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About you

Author: Kirizu
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

The train journey from Central to Helensvale took over an hour and then there were no buses. So she took a taxi to Paradise Point and decided to walk over the bridge from there. She and Nicky had done it a few times; it was a pleasant walk. But she stopped and bought herself lunch first and ate it in the park, feeding the seagulls the scraps of her fish and chips.

She stopped again at the top of the bridge and looked down at the waters swirling below.

Because it was a fine Sunday there were plenty of water craft about from jet skis to houseboats. There were fishermen on the beach and picnickers in the park. Looking south towards Surfers Paradise, and west towards the hinterland, though, there were dark clouds building, giving warning that this magic day could also bring storms.

Looking north, she had a view very similar to the one she’d had from her guest bedroom, a view of water and mangroves and casuarinas.

She stirred and took a deep breath. Sweat was trickling down between her sho
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  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   It was you

    He didn’t move and he didn’t respond immediately. He folded his arms and leant back against a cupboard, and then he didn’t respond directly. ‘How did you get here?’She shrugged. ‘Train, taxi, Shanks’s pony. I tried the penthouse first, but you weren’t in residence.’‘Why were you worried?’Irene recalled that once before she’d thought she’d never seen him with his emotions so controlled but, if anything, they were even more locked down now. His face might have been carved in stone and his eyes were giving nothing away.‘Because I can sense something’s wrong.’ ‘Yesterday…’ he said and hesitated.‘Yesterday…’ she paused and lifted her slim shoulders ‘…yesterday—it seemed important to prove to you that I was fine and I’m not here to—to reverse that. I know there’s no future for us, I’ve accepted that. I just thought—maybe there was some way I could help?’‘Help?’ he repeated.‘It probably sounds silly.’ Her eyes were dark with anxiety. ‘If only you knew.’ His tone was clipped and harsh.

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Just fine

    Irene went white with shock. And the sea-green blouse made her tawny hazel eyes look more green and darker against her pallor.‘But—’ she licked her lips ‘—you went out of your way to distance yourself.You made sure there could be no delusions for me. You—’‘Irene,’ he intervened, ‘I convinced myself I wasn’t for you. I did know that it would have been all too easy to drown my sorrows, my burdens in you—’ He broke off and shook his head.Her lips formed a perfect O.‘Don’t look so surprised. I did kiss you.’‘I know,’ she breathed, ‘but that was heat-of-the-moment stuff. That was probably gratitude and affection that got a little out of hand, that’s all.’He smiled dryly. ‘It wasn’t, and it wasn’t the first time I’d thought of you in that way either. Oh—’ he grimaced ‘—I told myself the same thing then. I also told myself—’ He stopped and got up and came round her side of the table.He pulled out a chair, turned it and sat down facing her. ‘Irene, I kissed you because I couldn’t help

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Let her go

    ‘I wondered about that,’ she murmured.‘If I was keeping tabs on you? I was.’ He looked grim for a moment. ‘If I was expecting to hear you’d gone into a decline, that wasn’t the news I got.But…’ he paused ‘…Irene, my biggest doubt the more I thought about it was— even if it had happened for you, you hadn’t wanted to fall in love with me.’ He frowned. ‘I know circumstances made it a highly questionable thing to do at the time, but—was there more to it?’A deep tremor ran through Irene, a feeling of having been understood that was extraordinarily precious. ‘Yes. After my parents and my Mother Superior died I couldn’t bring myself to get too close to anyone. So I was petrified over what I felt for you. Even up until yesterday, I think the last remnants of that fear made me say the things I did, but afterwards I realized I was only thinking of me, and that was cowardly.’She saw him take an uneven breath.‘Yesterday,’ he said, ‘my worst nightmare seemed to come true. That it was all over

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Handle

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  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   I love you

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  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Serious

    KRISTEN“Seriously?!” I screamed as I felt my pink Steve Madden stiletto snap beneath me. I splurged on those only a few weeks ago. I stumbled up the gravel driveway on perfectly manicured feet and a now broken heel, huffing in utter frustration. This trip was destined to be a disaster the moment I got into my car and drove it away from San Francisco.“Go to Napa Valley to get your inheritance, they said. It’ll be fun, they said,” I muttered to myself, limping up the drive. “Yeah, well this isn’t my idea of fun!” I screamed to the seemingly empty estates surrounding me.First of all, I wasn’t even in Napa Valley. I was in the hills far above Napa Valley, with limited cell phone reception and no sign of human existence aside from the few insanely large homes I passed on the way here with more acres than I could count. Second of all, why would a man I didn't even know leave me a fortune?When I answered my cell phone on Monday morning, I had not expected the strange caller to be a lawye

