The Alpha Billionaire's Unexpected Baby: A Billionaire BWWM Pregnancy Romance

by Joanna Jacobs

  When Robert put a mug in front of her Mary-Ann wrapped her hands around it. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Kevin and I knew each other in high school. It seems like such a long time ago now, but it wasn’t all that long at all. The two of us started dating in junior year.

  Everyone else had seen it coming, but I was oblivious until the day he asked me out, and I thought he saw me as nothing more than a friend. Going from close friends to a relationship wasn’t easy. It wasn’t hard, either, but there were times when I wondered if I had made the right choice for the first year. Sometimes, when I was kissing him, it was almost as though I wasn’t there, because it seemed so strange. As I got more used to be with him that faded.

  “He helped with that. He knew when I was having moments like that, and he’d always take a step back. He never once pushed me into something when I didn’t seem ready, which is something I will always be grateful for, because it gave me the time I need to accept how much my life had changed. That was the sort of person he was. He was kind, and he was considerate, and he was understanding. There were times when I thought he understood me better than I understood myself. When I came back to Green Springs he was my first visitor and that was when I realised how much I’d changed in the time I was gone. Being with him reminded me of who I had been, but I wasn’t that person any longer. I went through a lot when I was in the city and if I hadn’t I think it would have been easy enough for me to get back with Kevin, to go back to the way things once were. Even after I said no to getting back together there was a part of me that said I should have said yes. I should have gone back to the way things were, no matter how hard it was, because going back would mean I hadn’t gone through all that pain.” Mary-Ann shrugged. “If I’d done that it would have been selfish. I didn’t love him and he needed to be with someone who loved him.

  “I can’t think of who might have wanted to kill him. As far as I knew everyone like him. He was one of those really good people. He would do anything he could to help anyone. Someone else in his position probably would have made the decision that I wasn’t worth his time. Instead Kevin did everything he could to help me settle back in.”

  “Why didn’t you invite him to your pie party?”

  “I did, but he was going out on a date with Sally that night. At the time I didn’t know it was Sally, and it didn’t matter, because I was just happy he was moving on. I promised him I’d save him some pie, so he could tell me how everything he gone, but then Paul died and I was so focused on dealing with that I didn’t get a chance to talk to Kevin until a couple of weeks later.”

  “Didn’t he ring you?”

  “He did, but I didn’t answer the phone. I wanted to focus on what had happened.” Mary-Ann sighed. “I should have answered. I should have talked to him about everything, but I know why I didn’t. He would have wanted to look after me and I didn’t need looking after. I knew I was capable of dealing with what had happened. I knew I could find the person who murdered Paul. Now I need to find out who murdered Kevin, because I’m certain they used my cake for a reason.”

  “Actually, I spoke to Alex about that.” Robert sipped his coffee. “There were a couple of people who said they saw you arguing with Kevin.”

  “Who?”

  “Two of Kevin’s friends. Jack and Peter, I believe. You know them?”

  “Of course I do. Jack and Peter were both a part of the group I spent time with at school, and they’d both been friends with Kevin for years, so I can’t understand why they would want to kill him… unless they were saying that to protect someone else.”

  She shook her head. “If both of them are lying there has to be a reason.”

  “You don’t think they would have killed Kevin.”

  “It seems unlikely, but anything is possible. I wouldn’t have thought Tom was the sort of person who could murder anyone and he proved me very wrong about that.” She sipped her own coffee, trying to work out what her next step was going to be.

  “Tomorrow I’m going to have to talk to the two of them, to see why they’d have said that to Alex, because that’s not like them. There has to be something.”

  “Maybe they dislike you for the choices you made in the past. You did turn Kevin down when he asked you to go back to how things were, and you don’t know how that would have affected him. I know he was still the same person as far as you could tell, but he might have turned to his friends to deal with the more negative emotions, which might explain why they’d be willing to lie about you.”

  ***

  When Mary-Ann walked into the apartment Hannah was waiting for her. “Robert found you?”

  “He did.” Mary-Ann smiled. “Thank you.”

  “I thought you could do with the support.” Their eyes met. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m fine, Han.”

  “Don’t lie to me.”

  “I will be fine.”

  “Kevin meant a lot to you.”

  “He did, once, but he didn’t mean anywhere near as much to me as he did to Sally. She’s the one who’s going to need the most support to get through this.”

  “Darren and Kelly are with her now. They told me to keep an eye on you, because you’re the one who’ll attempt to power through this, in part so you can find Kevin’s murderer, and then you’ll fall to pieces.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  “Yes, you will. I know you as well as Kevin did, so I can see the pain in your eyes, and you need to let it go before it gets the better of you.”

