Page 21 of After-Hours Heir

The first time Christos Onassis came into the office after she had been ghosted, she had nearly fallen over where she was standing. She hadn’t remembered how much of an impact he made, and that was ridiculous because she had just seen him a few days earlier.

But there was something different. Or maybe it was something different in her. She hated that. But suddenly, she realized that the impact of him wasn’t just based on the anxiety she was feeling about the role he was playing in this difficult season of her life, but her new understanding of what a man who looked like him could do with a body like that. She hated that she would even think that in connection with this man that she hated so much.

She distanced herself as best she could because she wasn’t really being included in any of this. The contract was sent over to her, and she surrounded herself with legal representation and worked at figuring out exactly what her best options were.

One month turned into two, which turned into nearly three, and then she started to feel nauseous in the morning.

She really hadn’t thought much about anything other than the great implosions happening around her. How much she missed Baby, how much she hated Christos. How stressed out she was by everything. But when she got out of bed, ran straight to the bathroom and threw up, she had the realization that she hadn’t actually had her period for way too long.

What an idiot she was. She had just been consumed by all the misery that she was dealing with, so she hadn’t been tracking. She hadn’t been paying attention.

She sat down on the edge of her bed and put a hand on her stomach. She didn’t have time for this. She didn’t have time to be sick, she didn’t have time to deal with this. She had to get to work. There was literally a final meeting today with Christos. And they had to sign paperwork. And she hated him.

She rallied and finished getting ready. She couldn’t look as bedraggled as she felt.

She had to get it together.

She walked out of her apartment and popped into the bodega, grabbing a pregnancy test and taking it to the counter, trying not to feel self-conscious or embarrassed as she purchased it.

The man barely looked at her; he just ran her card.

She accepted the offer of a small bag and tucked it into her larger bag. She was going to have to take the test when she had a break. And then what? Text the man who had ghosted her? Well, she would have to.

Because she had to at least give him a chance to engage with this.

She supposed.

She realized that she was oddly numb. She was going through the motions of taking care of this, but it wasn’t…it wasn’t penetrating. It wasn’t sinking in. But there was no point making it real until she knew for sure if it was.

She could not deal with this right now. Her life was imploding.

In every way.

But they hadn’t used a condom. Something she hadn’t been fully conscious of until afterward.

It was just…everything had happened so fast, and she had been so aroused. So shrouded by fantasy. But she hadn’t really thought that one time…

Truthfully, she had just put it all out of her mind. It had been completely hijacked by all of the work stuff, by all of the emotional upheaval that had come with it.

The potential odds of getting pregnant from one sexual encounter had not been at the forefront of her mind.

More fool her.

By the time she got to her office her hands were shaking.

Christos would be in soon.

She had about twenty minutes to deal with this.

She curled her fingers into fists, gathered herself up and went into the bathroom, locking the door securely behind her.

She took the pregnancy test out of the bag and took the plastic off the box with shaking fingers.

She opened it up, only to find a difficult foil packet ensconced the test itself.

She pierced it with a key that was down at the bottom of her bag before tearing it open.

Then she read the instructions and followed them.