Chapter Six Me? A Gold-digger?

Anne’s POV

“Well young lady, I’ve had my fair share of One-night stands in this lifetime and you won’t be the first to approach me with this silly tactic. You all are gold diggers, looking for whom to extort money from. But young lady, you came to the wrong house today. Now if you could excuse me, I have to round up my meal and get on with things more important,” Lucian said to me.

I felt so angry and embarrassed. How could he say that to me? Me? A Gold-digger? How did I end up sleeping with a heartless man like Lucian?

“Excuse me, Mr. Lucian, I’m not here to extort money from you. Hell, I didn’t even know who you were until I got to know that I was pregnant. I’m only here to tell you about your child that I’m carrying so you can perform your fatherly duties towards him or her. I could have taken care of this child on my own but my pay isn’t enough,” I said.

“See, a Gold-digger; you couldn’t take care of yourself alone but then you went ahead to get pregnant for just any man and you come here to accuse me of getting you pregnant because you probably cannot find the father and you need someone rich to take care of you and your unborn child. Security, take her away from here,” said Lucian, issuing the last command to his security men.

The security men approached me and began to drag me out of the area. I struggled to be free but their grips were too tight. I tried to remind them that I was a pregnant woman but they turned deaf ears to me. When I saw that Lucian wasn’t ready to take responsibility for the baby, I knew exactly what to do.

“I’ll go to the news channel,” I said, hoping that would work.

Lucian looked up at once.

“Gotcha,” I muttered to myself as a smirk appeared on my face.

Lucian gave a signal to his men and they let me go.

“What did you say?” he asked.

“If you don’t accept this baby, then I’ll go to the media and let them know what you’ve done. I’m sure they’ll believe a poor pregnant woman’s rape story over the story of a playboy Billionaire. I could make a lot of money that way,” I said, the smirk in my face broadened.

Lucian’s demeanor changed from cocky to apprehensive as he considered the repercussions. He obviously hadn’t anticipated that my threat would have such an effect. The stillness hung heavily between us, and the atmosphere in the room had now become tense.

Finally, he muttered, his voice a deep, deliberate growl,

“You wouldn’t dare.”

I stared at his eyes directly, my resolve firm. I responded,

“Try me,” with a renewed tenacity pulsing through me.

Sighing in frustration, Lucian ran a hand through his neatly styled hair. His poker face crumbled, displaying a glimmer of weakness. It was a unique opportunity to see behind the wealthy billionaire’s imposing persona.

“Okay, young lady…

“Anne, my name is Anna,” I corrected.

“Ok Anne. We’ll discuss this. However not here. Come with me,” he replied, softening but maintaining a slight edge.

He asked me to follow him but I hesitated. He noticed that I wasn’t coming with him.

“Why aren’t you coming?” he asked me.

“Well, I don’t trust you. You could kill me and hide my body where no one would find me. I don’t think I want that to happen and if it does, I have a car outside with my friends waiting in it. I told them that if I don’t come out in an hour, they should call the cops with the information that the great Lucian has murdered me,” I said, a sly smile on my face.

“You’re delusional, Miss Anne. I’m not killing you. I want us to discuss this whole situation,” Lucian said.

“Now come with me,” he ordered.

I looked at him for a while before eventually following behind. He led me into a big spacious office like area. The while furniture looked expensive and probably imported. The office looked nice and there were artworks and sculptures that beautified the whole place. Who would have thought that the cold-hearted Billionaire was an art lover? Not me though, I thought.

He took a seat in the executive chair behind a gigantic glass table. He asked me to sit and I did as I was told. He turned on his computer and began to type something in it. When he was done, he brought out his phone and made a call.

“Get me the lawyer,” he said and hung up.

I sat still wondering what the hell was going on? A lawyer? What does he need a lawyer for? I wondered. Ten minutes later, a man walked in suited up in an expensive suit and trousers.

“Mr. Macaulay, thanks for coming. I’m sorry for sending for you out of the blue. A matter of urgency just arose,” Lucian said to the man that had just walked in, whom I assumed to be the lawyer he sent for.

“It’s nothing, Mr. Hawthorne. I’m at your disposal any time and any day. What seems to be the problem though?” Mr. Macaulay asked.

Lucian looked over to me and Mr. Macaulay followed his eyes. Oh so I’m the problem, I thought to myself angrily.

“Who is she?” Mr. Macaulay said, referring to me.

“She’s another one of those women who thinks she can extort money from me using a fake pregnancy. She’s Anne,” Lucian said glaring at me.

“I’ve told you Mr. Hawthorne that I’m not here for your money; I only need you to own up to your fatherly duties towards your child that I’m carrying in my womb,” I said.

“Hello Mrs. Anne,” the lawyer said to me.

“Hello,” I said uninterested.

I knew he was going to support his client so I wasn’t fully interested in what he wanted to say.

“Are you really sure that Mr. Hawthorne here is the father of your child?” he asked calmly.

“I’m 100 percent sure that the child I’m carrying belongs to Lucian. I didn’t sleep with any other man after our encounter and I’m not the virgin Mary,” I answered.

“Ok, so here’s what we’ll do. Mr. Hawthorne here has had a lot of women come up to him in this way claiming they were pregnant for him when they were not and we eventually found out they wanted to extort money from him. So in order to avoid that from happening again, we’ll draw up a contract that states that Mr. Hawthorne will take care of you and your child while pretending to be in a marriage agreement for the period of your pregnancy. If the child ends up being his, he’ll take responsibility hence you’ll get arrested for trying to frame him for something that isn’t true,” the lawyer said.

“What? Could you like break it down for me? Seems I’m not hearing you properly?” I said, not believing what I had just heard.

“You’ll enter a contractual marriage with Mr. Hawthorne for the period of your pregnancy…”

“I thought I didn’t hear you clearly the first time. Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to marry this cold-hearted man? I don’t think I want to do that,” I said.

“Miss Anne, Mr. Hawthorne is a very reputable man in the country apart from being famous as a playboy. News about him having a child out of wedlock would ruin his reputation. We just need you to stay married to him for a year and until your child is born. If the child ends up being his, he’ll take care of the child and we’ll announce that you died during child birth but in reality, Mr. Hawthorne would ensure your safe passage out of New York to a country far away from here,” the lawyer said.

“First of all Mr. Lawyer, my child is not going to be born out of wedlock and secondly, I’m not going to agree to playing dead and secretly moving to another country. What about my friends and my job over here?” I asked.

“It’s either that or nothing,” Mr. Macaulay said.

I sat still wondering what to do. Should I take this chance or not? But this man is so heartless; how can I love with him for the next 9 to 12 months? I can’t bear to stand beside me as he makes my blood boil. He treated me like I was nothing but a trash he could just do away with.

I was conflicted between two choices: either to accept the proposal or to reject it. While I was still contemplating on what to do, Lucian spoke,

“We don’t have all the time in the world, young lady. Some of use have work to do unlike you.”

“GIVE ME SOME TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT. IT’S NOT AN EASY DECISION,” I yelled at Billionaire.

While I was thinking about how I couldn’t stand Lucian, I made my choice.