  “Han…”

  “My job is to worry about you. Nothing you say is going to change that. You are my sister. I’m going to worry about you all the time and right now I have a real reason to worry. Kevin and you, before you left for the city, were talking about getting married.”

  “Yeah, and then I decided I was going to college somewhere else, somewhere no one knew me, because I was fed up with Green Springs. I was fed up of everyone knowing me.”

  “Why did you come back?”

  “I might have been fed up back them, but I missed it more than I thought was possible. Having that community around me… it’s something I took for granted until it wasn’t there any longer and that was a mistake.” Mary-Ann sighed. “I came back, because I knew it was the best choice I could make, but that doesn’t mean I could turn back time. By the time I came back I was a very different person. Getting back with Kevin would have been a huge mistake.”

  “That I know.” Hannah smiled. “It’s obvious to everyone who knew you that being in the city had turned you into someone else. This is the first time you’ve talked to me about why you decided to come back. I didn’t think you would. I thought you’d stay there for the rest of your life.”

  “For a while that’s what I thought would happen, but then I realised I needed the people I loved around me again. I wouldn’t have been able to open the pie shop if I’d still been there, and that’s something I will never regret, because it’s what I’ve always wanted.”

  “What are you going to do about Kevin?”

  “I’m going to find out who murdered him. I want the world to know who it was. He deserved so much better.”

  “Make the most of the resources you have, Mare, including Alex.”

  “I will.” Mary-Ann smiled. “He’s on my side this time.”

  “Rob told me Jack and Peter said they’d heard me arguing with Kevin.”

  Alex sighed. “They said they heard Kevin arguing with someone over the phone, and they were pretty certain it was you. When I talked to them, separately, they both said it sounded like your voice, but they weren’t definite. All I know for certain is that Kevin was arguing with a woman before he did. I have people looking at his phone records to see who it was. I’m more certain it wasn’t you, because of the time.”

  “When was it?”

  “Three hours prior to the competition. At that point I know you were with Robert.”

  Mary-Ann nodded. “I did
n’t leave him for about an hour.” She brushed a hand through her hair. “Arguing with someone doesn’t mean they’d be willing to kill him.”

  “I know, but it’s a start. You’re going to talk to them, aren’t you?”

  “That makes the most sense. I’m not going to say I know they told you about the phone call. I just want to know what they’re thinking. If they truly believe I might have been the person to kill Kevin… I don’t think they will, but anything is possible, and I want to know what they’re thinking. I want to understand why they would have said they were pretty certain it was me.”

  “Just be careful. If you say too much people will know I’ve been talking to you, which is something I’m not actually meant to be doing, because you are a suspect. It was your cake that was used to poison Kevin. Not Sally’s.”

  “Are we certain of that?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “After what happened with Paul I’ve been looking into poisons, because I wanted to learn more, and a lot of them don’t work that quickly. Is it possible Kevin was poisoned before the competition?”

  “Until I get the tox screen back I won’t know, but it is something I’ll keep in mind. Just make sure you don’t tell anyone else you’ve been studying poisons, because that won’t help.”

  “I won’t.” She smiled. “Call me when you know what killed Kevin. I am going to find out who did this.”

  “We will find out who did this. I appreciate your help, but I’m not going to let you put yourself in danger this time. Rob would never forgive me if something happened to you.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise. I will be careful, I’ll do my best not to say the wrong thing to the wrong person, and I will do everything I can to keep myself safe.”

  “Good. Keep in contact. If I don’t hear from you every hour I will be in contact with you.”

  “You wouldn’t be like this if it wasn’t for Rob, would you?”

  “No, but as my brother is in love with you I’m going to keep you safe, because he wouldn’t forgive me if I let something happen to you.”

  ***

  “Jack?” He was staring into space. “Can I talk to you?”

  “I guess.”

  “How are you doing?”

  “One of my closest friends is dead, Mare. How do you think I’m doing?”

  Mary-Ann sat down next to him. “I know. That’s why I came. I don’t want anyone to be dealing with this alone.”

  “Why do you even care? You broke his heart twice.” Jack shook his head. “You shouldn’t have come back.”

  “I never meant to hurt him.”

  “Maybe you didn’t, but that doesn’t change what happened. I held him when he was crying over you and I will never forgive you for that.”

  “He still treated me normally.”

  “Of course he did. He was that sort of person. Kevin could push aside the pain as long as it meant you were still a part of his life, which is exactly what he did, even though seeing your hurt him more Then he started moving on and I thought that was a good thing, until he started calling you all the time. Were the two of you getting back together?”

