“I know one of her aunts,” Aurelia states as I have a mouthful of coffee. “Yesterday, she told her family she was pregnant.”
I cough, and coffee sprays across the table before I can stop it. As everyone exclaims, I swallow hurriedly and say, “Shit, I’m so sorry.”
Marcus grabs a handful of serviettes from the table, and then I do my best to mop up, then lean on the table as my head spins.
“Caesar?” Dad frowns. “Are you okay?”
But I can’t answer. My brain is working furiously, but I’ve lost the power of speech.
Maddie’s pregnant?
At Blackridge, she told me it was all right not to use a condom because she was on the pill.
I’ve been ten types of idiot. A complete mug. Tom Rutherford has played me from the start, and I’ve done nothing to stop him. What is he expecting? That I’ll roll over and agree to the partnership because of the baby?
Well, he’s got another thing coming—and no, it’s not think!
“Decide whatever you want,” I say roughly to everyone around the table. I pick up my laptop. “But I vote no. I don’t want that fucking bastard within a country mile of this company.”
“Caesar—”
But I turn my back on them and head for the door, flinging it open with enough strength to make it bang on the wall.
I march down to the elevator, calling Dan, my driver, on the way. He’s ready and waiting when I exit the building, and I bark that I want to go to the Rutherford building, on the other side of the city.
My phone buzzes repeatedly in my top pocket, but I ignore it. I feel breathless with fury, but as the car slides through the traffic, I gradually calm a little.
Hold on, I think. Hold on.
I can’t be the father. If I got her pregnant at the weekend, she wouldn’t have missed her period yet. She wouldn’t know.That means she must have been pregnant before we got to Blackridge.
Gradually, it dawns on me… her nausea wasn’t due to a migraine. It was morning sickness. I close my eyes, feeling like a prize idiot. If she’s just announced it, she’s probably around three months pregnant. That means she was probably already pregnant when we slept together at the ball. It’s her ex’s.
Did she know? She told me she’d broken up with her ex the night before the ball. So maybe she didn’t know at the ball, but she must have known at Blackridge.
The realization should bring relief, but I’m shocked to discover I feel only the deep, raw stab of betrayal. She’s pregnant by another man. Holy fuck, that hurts.
I should tell Dan to turn the car around and go back to the office, or maybe go home to my apartment. Presumably, she’ll want her ex to be involved with the baby. I don’t have a part in this play.
But I need to see her. I can’t explain why.
A few minutes later, Dan pulls up, and I’m out of the door before he’s even put the handbrake on. I stride into the building and go up to the front desk.
“Where’s Maddie Rutherford?” I demand when the woman finally puts down her phone.
“Second floor,” she says, “but—”
I ignore her and march toward the elevator. Less than a minute later, I’m exiting the carriage and walking out into a reception that’s very similar to ours back at Ashfords.
The woman sitting behind the desk rises as I walk toward her, and it’s clear the girl downstairs must have called her to say a madman was on his way up, because she looks alarmed as I approach.
“Where’s Maddie?” I snap.
“Good morning, sir, I’m afraid she’s unavailable,” the woman states.
“Bullshit! I want to see her, right now.” My voice is hard, demanding she obeys.
“She—she’s in a meeting,” she stutters, her face flushing.
