding whether or not to tell Margaret yet; but she knew she had to. After the twelve pregnancy tests she took, and after her discreet visit to the doctor’s office…there was no denying it anymore, she’d been pregnant for several weeks.

  This would change everything. Not only would she have to take leave from work, it would also completely change her lifestyle. Having a baby and raising it by herself, would mean that she wouldn’t be able to work the hours that she was working now. No more working late and no more working on the weekends; which could all have a devastating effect on her career. Didn’t Margaret give her a lecture on putting herself out there and making a life for herself outside of the office? Well, she’d done it now. She’d screwed up everything!

  Jolie rubbed her hand over her face and shook her head. How was she going to be a mother? She was terrified of the idea. The only experience she had with motherhood, had been with her own mom and there was no way that she was going to raise her child like that.

  And it wasn’t only motherhood that was the scary bit…it was Bran
don too. Just when she thought that she had finally moved on with her life, that she would be able to forget him! Now, having his child would mean that she would never be able to move on. She would always have a part of him with her. What if the kid grew up to look like him? What if she wasn’t able to keep the secret hidden forever? What would people say? How would her mom react?

  Jolie sat down on her chair with a thump, realizing that she had begun to sweat profusely. She hadn’t been able to concentrate on work since she found out. It was already affecting her life!

  She was beginning to feel alone, like she wasn’t going to be able to do it. Telling Brandon was completely out of the question…she would have to live her whole life without letting him know. He could never know. The last thing she wanted was to screw up his life, especially since he had made it abundantly clear to her that he wanted to stay apart.

  Jolie shook her head as she stared at her computer screen. Peggy’s new article stared back at her; something she hadn’t even spent a few minutes on yet. She had to come clean with Margaret. She needed to let her boss know that she wasn’t being able to operate. She would have to quit!

  Jolie jerked herself out of the chair and with her head held high, she marched straight out of her office and knocked on Margaret’s door. It was now or never. There was no point in delaying matters. The baby was going nowhere.

  “Who is it?” Margaret’s clipped voice came through.

  “It’s me, Jo,” she called out.

  “Ah, Jo! Come in, come in,” Margaret said, her tone changing immediately and Jolie turned the knob and opened the door. Her heart was thudding in her chest. This meeting was going to change the course of the rest of her life, and it was only the beginning.

  When she stepped in, she stopped in her tracks, her knees nearly buckled.

  Margaret was seated on her chair as usual, and across from her; was seated Brandon Calloway, and they had both turned to look at her.