  “Kevin called me once every fortnight, Jack. We talked about life, because we were still friends, and there wasn’t a chance of the two of us getting back together, not when he was obviously happy with Sally.”

  “There was someone he was calling on a daily basis, Mare, and he said it was you. It definitely wasn’t Sally.” Jack looked at her. “Promise me it wasn’t you.”

  “I promise.” Mary-Ann nibbled her bottom lip. “This isn’t something I would lie to you about, especially not now. Kevin’s dead and whoever it was he was ringing might well be the person who did it.”

  “D.I. O’Connor said he’d look into Kevin’s phone records, which might give us a name.”

  “Possibly, but there’s also a chance it won’t. If she, whoever she was, happened to be using disposable phones…” She sighed. “Kevin told you it was me?”

  “Yeah, more than once. The last time she called him they had a massive row. I don’t know what it was about, but it was obvious to anyone it had really got to him.”

  “It definitely wasn’t Sally?”

  “There were a couple of times when Sally called him right after she did, which is probably why he said it was you. That made more sense than it being anyone else.”

  Jack studied Mary-Ann. “If it wasn’t you who could it be?”

  “Kevin only ever mentioned Sally when we were talking. He never said anything about there being another woman in his life.” She couldn’t quite believe Kevin had been keeping secrets from everyone, because that wasn’t like him. “If D.I. O’Connor comes across something unusual then it will be a step in the right direction, but for now all we can do is wait to hear something.”

  “He wasn’t the sort of person who kept secrets, Mare. I don’t understand why he would have done.”

  ***

  “Do you know who Kevin was talking to?”

  “Mary-Ann, I know you want to find out who killed Kevin, but these things take time.” Alex sounded exasperated. “I had Jack on the phone a few minutes ago, asking me exactly the same thing. Would you like to tell me why?”

  “Kevin was keeping secrets from Jack, and that wasn’t like him. There is one person I can think of he’d be keeping secrets for. I made him promise me he’d tell me if she ever got back in contact with him, but that was before the two of us split up, and I was the only person who knew about her.”

  “Who?”

  “His mom. Very few people know what happened to her, because Kevin’s dad didn’t want the people here to know the truth, and it wasn’t an easy thing for them to keep secret. She was an addict. If he was arguing with her about something I think it might well have been the drugs. You’re going to want to look into who Kevin’s money would go to if he was dead.”

  “You think his mom would have poisoned him?”

  “After what happened to Paul I’ve realised anything is possible, no matter how unlikely it seems. Tom was willing to kill someone he thought of as a brother in order to protect himself. It’s entirely possible Kevin’s mom would have killed him for the money he had, because he’d always been a saver. That was probably because of his mom. From what he said she was always looking for more money to fund her drug habit and once, before I met him, stole his birthday money.”

  “Not many people in Green Springs become addicts.”

  “Kevin’s parents met in New York. They came back here to build a life together, only it didn’t work out the way they wanted it to, and she fell back into bad habits. I don’t know the whole story. I would say you should talk to Kevin’s dad, but he’s never been willing to talk about what happened.”

  “Even if it’s possible his ex-wife might have murdered their son.”

  “He won’t want to believe something like that’s possible, and I can understand why. If I was still in love with someone and found out something I didn’t want to believe was true it would be easy enough for me to pretend it wasn’t true.” Mary-Ann sighed. “I don’t want to believe someone could do that to their own son, but, for now, we have to think of every possibility. Unfortunately that is one.”

  “Sally could have killed him.”

  “I could have killed him. It was my cake.”

  “Motive?”

  “Last time you didn’t bother asking.”

  “Things have changed a lot since then. What would your motive be?”

  “If I was the one arguing with Kevin it could well be because I wanted to get back with him, as unlikely as that would seem to anyone who actually knows me.”

  ***

  “Jack rang me. He said he thinks someone else was the woman Kevin was arguing with.” Peter shook his head. “I disagree with him. I think it was you, Mare.”

  “Why do you think it was me?”

  “I don’t think it could have been anyone else.”

  “How do you kno
w?”

  “Kevin told me more than he told Jack. His mom died three months ago, in suspicious circumstances. He came to the conclusion it was probably her dealer, because she never had enough to pay for the drugs she needed, and put it all to the back of his mind. A month ago he started getting phone calls on a daily basis from someone. As his mom is dead the only person it could possibly have been in you.”

  “You still haven’t explained why you think it’s me, Pete. Obviously it couldn’t have been his mom, unless she faked her death for some reason, but that doesn’t mean the only option is me. Jack said Sally would ring him straight after one of the conversations he had, so it couldn’t be her. I know I haven’t been talking to him on a daily basis. I’m too busy to be ringing Kevin all the time and I’m seeing someone else.”