“I’m sorry,” I whispered, following the guilty compulsion to apologize.
“Don’t do that, kiddo,” he said firmly. “It’s not your fault someone’s treating you badly. You’re gonna come home, and we’ll figure out your next steps. How does that sound?”
“Really good,” I admitted softly.
I didn’t want to be strong or in control of everything. I wanted to rest. It was obvious now that my exhaustion over the last few weeks was because my little one was sapping all my energy. I needed some serious naps.
“You’re aware that Mike will riot if you try to help him once he knows you’re pregnant,” Poppy said dryly.
I laughed. “Oh God, yeah, he’ll be insufferable.”
Poppy chuckled. “You have no idea. We’reallgoing to be insufferable—but you’re going to love it.”
“I choose to withhold judgment on that for now,” I said with a small smile. “I’m almost at the airport. I didn’t grab a bag or anything. I just have my phone and purse.”
“I guess that’s another excuse to go on a little shopping spree—with our bank cards this time.”
“Dad, I can buy my own clothes. Plus, I’ve got plenty at the house that I left there.”
“Yes, but you’ll be needing new ones if you’re going to be growing,” he reminded me.
He had a point.
“I suppose,” I said. “But I’m already past four months, and I’m barely showing.”
My dad hummed. “Your birth mother didn’t show until much later too. I remember us all waiting for her to finally have a bump. Once you’re here, we can get you an appointment with anOB. The one who delivered you is retired by now, but I think the clinic she worked at is still open.”
I smiled, reassured that the woman who’d carried me had experienced the same mini-bump as me.
“Good. I had no idea—I thought I was rundown.”
“Babies take a lot out of a body, but you’re going to love them dearly, anyway.”
I groaned. “What the hell have I gotten myself into?”
Dropping the bomb that I was pregnant was bad enough, but sooner or later, I was going to have to tell my dads I’d accidentally bonded with a billionaire in California—and that one of his pack mates happened to be the asshole who threw a contract at me and might also be the father of my unborn child.
Chapter 31
Parker
Iwas going to be adad, and I couldn’t do anything right. That was assuming one of the pack was the father, which we hadn’t yet confirmed one way or the other. Logan had been willing to take Clover on, even if she had a child by someone else, with or without the bond. The pack’s attachment to her made things complicated, and if an outsider had fathered the child and wanted to get involved, that was even worse. I would certainly never expect someone to abandon their child, despite the law dictating Logan as the father, regardless of parentage, since he was Clover’s bondmate.
It was all such a mess.
For their sake, I hoped Clover had good intentions. The more I learned about her, the more I liked her. I understood on a cellular level why the others were drawn to her because I felt it too, but liking someone didn’t mean I could give them entry into our entire life. I was the only one with a clear head in this situation.
My pack had worked so hard to build our wealth on our own. Sure, I got lucky with my parents’ connections, and I was the definition of a nepo baby, but my pack mates weren’t. Noneof them had come from wealth like I had, so they couldn’t understand how some parts of high society ran.
Clover had talked a big game about being attracted to us and not caring about money—but she’d been so offended by the contract stipulations. In that moment, I was convinced I was right. If she didn’t care about money, why was a contract that simply outlined financial boundaries such a horrific thing?
I’d asked my lawyer to draft a simple agreement: no matter what happened, the pack’s money stayed the pack’s money. She wasn’t entitled to free access to our accounts, but she was welcome to submit a claim to use the family trust for anything the baby needed; the request would simply have to be approved by the lawyers first. They wouldn’t have denied anything reasonable.
My pack mates didn’t seem to understand that any more than Clover did. I needed to talk to people who understood the way our world worked. As much as I loved my pack, they were too naïve.
“Hi, sweet boy.” My mother rounded the doorway into the kitchen where I was sulking. “I got a security alert when you arrived, but I wasn’t expecting a visit. What are you doing here?”
Elizabeth Ashcroft was a force unto herself—the model of what every omega aspired to be. While my fathers had been busy building their businesses, she had stood by their sides, raising their children—alongside our nannies—and supporting them quietly. She threw galas and attended every one of our childhood events. Even though we missed our fathers, my mother was always there for us.
