Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
“How could you not tell me?” I whispered, my heart burning with hurt and shame.
Nick shook his head, defeated and embarrassed.
“I know I should have, but things were going so well between us. I was working up to it, I swear, Ella. We were just getting to get to know each other on a deeper basis. You have to remember that we only reconnected recently, when you moved to New York. I wanted to tell you—”
“But you didn’t,” I interrupted in a scratchy voice. “Everyone else at the party knew that you have another babymama, and I was left looking like an utter fool, pregnant and round and fucking clueless! What was her name? Hadassah?”
Nick’s expression falls again as I yank my hand away from his, as if he’s contaminated.
“Yes, Hadassah,” he says in a low voice. “But it’s not what you think, Ella. I was never in love with her, and the baby is just a transaction between us.”
“Oh really,” I snort as rage begins to build in my chest. “Does she know that you’re referring to your child as a ‘transaction’? Does she know that you’re utterly heartless and cruel, and a douche to boot?”
I’m so angry now that the words are hurled from my mouth like bullets. Nick flinches as if he’s been struck, and I don’t blame him. Fury radiates from my form, and this time, I manage to sit upright, my face red and hair standing on end.
“Why do your excuses seem false, not to mention convenient? Since when is pregnancy a transaction, anyways?” I grit out, my hands white-knuckled as I clutch the metal bed railing. “It takes dick in a pussy, if you don’t recall, to conceive a child. Your dick, in her pussy, if we’re being specific.”
But the billionaire takes me by surprise then.
“No, not always,” Nick says in an even tone, his own hands gripped into fists as well. “Hadassah is my employee, and we conceived our child using IVF. I’ve never slept with her, and she’s not interested in a relationship with me.”
This is so far-fetched that I guffaw loudly before devolving into a coughing fit.
“Really,” I manage, the sarcasm dripping from my voice. “So you’ve never touched this woman.”
“Never,” Nick swears, raising one hand up as if he’s doing a boy scout promise. “Hadassah is my employee. A good one, and a woman whom I know on personal terms now. But yes, we reached an agreement to have a child together via IVF, and there’s even a contract stipulating all sorts of things, from custody, financial arrangements, to what to do in case there’s an emergency during the pregnancy. I know you hate the word, but the pregnancy is a transaction. A contract. I swear it, Ella.”
I squint at him.
“I don’t believe you,” I say in a trembling voice. “The women at the party were discussing Hadassah like she was a beautiful woman whom you were romantically involved with. They were looking at me with pity, like I was a stupid idiot who was getting played! Because I was!”
“No, that’s not what happened,” Nick immediately denies. “I have to correct you there, Ella. Hadassah and I were never involved, and we’re not involved to this day. Yes, we’re involved as co-workers and future co-parents,” he corrects quickly, “but nothing more. I swear it.”
But I’ve had enough. Tears brim in my eyes as my face burns hotly with shame. I can’t stand any more of this man’s lies and I flop back on the bed while staring straight ahead.
“Just go,” I say in a defeated voice, refusing to meet his eyes. “I want to be alone.”
At that moment, a nurse bustles in and looks at Nick.
“Sir, we need to do an IV,” she says. “If you could step outside.”
The billionaire looks like he wants to refuse, but the nurse waits expectantly, and with slow feet, he departs.
“We’ll talk more,” he says in a low voice with a meaningful look my way. “I know this is a shock to your system, Ella, but I promise, everything I’ve said is true.”
But his words fell on deaf ears because too much had happened to me in too short of a time. I was still feeling humiliated and devastated from the revelation that Nick was expecting a child with another woman. And even if his relationship with Hadassah wasn’t romantic, he didn’t think to utter a word about what was going on in his life. I hardened my heart, my eyes tearing again, and stared at the wall as the nurse inserted an IV into my arm.
But of course, I couldn’t avoid the billionaire forever. I could, however, refuse to talk to him in person, and as a result, everything was done through lawyers after that. I demanded an attorney for myself (paid for by Nick) and from then on, we did all the scheduling and arrangements through intermediaries. My child was born, and despite Nick expressing a strong desire to be in the delivery room, I refused. Marty was put in my arms, squalling and red-faced, and it was only after a few hours that Nick met his son in the hospital’s nursery.