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“Dammit, Bella. I’m going to pick you up and take you to the couch!” He came at me with such force that I had no time to react, and I had a feeling if I had fought him, he’d have won anyway. I went limp in his arms to make his task harder.
He lifted me up and placed me gently on the couch, and I curled into a ball, inching myself away as he sat next to me.
“Before I tell you what I have to say, I want you to know I love you, and it changes nothing.”
“It changes everything.”
“Hear me out, for heaven’s sake, Bella. Right before I met you, I was hit with a bit of a shocker. I had assumed that when I turned thirty, I’d inherit the bulk of my father’s multi-billion-dollar estate. I’ve been living off of the trust, which will end at thirty when the billions kicked in.”
“Lucky you, so why knock me up. One last conquest? A celebratory challenge?”
“Would you let me finish? I found out that if I didn’t produce an heir by my thirtieth birthday, then I wouldn’t get the inheritance and the money would go to charities and I’d be left with nothing.” His tone had softened, but I couldn’t sympathize. He’d not given me any choice, and it was all for money.
“I don’t care about your fucking money. I wasn’t ready for this. I wanted to have time for myself, and now I’ve got to raise a child and all so you can have your precious money! And you were never going to tell me!”
“I love you. I didn’t want you to think I did this for any other reason. I never wanted to hurt you, Bella.”
“Get out!”
“This is my house, Bella. I’m not leaving you. I love you. This is about so much more than the money now. In the beginning, yes, that was my motivation, but along the way I fell in love with you. I don’t even care about the money for me anymore, Bella. I want something real and lasting with you—with us. We’ve created a life, and I want us to be a family.”
“Is that part of it? We have to pretend to be a family for you to get your money too?” I snapped at him.
He shook his head. “It’s not my money.”
I stopped and looked at him, confused. “I don’t understand.”
“The part of the conversation you didn’t hear in there was me ordering my lawyer to draw up papers giving you full control of my estate once the baby is born. It’s your money now, Bella. Yours and our child’s.”
I nearly passed out when he said those words. I would be in full control of $2 billion. Still, I was so hurt that he had deceived me. All the money in the world wouldn’t fix that.
“I don’t want your goddamn money, Reed. And I don’t want you.”
The hurt that flashed across his face was visceral. I knew I’d cut him, but in my mind, he’d had it coming. I expected an argument, a show of his power, but instead he bowed his head and a tear slipped down his cheek.
Without another word, he got up and walked out.
*
It would be some time before I’d see him again. He didn’t push himself on me, but he did take care of me financially, and I let him. After all, it was his child I was carrying.
Kayla had been my biggest supporter otherwise, and finally, at four months, she’d gone with me to see the first ultrasound that would determine the sex of our baby.
“You’re glowing, Bella. Just think, when we leave this appointment, you’ll know if you’re having a son or a daughter, and Auntie Kayla will be able to buy gender-specific presents and plan your baby shower.”
“Don’t go spending a ton of money. This little one will have more than enough of what he or she needs.”
“Speaking of Daddy Babybucks, don’t be mad, but-”
My head snapped around to see her wince. “You didn’t.”
“You’ve been miserable without him, admit it!” She held a hand up defensively.
“So what? He lied to me. ”
“Yeah, I get that, but tell me something, if he’d asked you, what would you have said?”
She knew I’d have been all f
