Chapter 2

“Ahhhhhhhhhh” Sophia screamed as she jumped up from the bed, clutching the blanket tightly around her. The man beside her…wasn’t Alex.

“ who are you and what are you doing here”. She asked, her voice shaking.

The stranger sat up, he ran a hand through his messy hair before reaching for his robe. He barely spared her a glance “I should be asking you that, this is my room” he said

“Where is Alex?” she asked, her stomach twisted. The weight of what she had just done was heavy on her shoulders.” I need to see him now”

“I’ve never heard of him” the man—Richard—arched an eyebrow, his expression was unreadable.

She grabbed her phone and dialed Alex’s number, “we’re sorry, the number you have called is not in service, please try again later”.

She immediately reached for her dress, tears welled up in her eyes as she dressed up with trembling hands. She had to leave, she had to find Alex. She was about to run out the door when Richard stood in her way.

“I don’t know what happened last night, but I’ll find out. Until then, keep your mouth shut” Richard said, his voice laced with arrogance. Then he reached for a checkbook and pen, he wrote something and then handed it to her ”here, five million. Consider it…compensation”

she collected it, tore it and threw it in his face. “No one wants your damn money”, she pushed him out of her way and she left.

She walked slowly on the side walk,feeling like the world had come to an end. she got to a bus stop and sat down,tears rained down her face “Alex where are you” she murmured. Just then her phone rang, she immediately picked up “Alex, is that you, I’ve been trying to reach you” but a female voice came in instead.

“Hello, is this Sophia Smith” the lady asked

“Umm…yes it is”

“Congratulations, we’d love for you to join us at the Caldwell group, your position is Sales assistant” the lady said politely

“Oh my God, I got the job?, thank you” she screamed excitedly. For a moment, she forgot what had happened to her a few minutes ago.

———————————————————————

10 weeks later

“Good morning Marise” she said as she dropped the cup on the table in her managers office, “your flat white, low sugar, no caffeine”

“Thank you” Marise said with an equally wide smile, wrapping her hands around the warm cup. “How far have you gone with the client proposals?”

Sophia straightened and cleared her throat “I finalized the pricing sheets last night and emailed them over to you for review. I also followed up with three of our potential clients, lucky for us, two responded but I’m yet to get response from the third. One of the clients that responded is interested in scheduling a call this afternoon”

Marise nodded in approval. “ Good. And we need to make sure we have enough stock before we promise anything”

“Okay, noted” Sophia said.

Marise turned back to her laptop “You can return to your office now but don’t forget, Mr Caldwell will be coming to the office today, he has a meeting with the Blackwell group”

Noon came fast and Mr Caldwell had arrived, all the employees in the office had come out to welcome him, Sophia had never seen him and she came out of her office to join the rest of her colleagues.

She started feeling heavy, her vision was getting blurred and her head was spinning. She felt dizzy, she tried to keep herself together. Mr Caldwell came inside the office and everyone welcomed him as he walked towards his office, he got to where Sophia was standing and she collapsed but he caught her right in time.

“Are you okay miss” he asked, his voice cold.

He looked at her face for a long time, this face looks familiar, is she the one?, he thought internally and then he ordered his assistant “get her to my car, take her to Caldwell memorial”

After his meeting, he went straight to the hospital. Sophia laid down on the bed, sleeping. Richard sat down on a chair beside her and the doctor came in. “The DNA test results are out, and it’s 99.9% sure that you’re the biological father of the child that Sophia is carrying” the doctor said.

Richard didn’t say anything, he took time to register what the doctor had just said.

Sophia’s eyes blinked open “where am I?” She said slowly, she scanned the unfamiliar surrounding—the hospital. “Omg, what am I doing here, i have to be at work” she said as she struggled to stand up not noticing the two other humans in the room.

An older woman quickly rushed to her and held her “No, you need to rest dear” the woman said gently, placing her back to lay down

“Who are you?” She asked the woman, confusion laced in her voice.

“She’s my mother” Richard answered from where he was sitted.

Sophia turned to see who just spoke “YOU AGAIN!” She said, anger building up inside her “what do you want from me this time”

“You’re carrying my child Sophia” his voice was firm. “And before you say anything, I already ran the dna test. It’s mine”.

Sophia calmed down. She was pregnant?, how did that happen, it only happened one night. For a split second her mind was in chaos and then she held her tummy “my child, I decide what to do with this baby and I’m going to keep it but I don’t need your help” she said softly. “I can take care of my child myself”

“No you won’t” Richard leaned in, his presence was intimidating.

“Excuse me?” Sophia said sharply

“This child is a Caldwell” Richard said calmly. “My heir…and I don’t share what is mine”

“What did you say?. A C-Caldwell?” Sophia stammered. “You’re my boss?”

“Yes that’s me, CEO of the Caldwell group” he said boastfully. “Let’s make this simple” he continued. “You have two options, marry me and secure a future for you and this child… or walk away, lose your job and never see them again”

“You can’t be serious” Sophia’s blood ran cold.

“Oh I am” he said with a flash of something dangerous in his eyes.

His mother cleared her throat “Richard—“

“This isn’t up for debate” he cut her off raising his hand as a sign for her to stop, his eyes never leaving Sophia as if she would disappear if he looked away for a minute. “You don’t want my help?, Fine. But you will not raise my child as a single mother. Either you become my wife or you stay out of the child’s life completely”

Sophia felt like her world was crumbling down. This man was arrogant— not just arrogant, he had power and he used it against her.

She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t be a wife to an arrogant man, her life would be a living hell and she couldn’t leave her child.

Richard leaned in closer to her and mummured “what’s it going to be, Sophia?”