The Billionaire Op - Lori Ryan Page 0,48

We could pick and choose who we wanted to work for and we always made sure we were on the right side.”

Jennie shook her head, unable to process what he’d told her. He really could make her disappear as long as she needed to. She could hide forever if these people came after her.

The enormity of the situation was hitting home a little at a time, but things still felt a bit insane to Jennie. Okay, a lot insane.

How could this be happening? It wasn’t enough that she was pregnant. That the baby inside her wasn’t her husband’s. Now she might have a crooked building inspector after her? On what planet does this happen? Because it wasn’t supposed to be happening on hers.

“How long will we stay at the cabin?” Jennie asked.

“We have it the rest of the summer. If this isn’t resolved by then, we’ll switch locations.”

She looked at him for a long time. “Fine. But, if we change locations, I get a say in the next place. You can’t take over my life. If we do this, we’re doing it together from now on.” She tried to sound firm, even though she guessed he could see right through her to the shaky uncertainty she was swimming in.

Chad nodded and she wondered if he’d really let her have any say in where they went or how they hid or how long they stayed in hiding.

She watched him from the corner of her eye and could see the tension in his body. The pain in his eyes. God, how she hated what she was doing to him. How she was hurting him. And would continue to hurt him.

He was giving up his life, his job, his friends and family for her. And she hadn’t even told him about his baby.

She couldn’t stop the tears that came as everything she was feeling began to hit at once. They streamed down her face full force and much faster than she could get control over things.

She owed this man so much “I’m sorry, Chad. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about the baby. I only needed to be alone with it for a while longer. I just needed to think, without anyone knowing. It’s confusing, you know? And if I told anyone, it made it real. I just wasn’t ready for it to be real.”

Chad glanced at her. “Aw, Jen. Don’t cry, honey.” He reached over and threaded his fingers through her hair, brushing the tears from her face with his thumb.

Jennie waved off his concern and brushed away the tears with the backs of her hands. “Ignore this. I cry at the drop of a hat now. It’s the hormones. I cry over the printer being out of paper at work, and the birds chirping outside my window and waking me up too early, and the fact that I can’t drink coffee anymore.”

And how much I miss Kyle and want him here with me. How much I wish you could hold me but I can’t ask you to do that because it’s not fair to you. I cry over how much I’m hurting you.

She couldn’t say any of that to him. There was so much that couldn’t be said between them.

He was quiet for a while as the truck ate up the road and Jennie reigned in her tears. When he spoke, there was a steely resolve to his tone.

“I will be a part of the baby’s life, Jen. I know you wish it wasn’t mine, but I won’t walk away from my baby.”

Jennie closed her eyes and nodded. “I know.” She wouldn’t expect any less of him.

She didn’t know how they’d negotiate this one and what they’d work out, but she knew regardless of what they agreed on, there would be a lot of pain for both of them in the months to come.

Chapter 27

Being together at the cabin was much harder than sharing the villa at the resort. In the cabin, they were isolated with no one around to buffer their interactions. Jennie and Zeke slept in the only bedroom while Chad slept in the living area on a cot outside her door. The cramped kitchen and small bathroom made up the rest of the space.

They cooked meals together instead of going to restaurants. They washed and dried the dishes together and went to the grocery store. They did laundry and all of the other mundane domestic things that couples did.

When they first arrived, Chad saw that the light