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Next door

    “Jesus, Dudley. Could you be any more cryptic?”I pondered the note. What the hell was this man talking about? I was supposed to run his business…while living in this house…which I don’t actually own yet? This day has officially gotten stranger.“Have you had a chance to read it, Miss Washington?” Dudley’s lawyer emerged from the hallway which must house the bathroom.“Yes, um but I don’t entirely understand. So Dudley hasn’t given me the house yet? Or the inheritance? Not to sound greedy, but I thought that was the reason I came here.”“It is! It is! As the note states, you will receive it all. Just once you’ve completed Dudley’s requests. It’s all in escrow for now, so now one else can touch it, but I have binding orders to not pass over the deed until you provide proof to me that you’ve completed the business tasks.”“Okay, so where is this journal with my instructions?”“That I do not know, Miss Washington. He wasn’t a very trusting man. He was always on edge and it appears he did

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Journal

    KRISTENAs I limped on my broken heel to the backyard, I started to get pissed. You know what, fuck this! Nothing can ever be easy with men, can it? One man, trying to control my life with his money. Another one, mocking my ambition by telling me I need a vacation. And now, a third, on my property, without my permission, looking hot enough to distract me from the fact that he was an entitled creep who does whatever he wants.On the way to confront the intruder, I stepped in a low spot, and my already unsteady ankle almost gave out on me. I bet a man invented these shoes! I fumed as I marched over to the bearded hunk who had paused his branch trimming and was smirking at me.“Excuse me,” I said. He smiled, cleared his throat, and opened his mouth to talk before I cut him off.“Who are you?” I demanded.He looked at me, his ocean blue eyes catching and holding my gaze. For a moment, my anger softened and I felt an electric spark in the air between us. Then a small smirk spread across h

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  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Lifelong

    EDWARDSI walked out into the hallway, ensuring Kristen I’d be right back.“Hi Charlie.”“How are you doing, bud?”“Fine, considering. What’s up?”“I’ve got great news for you. Custody is yours, obviously. Amber will be in jail for a long time after this. They’re thinking at least fifteen years. And she won’t be allowed near the kids once she’s out.”“She deserves more than that.”“Ain’t that the truth. But listen, this also means, you won’t have to write another child support check in your life.”I grinned cheek to cheek. My kids were mine, fully mine. Finally. But then my grin fell, remembering the bomb that had just been dropped on me. The last thing Charlie had said wasn’t necessarily true. I didn’t know what the future held with Kristen and my child that she was carrying. I knew what I wanted, though. I wanted a family, one that was complete and whole.I thanked Charlie and hung up. I rushed back into Kristen’s room, knowing what I needed to do.“So?” she asked.“It’s official.

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Tell me

    EDWARDSI fought with police officers for what seemed like hours, as patrons continued to stream out of the bar. I stopped to examine each one. None were my daughter.“She’s still in there! What are you guys waiting for?”I just kept screaming and they just kept ignoring me. I tried to run in myself a few times, but each time I was caught by an officer and dragged back behind the wall of squad cars they had formed in front of Rita’s.“We have to do this strategically, so no one gets hurt,” the commander told me after my third attempt to get in.After some discussion, they decided to call the bar, in hopes that Amber would answer and that they could talk her off the ledge. I jumped nervously back and forth on my feet as he tried to reason with her. He hung up.“She wants money.”“What else is new? How much?”“A million.”“What?!”“You won’t be giving her a penny. Now that we know she won’t reason with us, we’ll come up with a plan to force entry and remove your daughter as safely as p

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Aimed at me

    KRISTENI pulled up to Rita’s just fifteen minutes after Edwards and I had spoken still reeling from my conversation with Wally. I had to find a way to stop Carter from purchasing the house, but I had larger priorities right now. I took the handicap spot out front. I figured if I didn’t find anything, I’d be gone before anyone knew it. And if I did find Candace, then I had bigger things to worry about than illegal parking.I ran inside, leaving my purse and phone in the car. I burst through the front door and scanned the bar area. It was filled with burly men in flannel and jean jackets. Almost every single one had facial hair. The bartender was an older woman, with a heavy spray tan and wrinkled skin.No sign of Amber or Candace yet, I walked in further. As I walked forward, my flip flops squaked on the sticky, tiled floor. There was squished popcorn and spilled beer coating most of it. In the middle of the room was an aged pool table and nailed to the wall were a couple slightly ti

