Chapter 2

“Excuse me, sir?!”

Stephanie’s eyes shot up as she stared at him,gasping as she realized what he meant. He was offering her such a huge amount of money to get rid of the baby, her baby!!.

She was not prepared for this at all, She shouldn’t even be here but here She was,being told to kill her baby for a fee,a huge one.

She thought the best thing to do after finding out about her pregnancy was to let the father of the baby know, She didn’t think about his reaction and the fact that He wouldn’t be too pleased to father a child with her or could even deny the pregnancy.

A highly respected multibillionaire like him could suffer from such scandal and this would have a huge effect on the company, stock prices will go down. Of course,the best way to prevent that was to not father a child with her,therefore,the baby must be terminated.

But she loves children, she had always wanted children of her own with a man she loves and She is about to have a child now, with a man she is head over heels in love with but who doesn’t feel the same way toward her. She remembered her joy when she found out she was pregnant, three days ago.

Stephanie had just come back from the office and was trying to fix herself a light dinner when her cell phone rang, it was an unknown number. She picked up, still trying to guess who the unknown caller was.

“Ms. Hathaway, it’s Doctor Connor from SVP hospital” the voice from the other end came.

She immediately dropped the cup she was holding,nervous suddenly to hear what the doctor had to say. She had been feeling a bit unwell for the past few days and she knew it was not due to stress as her boss had been away for a while without her and she didn’t do anything stressful so she had gone to the hospital.

She had lost her father to cancer before she was born and because of that,became so vigilant of her health that even the tiniest headache will send her to the hospital to confirm that all was well.

She had done a checkup earlier in the day and asked that the result be sent to her mail and she be called to be notified.

“Hi Doctor, I assume it's about my result,” She said.

“Yes Ms. and according to the test, everything is fine and it appears you are pregnant, Congratulations,” He said, sounding pleased.

“Doctor are you sure about that?,because I cannot be pregnant, I’m sure there’s been some sort of mistake” Stephanie said, suddenly feeling scared.

It wasn’t cancer but then,but something much worse!!. Pregnancy!!!.The only man she had slept with after so many years was her boss! She cannot be pregnant!

“I am certain Miss, you can as well do a home pregnancy test to reconfirm, but based on the test, you are pregnant” He said frankly.

The call disconnected and Stephanie was beside herself with worry. Yes, she had missed her periods, but then it was irregular so it wasn’t strange,but pregnancy?,it was impossible!,it had to be,it just cannot be possible!.

The father of the fetus, the human being growing in her belly was Paul Costa, her boss!!. She touched her belly as a drop of tears fell from her eyes.

Dinner was forgotten as she bawled her eyes out. Her fantasies about being pregnant were not like this, it was of her being pregnant and married. She had always detested being pregnant out of wedlock, but look at her condition!!. She was going to be her boss’s baby Mama!. She was pregnant for a Man who could never marry her. She started crying all over again.

“Too small?” Paul asked, breaking her thoughts and bringing her back to the present.

She felt like presenting him with an amount that would make his company go bankrupt, billions of dollars, but then she refused to play his game. She refused to gamble with her child. She was going to keep the child, no matter what.

She swallowed and straightened her posture, not wanting to show how nervous she was. She cleared her throat and gazed at him straight.

“I do not want your money Paul, you can keep it and do whatever you wish with it. However, I am keeping this baby and I do not intend to quit my job too” she said heaving heavily and turning to leave.

She heard him chuckle from behind her, “That is acting foolish Stephanie, you will definitely regret it” He exclaimed, his tone challenging.

“No,the only thing regrettable is me coming here to tell you about my baby,you should forget I said anything to you, sir,” She said, turning to leave.

She stopped in front of the door and sharply turned to look at him squarely, “And I am taking the rest of the day off”, she didn’t wait for him to say anything before she turned and left.

Paul’s grey eyes narrowed and the muscles in his jaw ticked. How dare she talk to him like that! “Shit!” He muttered.

Stephanie was sure he was angry, she had never dared to challenge him. She was always on her toes around him as he was very intimidating and even though he was an asshole, he was still her boss and she needed to give him that respect especially as she depended on him for her and her baby’s survival.

She lingered in front of the door and placed her hand on her belly which was still flat. She would have the child, she was going to be its father and mother, and she would love him or her. She hoped it would be a girl, she loved girls and had always wanted one. She would name her after her favorite flower,Daisy.

She passed Natalie, the secretary who noticed the anger etched on her face. She walked straight to her desk, picked up her bag and in no time she was out of the building. She needed time to think,to think about the next step forward and how she was going to cope with the baby and her job.

She hoped that she had not made a mistake by not taking the money, that was a huge sum of money, It was times twenty of her entire worth and she knew what it would do for her, she could move to a better apartment, start her own business and change that her run-down car. But anyway, she thought, no amount of money was enough to make her give up her child.

Paul watched her from the window as she left. He opened the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of whiskey. He took the glass up to his mouth, intending to throw it down in one gulp. For a second he wavered, doubting if it was better to drink while at work. He hissed and threw the whiskey in the bin.

Just then his phone rang, he glanced at the caller ID and sighed loudly. It was Victoria, the woman his mother wanted him to marry, their engagement was in a week and he was not going to marry her out of love but out of a duty to honor the family name and strengthen the company,and also stop his cousin from trying to take the company.

Martins Costa was Paul’s Cousin and has been trying to take the company from Paul for a long time,there have been several court proceedings and board of directors meetings in an attempt to overthrow Paul,but a union between him and the Ross’s would strengthen the Company,therefore strengthening Paul’s Claim to it and that would make Martins back off.

“Hey handsome” the voice rang out sweetly from the other end.

“Victoria,” he said, wondering why she had called him. To be honest, he would've preferred not to even talk to her at that moment, she was annoying and only did things that infuriated him.

Just last week, she suddenly appeared in Turkey at the business event he was attending, drunk!. She was always trying to know what he was up to and who he was meeting! Once, she even came to his house at night, claiming to have heard of a woman being in the house.

From a tender age, Paul was groomed to take over the company as the only child of Theresa and Matthew Costa. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to get married to someone he loved, except that someone was from an influential and wealthy family and would be of immense help in strengthening Costa incorporation.

Unfortunately, all the women from such families were vain and only cared about shopping and the latest Birkin bag, he couldn’t stand them or their behavior and it annoyed him that he would one day be with one of them.

One day, his mother brought a picture of Victoria and told him to go on a date with her, that she was going to be his wife. He instantly recognized her, he’d met her before at one of her family’s fundraising events.

She was the heiress of Ross Inc. If Costa incorporations should acquire Ross, it would become huge, he envisioned the stock price skyrocketing, and Costa incorporations untouchable and standing strong.

“I miss you!!!!,are you in the office? I'm coming right now” The voice on the other end broke his reveries.

“ Not right now Vicky,im quite busy,” he said and ended the call before hearing what she would say.

He didn’t need any of her disturbance right now, all he needed to do was find a way to solve the issue of his PA’s pregnancy,the Ross’s and his mother won’t be too pleased to find out about it. He needed a solution, fast!.

His phone was ringing again, it was her, he ended it and switched off the phone. He’d had enough drama for the day, he didn’t need another one. He couldn’t think properly, so he went out, entered his car, and zoomed off.