AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She looked off to the side where another bouquet of flowers was waiting for her. She had read the note before the reading had started and before anyone had taken their seats. In the peaceful moment before her nerves had started—even two years of teaching hadn’t managed to get rid of the stomach-churning, knee-trembling jitters—she had opened the handwritten note sent with the flowers.
To my darling, we are so very proud for you and wish we could be there with you as you prove to the world just how incredible you are. With all our love, Edward and Ellis.
She had pressed the small card to her lips and felt her heart soothed in a way that she couldn’t explain. Meeting her birth parents had been one of the most terrifying and emotionally draining things she had ever done, but Mateo had been with her every single step of the way.
Evelyn had taken a DNA test a few months before she and Mateo had married in a beautiful ceremony in Spain. But even with that and the adoption papers they hadn’t been able to find any information. Eventually she had conceded defeat and they had hired a private investigator who specialised in ancestry and family searches. After eighteen months of hard work and ups and downs, the investigator had led her and Mateo to Edward and Ellis. Her birth parents had been so young—barely sixteen when they had fallen pregnant with Evie. They had made the devastating decision that it would be better for everyone if they were to ensure their child went to parents who were financially able to provide the things their child needed.
Evie had expected to feel resentment; anger perhaps and loss for the things she had missed with them. But she didn’t. They had stayed together and had always cherished the memory of their child. Ellis had become a surgeon and Edward had gone into technology. They had dedicated their lives to ensuring that the sacrifice they had all made was worth it. And in fact, Ellis had become pregnant with Evie’s brother around the time that Evie had fallen pregnant herself with Izzy. It had created a place where they could bond, rather than harbour hurt or resentment, and together they had navigated both the past and the present in a way that Evie was grateful for.
Mateo waited for her as she slowly made her way through the crowd, people stopping her to congratulate her, others to ask if she had plans for any more books. She caught Mateo’s eye, her husband having clearly heard the question, and smiled. There had been a few more adventures since their trip to Indonesia and there were certainly enough stories to tell with more books, but that was for another time.
This was the last event Evie would be doing for a while as they hunkered down as a family and awaited the arrival of Izzy’s little sister. Mateo’s mother had been thrilled with the news of another girl. Mateo had groaned dramatically, complaining about being outnumbered, despite the fact Evie knew he loved every single minute of it. He delighted in ‘his girls’, as he liked to call them, even though Henri would often claim that they were more his than Mateo’s. Evie had loved Henri from the moment they’d met, realising just how much light and laughter he brought to Mateo, chasing away some of the darkness that had lessened greatly over time. Even though there were still glimpses of that determination he would get, and sometimes she would have to remind him to take a bit of time away, they had found the perfect balance. And it was all because of Professor Marin and the Pirate Queen.
An Heir for the Vengeful Billionaire
Rosie Maxwell
Damon gestured for Carrie to step into the elevator. He stared straight ahead as the doors closed, determinedly not looking at her and resenting every moment of shared space and oxygen, especially when her scent infiltrated the air.
Her betrayal still burned within his gut and even if she was in possession of information that could be valuable, she had some nerve showing up to his territory and demanding an audience. Clearly she had inherited her father’s gall!
Sour though he felt, Damon knew he could not roll the dice on whether she was being truthful, not with so much at stake.
Forty seconds later they arrived at his top-floor office and Damon secured the door behind them before striding briskly to stand behind his desk.
“You have five minutes. So whatever information you came here to impart, I suggest you speak quickly,” he instructed with taciturn impatience.
Carrie stared back at him, her chin raised and her eyes clear. “I’m pregnant.”
For my mum, whose love, belief and support helped turn this dream into a reality.
CHAPTER ONE
A car will pick you up at your hotel at seven-thirty p.m. and bring you to the unveiling of Chateau Margaux. I’ll be waiting there for you. Damon x
CARRIEMILLERSTAREDat the words written in elegant male script and then lifted her gaze to the clock display.
Twenty-five minutes past seven.
She swallowed the emotions swelling at the back of her throat. Only five minutes to go.
Beneath the exquisite silk dress, which had been delivered to her hotel room along with the handwritten note that morning, Carrie’s heart raged. Damon wasallshe had been able to think about since their parting the previous night. She had lain in bed, giddily awake, recalling every intimate detail about him. His mesmerising gold-ringed coffee-brown gaze. The low, elegant timbre of his voice that had brushed across her senses like velvet. His crisp evergreen scent that had shot straight through her when he’d moved in close to place that lingering goodnight kiss on her cheek, just a whisper from her lips.
Picturing him at that very moment, awaiting her arrival at a grand, ancient chateau in Paris, one of the most magical cities in the world, was making her blood rush and her heart skip several of its frantic, fevered beats. Yet as she turned to make a final check of her appearance in the full-length mirror and met her reflection, it was a set of dark green eyes glittering with trepidation that stared back at her.
Because there was one other thing about Damon that had kept her wide awake.
His name.
Meyer. Damon Meyer.
A name she was heartbreakingly familiar with.
Because as a young boy Damon had been forced to endure the loss of his father due to the actions ofherfather.
The Meyer-Randolph Scandal, as the shocking events had been dubbed by the media, had seen their fathers’ prolific professional partnership end in tragedy when her father’s seismic betrayal had unleashed a fury that had cost Jacob Meyer his life. And before the attraction between them went any further Carrie knew she needed to tell Damon exactly who she was.
The fact that she was estranged from her father didn’t matter. Although she’d been raised by her mother, far away from her father’s influence, and had never been part of the family empire,andhad long ago divested herself of the name she’d been born with, Sterling Randolph was still her father. And Carrie was always honest. After the way Nate had deceived her, with every word and every look, honesty was of unparalleled importance to her—to always be truthful and to always receive the truth in return.