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Situation

    EDWARDSI hung up with Kristen, hopeful that we might be onto something. I called the cops right away and updated them. I told them that Kristen would be to Rita’s very soon, and that they needed to meet her there ASAP. I was fairly certain Kristen had been right that Amber wasn’t dangerous enough to hurt her, but I didn’t want to take any chances. They assured me they’d have officers on the scene as quickly as they could.I gave Samson a rub on the head.“We’re gonna find her, bud.”He whimpered beside me. I didn’t want to consider the fact that we could be way off. Amber and Candace could be well past Rita’s by now, and potentially even out of the state. I had tried the phone tracking app several times, but Candace’s phone was still off. Amber must have taken it from her.No matter how hard I tried to rationalize it from Amber’s perspective, I just couldn’t understand why she’d do this, unless she really had just gone off the deep end. Nothing she gained from this aligned with any

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   All that smart

    KRISTENI got back to the motel around noon. I applied for a secretarial position very close to here last evening and got a call back almost immediately. They seemed desperate, and so was I. I scheduled an interview for the next day and here I was. I thought the interview went quite well, actually.The job didn’t pay anything special, but it would do. After a few weeks there, I’d have enough to start making rent payments. I’d be out of this motel in no time, or at least well before the baby came. I wasn’t immensely excited about typing memos and completing invoices all day, but work was work. I didn’t have the luxury of being picky right now. I also called my landlord and got out of my lease in San Francisco. I told them to scrap anything I had left, which earned a few curse words.I hung up and sat back on the motel’s floral print couch that I thought was probably from the seventies at the earliest. There were several stains that could have been from any decade quite honestly. I tho

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   A loss

    EDWARDSI woke up the next morning, forced to remember for a split second everything that had happened the day prior. I laid in bed and crossed my arms over my face as I thought of Kristen and her betrayal. I saw what Dudley had written, how Kristen was supposed to get her inheritance. Her newfound interest in apples made all too much sense now.I knew she was probably desperate after losing her job, but that didn't make it right. What hurt me the most was that after all we had shared with one another and all that trust I assumed we had built, she still didn’t trust me enough to let me help her. I had wanted to provide for her and I would have gladly helped her get back on her feet. She was just too stubborn to let me.I pushed my sheets back and got out of bed, more determined than ever to get full custody of my kids back. After getting ready with Samson hovering by my side—he knew something was wrong with me—I called Candace.I tried several times, but her phone kept going straight

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Rust

    “It’s none of your business.”Before I could reach over and grab it, Edwards picked it up, sifting through the worn yellow pages.“Did Dudley write this?”My face had gone pale white. I gulped and nodded. It was the second half of the journal, the one that detailed most of Dudley’s plan to steal TruFruit’s patent.“To you?” He asked, continuing to scour it.I nodded again, having no words for him at this moment. How dare he? This argument is about him and his lies.“So, we were right then? He was fired.”I didn’t respond to this inquiry. He didn’t even look up to see if I had answered. After a few moments, he found the note that had fallen out of the journal when I first found it. I stuffed it back in between the pages, so I wouldn't lose it. I watched his face morph into despair.“He wanted you to rip me off?”I stood still.“Were you going to do it?”I was frozen in place.“How could you?”I wasn’t going to bother telling him that I hadn’t planned to go through with any of it. The f

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   Anymore

    EDWARDSI walked into the other room and talked to Charlie in a hushed tone, hoping to make Sabrina squirm a bit. As I did so, I heard footsteps on the stairs. I looked over to see Candace running down them with a duffel bag.“One second Charlie.” I put the phone to my side and approached my daughter who was angling toward the front door.“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked her.“My friend’s house.”“Who gave you permission to do that? We have some things to talk about, Candace.”“Not interested.” She reached for the knob.“Hey!” I yelled to her, in a firm tone I rarely used. She turned on her heels, one arm on her hip and the other clutching her overnight bag.“You know, maybe you should save the parenting for all of the kids you haven’t told me about yet.”“Candace!”She opened the door and I ran out after her, Charlie still waiting on the line.“Sweetheart, wait! Let me at least explain!”“No! I’m sick of being constantly disappointed by you and mom!”Candace ran towards a b

  • Having The Billionaire's Baby   The through

    I responded to Kristen’s text, telling her I’d be over in a couple hours. I wasn’t expecting a package, so it was either a mistake or a ruse to get me into bed. My heart sped up at the thought.A couple hours later, I was on Kristen’s doorstep ringing the doorbell, ready for whatever surprise she had waiting. But when the door opened, I found myself completely caught off guard. A small boy stood below me, looking up with piercing blue eyes. I looked up and a small blonde came out from the kitchen.“Sabrina,” I gasped. “What the hell are you doing here?”“They lost the keys to the house. It’s been lovely meeting your fiancée and son, Mr. McLean,” Kristen said to me from the living room, her tone ice cold.“We have a lot to talk about, darling. And I’ve been waiting for you all day.” Sabrina grabbed her purse and the backpack from the hangers by the front door and met me outside. “Thanks for your hospitality, Miss?”“Washington. Kristen Washington. And you’re welcome,” Kristen responded

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