The Baby Pact (Babies and Billions #5) - Holly Rayner Page 0,35

speak to him again.

Whatever had happened between the two of them, she wanted to put it behind her.

Zach wondered whether he was finally going to get some answers to the questions that had been chasing one another around inside his mind for the past month. Was she going to tell him why she had stopped returning his calls, why she had completely ghosted him?

She can’t possibly expect that we’re just going to pick up right where we left off.

He had told her to come over at seven, and at six fifty-nine on the dot, the doorbell rang. Struggling to control his anxiety, Zach hurried to answer the door.

And there she was.

Rhea looked as beautiful as ever, and Zach wanted to fling his arms around her, but he restrained himself. He stood back and allowed her to come inside.

I’m not going to speak, he told himself firmly as she stepped over the threshold. I’m not going to say anything until she says something first.

He wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of hearing him beg for an explanation. Not after the way he had been treated. She was going to have to ask for whatever it was she had come here to get from him.

“Your house is amazing,” she said quietly, looking around. “It’s really beautiful.”

Zach couldn’t help himself. “Is that why you’re here?” he asked. “To talk about my house?”

Rhea shook her head. “No,” she said. “I guess I was just… making small talk.”

“So we’re back to small talk?” Zach asked. “After everything you and I have been through, now we’re going back to talking like people who hardly know each other?”

Rhea’s eyes filled with tears. “Zach, I don’t know what else to do here.”

“You didn’t have enough time to think about that while you were ignoring me for a solid month?”

The tears spilled over. Rhea buried her face in her hands.

Zach cursed himself. He hadn’t intended to let things go this way. He had been so determined to keep silent. But he had failed. Almost as soon as he had seen her, he had started giving her a hard time.

“Come on,” he said gruffly. “Let’s go sit in the living room.”

She nodded and followed him. He could see that she was looking around the house, taking it in. If they had still been close, he would have explained to her that he had purchased this giant place as an investment, but that he only used a few of the rooms. He would have told her that he was a little embarrassed by how opulent it was, and he imagined the two of them would have shared a laugh about that.

It seemed unlikely that they were going to be laughing about anything today.

“Do you want something to drink?” he asked her as they took seats in the living room.

Rhea shook her head. “I’m okay, thanks.”

“Fine,” Zach said. “So what is it, Rhea? What brings you here today, after all the time you’ve spent ignoring me? How come you’re getting back in touch now?”

Rhea took a shaky breath. “Zach… I’m pregnant.”

Zach felt as if he were floating up away from his body, staring down at himself sitting across from Rhea in his own living room.

“Pregnant?” he repeated.

“And it’s yours,” she added.

He stared at her. Of all the things he had expected from the message she had sent him, this would have been last on the list.

Pregnant.

How could that be?

But he knew Rhea well enough to know that she wouldn’t joke about something like this.

“How long have you known?” he managed.

“Only a day or so,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you about it right away. I… I think it’s your business to know about.”

“Well. That’s generous of you.” Zach knew he was being harsh, but his emotions were a whirlwind. A month of ignoring him, and now this!

“I’m going to keep the baby,” Rhea said. “I didn’t come here to… to ask you for anything. But I thought you should know.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“Zach, don’t be like that.”

“Don’t be like what? You completely blew me off, Rhea. How do you think that made me feel? And then you pop back up to tell me you’re having my baby, and you expect me to know how to deal with that?”

“Zach, I’m sorry—”

“And I didn’t do anything to you!” he went on, the thoughts that had preoccupied his mind for the past month now suddenly bursting forth. “I didn’t do anything to make you treat me the way you did. You ghosted me